# Episode 17: "I Can't Believe This Happened! My Epic Pinball Tournament Comeback"

**Source:** The Flipside Pinball Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2024-11-13  
**Duration:** 24m 13s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** 04c09075-dd6d-425b-a58e-dbfa9cc4e5be

---

## Analysis

Retro Ralph recounts his first tournament experience at Electric Bat Arcade in Tempe, Arizona, where he unexpectedly won the first week of a six-week tournament series after a difficult work day. Despite being unfamiliar with most of the games played (Diner, The Simpsons Pinball Party, Black Pyramid, Twilight Zone, Sorcerer), he placed first in all five games, crediting a euphoric 'zone' state and the supportive venue culture. The episode celebrates Electric Bat's community atmosphere and pinball's positive impact on mental health.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Ralph placed first place in all five games played at Electric Bat's tournament (Diner, The Simpsons Pinball Party, Black Pyramid, Twilight Zone, Sorcerer) — _Direct narration of tournament results throughout episode_
- [HIGH] Electric Bat had over 100 people registered for the tournament — _Ralph states 'There was over a hundred people in this tournament'_
- [HIGH] Electric Bat uses the Match Play tournament system — _Ralph states 'they use the match play system which is most most of these tournament locations use that'_
- [HIGH] Ralph described being in a peak performance state where 'everything was just flowing' and compared it to a runner's high — _Extended description of euphoric feeling during tournament play_
- [HIGH] Electric Bat is part of the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, Arizona — _Ralph states 'electric bat is part of the yucca tap room in tempe'_
- [HIGH] Ralph typically ranks as 'average at best' at tournament play and has previously walked out of tournaments due to mental stress — _Ralph recounts prior tournament behavior and ninth-place finish in previous tournament_

### Notable Quotes

> "Something clicks right, something's clicking. I don't know what it is but I can feel it. I feel it right when I step up to the machine there's something magical about this night."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~10:00
> _Describes the euphoric zone state that characterized his performance_

> "The closest thing I can think of to this feeling I was getting is for a short period of time, I was a runner and they always say you get the runners high... like you get this extra jolt or something and it feels very euphoric that's what i'm feeling right now."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~18:00
> _Compares tournament experience to athletic peak performance state_

> "The culture at electric bat is like people get stoked for your victories... everyone's giving me knuckles. Everyone's very cool there."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~22:00
> _Highlights Electric Bat's supportive community culture versus other venues_

> "Who the f is retro ralph? Let me see who he played... these are legit players like these are good players."
> — **Unnamed Electric Bat player**, ~58:00
> _Reaction from another player upon learning Ralph won the tournament_

> "The people at Electric Bat were so cool about me winning. Like, they were all giving me props, knuckles, whatever. And I thought that was really cool."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~60:00
> _Emphasizes positive community response to his victory_

> "I really, when people do a good job, I try to like, you know, celebrate that with them, right? Because when you're a manager, that is how you get joy."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~45:00
> _Personal management philosophy that connects to his appreciation of Electric Bat's supportive culture_

> "This hobby has done so much for my mental state in a positive way... if things aren't going well throughout the day... I go down there. I play a game because I work from home... and it just brings me some joy."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~85:00
> _Reflects on pinball's therapeutic value in daily life_

> "I'm so freaking happy. I'm going to finish these French fries. I know those of you listening to the podcast, you're just going to listen to me crunching on French fries, but tonight, nothing matters."
> — **Retro Ralph**, ~90:00
> _Captures the euphoria and joy of the evening_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Retro Ralph | person | Host of The Flipside Pinball Podcast, competitive pinball player who won Electric Bat tournament debut |
| Kale Hernandez | person | Co-operator of Electric Bat Arcade in Tempe, AZ; supportive of Ralph's tournament victory |
| Rachel | person | Co-operator of Electric Bat Arcade; created limited Rachel Superstars trading card as tournament prize |
| Electric Bat Arcade | organization | Pinball arcade venue in Tempe, Arizona; part of Yucca Tap Room; hosts six-week tournament series; known for supportive community culture |
| Kim | person | Ralph's wife, supportive of his pinball hobby |
| Rudy | person | Friend and tournament companion of Ralph; knows Ralph's typical tournament performance level |
| Cole | person | Friend of Ralph who typically accompanies him to tournaments |
| The Flipside Podcast | organization | Pinball podcast hosted by Retro Ralph; episode 17 discussing tournament victory |
| Diner | game | Pinball machine; Ralph's first game at Electric Bat tournament, placed first |
| The Simpsons Pinball Party | game | Pinball machine; Ralph's second game at Electric Bat tournament, placed first |
| Black Pyramid | game | Williams pinball machine; Ralph's third game, placed first over experienced players |
| Twilight Zone | game | Pinball machine; Ralph's fourth game, placed first in three-player match |
| Sorcerer | game | Pinball machine; Ralph's fifth and final game, placed first to win tournament |
| Yucca Tap Room | organization | Venue in Tempe, Arizona that houses Electric Bat Arcade |
| IFPA | organization | International Federation of Pinball, referenced for finding local tournaments (ifpa.com) |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Tournament play and competitive pinball, Community culture and venue atmosphere, Mental health and hobby benefits, Peak performance and flow state, Electric Bat Arcade venue and operations
- **Secondary:** Pinball content creation and podcasting, Game familiarity vs. intuitive play
- **Mentioned:** Management philosophy and team motivation

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.95) — Extremely positive episode focused on joy, celebration, and gratitude. Ralph is enthusiastic, celebratory, and emotionally elevated throughout. The only minor negative elements are references to a bad work day and prior tournament anxiety, but these are immediately overshadowed by the positive tournament outcome and venue appreciation.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Electric Bat Arcade hosts six-week tournament series using Match Play system with 100+ participants, indicating strong community tournament infrastructure (confidence: high) — Ralph references 'six-week thing' tournament format and 100+ person count
- **[community_signal]** Electric Bat venue culture emphasizes celebratory recognition of player victories with props, knuckles, and positive reinforcement (confidence: high) — Ralph emphasizes repeatedly that people gave him 'knuckles' and 'props' for his wins, contrasting this positively with other venues
- **[content_signal]** Ralph produced this episode immediately after tournament (rushed home to record) and plans second episode release same week (Wednesday/Friday), indicating content responsiveness to community events (confidence: high) — Ralph states 'I told Kale, I was like, I'm rushing home and I'm recording this' and mentions producing two episodes this week
- **[community_signal]** Ralph experienced unexpected peak performance and emotional breakthrough at tournament, suggesting psychological/competitive development in his play (confidence: high) — Ralph compares feeling to 'runners high' and emphasizes this is atypical: 'I've never been in this. I've never had this feeling before'
- **[competitive_signal]** Electric Bat offers tournament prizes including limited trading cards (Rachel Superstars card), coins/tokens, Stern merchandise, and cash prizes (confidence: high) — Ralph describes winning Rachel's trading card, coin holder with tokens, Stern t-shirt, and cash
- **[venue_signal]** Electric Bat's supportive community atmosphere stands out as superior to other pinball venues Ralph has experienced (confidence: high) — Ralph states 'the culture at electric bat is like people get stoked for your victories' and contrasts it with other venues where 'the culture is good... but it was just different here'
- **[venue_signal]** Electric Bat Arcade operates as tenant within Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, Arizona, positioning it as hybrid bar/arcade/tournament venue (confidence: high) — Ralph states 'electric bat is part of the yucca tap room in tempe'

---

## Transcript

 Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Flipside Podcast. I'm your host Retro Ralph. I am so excited. This is episode 17. I just got back from an amazing night. I spent the night down at the electric bat. Now you guys know I'm always sort of representing electric bat. I'm always wearing their hoodie because I really love Kale and Rachel and everything they're doing for the pinball community. They're both amazing people, but I've never played in an electric bat tournament before. Okay. So keep in mind, I'm going to set the stage for you guys. Well, number one, well, no, I got to set the stage. I got to set the stage. I can't, I can't, I'm so excited. Like, I am fresh off. I just drove home from there. I am so on cloud nine. And if you saw the thumbnail, then you know what? I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag. I've been eating healthy right now. I don't give a shit about any of that. I went and stopped at McDonald's. I got myself some french fries, which I'm going to love every freaking minute of because tonight was an amazing night. and it's rude to eat while I'm on the podcast but it's just that kind of night and guys sometimes you have a rough week or whatever you gotta just you gotta celebrate the goddamn victories guys um I'm so excited I'm so excited anyway so here's what happened this week it's only Tuesday and it's been a really rough week at work right and so Kale um Kale and Rachel have been wanting me to go down there and play for a while they're like come down to the Tuesday night tournament you're gonna really love it so many good people right so finally I'm like you know what I gotta I gotta do this but it's interesting because I actually had such a bad day at work that I wasn't gonna go It just was terrible. Not good. And you guys know sometimes the mental toll a bad day at work can take, right? And it was just bad. So I talked to Kim and I'm like, for those of you who don't know, Kim's my wife, but she's awesome. Very supportive of the hobby and everything. And she's like, well, you've had a bad day, so why don't you just go? Like, why don't you go play? So I thought about it and I'm like, you know what? Sometimes, I'll tell you this, sometimes when you're down, things aren't looking good. That's the time that you definitely don't want to sit around and be lazy. It's like you got to go out and do something, right? Get your energy level back up, lift your spirits when things aren't good. And pinball is such a great thing to do that. So I'm like, you know what, I'm going to go down. So I go down. I'm really nervous in the car drive down. And the reason why is because number one, tournament play stresses me out. It's a different beast. It's very different than playing at home. All the games are set up differently. Sometimes in tournament locations, the pitches of the games are higher, so they play faster, especially if it's a game you know might play faster on location than it does at home. And Electric Bat is literally one of the biggest pinball locations with some really, really good players. So I'm thinking to myself, I'm just going to go and have a good time, right? I'm just going to have fun. That's it. So we get in there, and I give them the money for entering the tournament. I did the whole six-week thing, right? And so I get my first game. My first game is Diner. I don't really know Diner very well. I've played it one time, right? So I'm like, all right, no, this sucks. I'm going to get a bunch of games I don't know, so it's going to be bad. But that's not what happened. this something clicks right something's clicking I don't know what it is but I can feel it I feel it right when I step up to the machine there's something magical about this night I don't know what it is but it's only my first game so I'm just like you know I'm gonna roll with this I'm gonna roll with it but I don't know what's going on first ball really good first ball like okay and I have a significant lead on everyone else second ball really good second ball now keep in mind I don't know how to play diner I'm just kind of looking at the lit shots going all right I think I can figure this out. I don't know any tournament strategy for this game, nothing, but everything is flowing. I'm hitting shots. Everything is good. Everything's coming doing dead flips off the flipper. I'm like, what the hell? Everything is just clicking. So then I, my last ball and I win first place on the first game. Now keep in mind the way they do it. They have a lot of people. There was over a hundred people in this tournament. So think about that a hundred people. I'm not great tournament player so I'm thinking this is a fluke whatever but I'm rolling with this feeling because this feeling is good so I go over and talk to Kale Kale's like dude what the heck man like you kind of tore up diner like what's going on I'm like I don't know man I don't know and by the way the people at Electric Bat are freaking amazing the culture that they've built there everyone was so cool I was a little shy at first because I was alone normally I go with Rudy or my friend Cole to tournaments it was just on a whim thing I wasn't sure I was gonna go even though I had told Rachel and Kayla I was going to go and the bad day kind of impacted me. I was going to be like, yeah, you know, I'm going to come another week, but I didn't. Okay. So diners done. Ed Boon. We're doing good. We're on top, right? There's like, you know, eight or nine or 10 people or something tied for first because other people got first on their games. I can't remember. There's a, well, no, it would be, it would be however many arenas there are. I don't remember, but there's a lot of people tied for first. So I'm like, okay, next game, the Simpsons pinball party, another game. Never played it. Well, I shouldn't say never played it. I played it like once or twice. Don't know the rules. Don't know anything about it really. I just know that you hit the garage and you just, you hit the garage, garage door opens, go in the garage. It's all I know. So I'm like I just going to keep doing that So I doing that but everything just flowing right My nudges are all perfectly aligned Like everything is just going I I front nudging I I everything is just, it's just weird, man. I've never been in this. I've never had this feeling before. The closest thing I can think of to this feeling I was, I was getting is for a short period of time, I was a runner and they always say you get the runners high, whatever. Like you're excited you know it is weird you you're like really running and you're running your ass off and there's like this point where your body like switches over to beast mode or something and you're just like you get this extra jolt or something and it feels very euphoric that's what i'm feeling right now because everything is flowing on simpsons party ball one awesome ball two great ball three awesome first place so now i'm like dude i'm two games into the five games that I'm going to have to play tonight. And I put up two place, first place, both times. Like, what the hell is going on? Because this isn't me, guys. Like, I'm not. Ask Rudy. I am average at best at tournament play. I get in my own head. I've literally walked out of player one arcade. And Rudy's like, where did you go? No joke. You know what? No shame in my game. I went into my car, screamed at the top of my lungs, then came back inside. He's like, where'd you go? I was like, honestly, dude, I went in my car and screamed. And then the rest of the night was a total disaster. It was worse. I got in my head and it worse, worse, worse. So that's how it usually goes. Although I will say the last tournament I played before this one, it was okay. I ranked ninth. So, but ninth out of, I think like 30-ish or 20-something. So it wasn't amazing. It's all right. So game one, diner, kicked ass. Game two, the Simpsons pinball party. Game three, black pyramid. a very traditional, I think it's a Williams game, flat layout, nothing fancy. But if it wasn't for the fact that the other place I play at has this game, I would have definitely not done well. This game, I do know a little bit of how to play. It's all about those targets on the right hand side. You get those, you get some multipliers and you can get your score up good. But I'm playing it with someone who kicks ass. I'm like, I'm screwed. I'm like, this is the game that's going to take me out. A very good player. Actually, there were two very good players on this game. I'm like, I'm screwed. So ball one. Respectable, but not awesome. Then that dude comes up, whips some ass. So I'm like, all right, I'm looking right now, I'm looking like I'm in like third place or something. So it was only after ball one. Then ball two. I do pretty well. I'm seeing I actually take the lead over the guy that's really good. And I've been to other tournaments he's been at before. He was at my John Wick launch party. The dude who sits there for like 10 hours, like, like, he's just like, like, it doesn't even, it doesn't even look like he's even trying. He's like, he just doesn't even, doesn't even matter. Like, so anyways, Black Pyramid, third ball, I get, I get a really good third ball and I beat the dude. I'm like, what the hell? Everyone's giving me knuckles. Everyone's very cool there. Everyone's like, oh, good game, good game the place i go to the the normal place i go to i don't want to rip on it because i like i enjoy it and the guy that owns it's a really nice guy but their culture is not like this the culture at electric bat is like people get stoked for your victories so i had to get used to this because i'm like i want to be that guy too like hey dude good game whatever right because i do i do like want to give people props so right now we're three games down two to go and i have not lost first place i'm looking at the leaderboard now and i'm seeing like that amount of people that are in that first place position are shrinking. But I'm thinking to myself, I didn't really get in my head tonight, though. I was just thinking, man, there's no way. So, okay, so this is weird. Actually, I'm getting this a little out of order, but we'll just say it like this. So throughout the night, before we get to the last two games, there was a coworker that messaged me, and he said, he was supposed to be in town, actually. And he said, hey, boss, enablement is done. He was doing some training. We're headed to get drinks at Bonfire, kitchen craft warner road uh and tempe if interested now i forgot that i had well i wasn't sure i was even going to go to the tournament so i actually was going to meet up with him he said if not we'll probably find dinner at scottsdale now he's not from this area he said we're at the embassy suites in scottsdale i said crap man i'm an idiot my pinball night is tonight but it's in tempe it's at the electric bat i said basically the best dive bar of all dive bars if you were in the 90s grunge scene then basically that's the vibe and I said but if I flame out and do poorly maybe I'll meet up with you guys and I said any chance you're here tomorrow and he says no worries 90s grunge is my jam and I may pay you a visit so I'm thinking he's not gonna pay me a visit and I love this guy someone I work with is really cool so like I don't know everything was just so good this night then I see him come in and he's with another woman co-worker that I used to work with, work with a while ago. I was just excited to see them. So that got me even more fired up. So I'm already fired up. Like I'm so freaking fired up. And then, and then Kale, Kale's like, Kale's like stoked for me. So Kale's like, dude, what the heck, man? You're like kicking ass. So, so I'm like, you know what I mean? You've got all these people rooting for you. And that's by the way, I'm a, I'm a manager at my job. I'm a director, but you I have direct reports. And that's something I really try to strive for with them. I really, when people do a good job, I try to like, you know, celebrate that with them, right? Because when you're a manager, that is how you get joy. If you're a manager and you try to make it all about yourself, then you're not going to be a good manager. A good manager knows how to like pump up his team. And the accolades that they get is what gives you joy. So you enabling them to do well that success for you right It not you doing the thing But tonight it me doing the thing baby It me It me So I at Black Pyramid to tearing it up That's good. Now, Twilight Zone. The funny thing is, we're now on really four games so far that I'm very unfamiliar with. Like, I'm just not, I don't, I didn't play Twilight Zone. It's a really cool game. I've probably, like, jumped on it once, and that was it. So I definitely, I don't know the rules, I don't know anything, I don't even know what to do. again I'm like all right my strategy is going to be I'm going to look to see what's lit and I'm going to shoot the shit out of it that's what I'm going to do so I'm like because tonight's going pretty good and honestly like balls were not draining normal like my everything was just flowing like I said I know I'm overusing that get up to twilight zone have a good this was crazy good ball one good ball two and good ball three and everyone I was playing with was was freaking super cool. I wish I could remember the guy's name. I actually talked to him for a significant amount of time because we were only a three, that was one game that we only had three people on. He was a really good player. Um, but I still, I still came out on top, but really cool. And I told him, I was like, man, I'm going to come because I want to see this, this tournament through. It is six weeks. Thing is I'm going to have to give up one week because I have to travel next week. So I'm not going to be able to do that. But anyways, let's get back to the task at hand here so it's twilight zone and i get first place so now i'm like dude i only have one more game i just need to get first place in one more game and now i'm looking at that leaderboard and i'm like man there's not that many of us in this first place position anymore it's still tied but not many so i'm like all right i'm gonna go for it what's the game and i'm waiting and i'm waiting because the screen refreshes right it's uh they use the match play system which is most most of these tournament locations use that so um and it pops up sorcerer what the hell is sorcerer never played it before so now i'm like shit this is like like is this going to be the game that takes me out like is this going to be the game that that just makes this amazing night go to absolute shit i was like because that's probably what's going to happen i don't know sorcerer but when i stepped up to it i was like this kind of looks like black pyramid like similar to black pyramid like the layout the old school layout and for some reason most of the games i had were older games this evening right i didn't get any new modern stern stuff so i'm like i'm like all right it's freaking sorcerer sorcerer is standing in my way of winning this first ball on sorcerer absolute ass i mean ass like the the alphanumeric screen was like boop boop boop and like couldn't even calculated it was so bad I'm like oh no I'm like that's it this is what normally happens to me I go out I go out in a ball of flames I'm done like I'm thinking it's it like it's over I'm done it's it's I ruined the whole evening so I'm talking to the people there and they're like have you played this game before and I'm like no so I go up second ball and blow the shit up like I mean not blow it up but for me blowing it up like I think my score was something like it went I literally had like 10,000 points it was like it was like the game registered like just give him 10,000 because it's so bad that just give him something to make him feel better but it was really that bad so I go from like my 10,000 or whatever it was the minimal score you could get to uh like 430,000 so I'm like okay that's that's I think that's good for this game I don't know and then people are getting a little closer we're getting the second ball people getting a little closer and then finally the third ball I'm like okay this is make or break because we're close there's a couple people that are like within a hundred thousand of me so I was like you just got to do good on this but like you got to do well you got to show them what's up on this ball and sure as shit i shit you not first place i was like so so kale's like dude and there was a guy there so i i heard him say it i was over by kale because i was like in disbelief that i got first place but there was still other people playing so there could have been someone else like tied but at this point in time i believed i had won the whole tournament for this evening at least right for this for this first week and uh this guy's like i'm just gonna say it this guy goes who the f is retro ralph because like he didn't know right he's like and he and he's like let me see the he's like let me see who he played let me see who he was playing with and like he's like damn this is like these are legit players like these are good players he's like shit and cole's your kale's like yeah it's retro ralph he's a friend of ours and um i don't know man like what a good what a good what a good end to a a day that was really shitty you know what i mean like man and i'm not saying by the way that this is not a common occurrence for me but i needed this like i really did and it's just to do it at electric bat it's just awesome i'm so happy you know what i want to quit i want to quit tournament play and be like i want it all baby but i'm not but it it really felt good So I'd love to know, those of you listening to this, if you've played in tournaments and you've won one, is that not the best feeling? It's just a really good feeling. And you know what made it even better? The people at Electric Bat were so cool about me winning. Like, they were all giving me props, knuckles, whatever. And I thought that was really cool. So I didn't know this. So I did know it. I listened to it, but I wasn't realizing it. So Kale in the beginning is on the mic. He's saying what you win if you win the tournament. and he's like, oh, you get Rachel's Superstars card, you know, the Pinball Expo card. The winner of tonight's pinball tournament is going to win a very special, limited, extremely limited Rachel Best trading card. Yep, that's right. Who won my card? Rowling won my card. And Rachel is like, somebody needs to win her card. So let's see how much you love Rachel. What's up, Serge? You know, if you win tonight, you can get this very... Because I think she got one this year I think she got awarded one this year So I was thinking oh well you have to win the whole tournament to get that But it was true So here Rachel card I had her sign it. I think she didn't want to sign it. I don't know. Maybe she did. I don't know. I felt like she was like, oh, gosh, you're going to make me sign it. But I wanted her to sign it. It's Rachel. Rachel and Kale are big in the pinball world. So I thought that was really cool. I'm going to put this in a little – I have a card thing back there. I'm going to put this. I'm going to save that. But I didn't just get that. I got this little coin thing to put your coins in and there's actually like a decent amount of tokens in here for electric bat I don't know if you're gonna be able to see this but electric bat is part of the yucca tap room in tempe I don't know if you can be able to see that probably not my camera is not gonna not gonna not gonna focus on that but that's cool so you got some coins in there which is pretty cool and then I got a stern t-shirt so I am like I I'm I'm telling you guys like this is this is a very very oh and not only did I win that way so those of you that don't know I think I talked about this on a podcast before electric bat has one of my games on location so now I am winning I am really winning because I got cash too so just a yeah man for having a down in the dumps day I really needed this this was this was really cool and um and like I said if you're ever in the Phoenix metropolitan area and you're a pinball player and you were looking for a fun place to go that has a really good culture of people that are just really into pinball. I have been there before, but I never got to be there and be in a tournament on tournament night. And even if I did poorly, everyone there was just so cool. And I don't know, maybe this is unique to Electric Bat because I'll say I play at other places and the culture is good. Like the people are cool, but it was just different here. It's a testament to the culture that these, that, that Kale and Rachel were able to build there. It's amazing. It's really cool. Like I'm sure they probably have a jackass every now and then that comes in there, but there was no jackasses that I could see. And everyone was just really, really cool. So anyways, that I just wanted to share this story story with you. This was not the podcast I was going to record, but I told Kale, I was like, I'm rushing home and I'm recording this. I'm so happy. And I just thought I'd share it with you guys. So tell me a little bit, right? My ask to you, by the way, we did, we did a last podcast. We did talk about having voicemails. So I am going to play those voicemails. I got only got two of them. So come on guys, leave some voicemails for the show. It's going to be fun. So I haven't gotten to those yet. I'm going to get to the next show. The next show is going to be an interesting topic, somewhat controversial too. Ooh, is he going to do a controversial topic? No, he only says complimentary stuff. Well, it's a little controversial it's not that controversial it's interesting it's food for thought and it's something i think is going to make your mind really work so i'm going to record that again this week we're doing two i am so pumped up about what happened tonight that we're doing two podcasts i will definitely get that recorded before the end of the week so i'll probably hit that on friday so you're gonna have this show which is gonna hit on a wednesday november 13th and then I will have another show for the Friday. So guys, go out there. Support your local pinball bar. Play some tournament pinball. You know what? Even if you didn't have the night that I just had, because this is going to be, guys, I don't know if this is going to happen again. It may not happen ever again, but you know what? I'm going to relish in the moment while it did, and hopefully you guys have a moment like this at a local tournament for you. If you have, put it in the comments below. Tell me how you felt. Did it make you feel like I feel right now? Because I feel like I could just go, like walk on water right now. I feel like I'm just, it's just so exciting. I love this hobby guys. This hobby, this hobby has done so much for my mental state in a positive way that I, you know, of course I've had bad nights and stuff, but I mean, in general, I have the pinball machines in my house. If things aren't going well throughout the day or something, I go down there. I play a game because I work from home. I do travel, but I work from home a lot of times and it just brings me some joy. And I think that's the thing that a hobby should do. It should bring you some joy. And that's why I tend to focus on the positive aspects of the hobby here, because I want my hobby to be fun. Sure, it will be critical from time to time, but the thing is, go out there, play the games, have some fun, and I guarantee you, you're going to number one meet cool people, and you're just going to have a blast doing it. So ifpa.com, go there, you can find tournaments in your local area, and it'll be well worth it. I promise you. And you can be a winner too. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. That sounded stupid. But no, seriously, guys. Seriously, I love it. I'm so freaking happy. I'm going to finish these French fries. I know those of you listening to the podcast, you're just going to listen to me crunching on French fries, but tonight, nothing matters. Nothing matters. I'm going to go downstairs and have gummy bears. I'm going to have Mike and Ike's. I'm going to finish this chicken sandwich. We're going to have the time of our life. we're going to have the time of our life. All right, guys. Thank you so much. You're the best. I have the best listeners. You guys are awesome. This show wouldn't exist without you. And we're on episode 17. You guys are cranking it. Listen to listening to it, supporting it. And I love it. And you guys are the best. And those of you that I met at Electric Bat tonight, if you listen to this, you guys were all super cool people. And I can't wait to see you. I'm not going to be there next week, but the week after, I can't wait. And for that one friend I met that we played Twilight Zone together, I hope you come to that March 1 that Mark puts on. That's it for now, guys. We will see you on the flip side. I'm so excited. I don't even know how to shut this off. I don't even care. We're not shutting it off. Yeah, we are. We have to shut it off. All right, guys. See you next time. you

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 8bb7c18c-96ea-4f93-a043-3227af75aa39*