# Episode 435: Cassie Begay

**Source:** Pinball Profile  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2026-03-09  
**Duration:** 28m 39s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-435-cassie-begay/

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## Analysis

Jeff Teolis interviews Cassie Begay, the 2025 InDisc women's champion from Colorado, discussing her tournament victory, competitive mindset, international travel to tournaments including the UK Open and an upcoming event in Norway, her role as a part-time caretaker for her brother with special needs, and her journey into competitive pinball through casual play at local venues.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Cassie Begay won the InDisc championship in 2025 — _Jeff Teolis: 'you went up against some heavyweights there in such a massive tournament, and you came away the big winner' and references 'the Indus Champ, your name goes on a banner'_
- [HIGH] Cassie finished third in the Women's Championship at Papa in Chicago last September, with Kerry Wing and Jane Verwise also in finals — _Jeff Teolis: 'you finished in the top three. In fact, a great finals for the Women's Championship. It was Kerry Wing, it was Jane Verwise, and then yourself in third place'_
- [HIGH] Cassie attended the UK Open tournament in 2024 and described it as similar to InDisc format — _Cassie: 'I loved it, and I agree. I thought it was like a mini-indisc as well' regarding the UK Open_
- [HIGH] Cassie has an upcoming trip to a KPO tournament in Christensen, Norway in a couple of weeks — _Cassie: 'I have a trip coming up in a couple of weeks to play the KPO tournament in Christensen, Norway'_
- [HIGH] Colorado has an exceptional depth of competitive pinball talent that elevates all local players — _Jeff: 'There's something in the water in Colorado that makes great pinball players' and Cassie: 'We have a lot of players just in our local scene that they don't travel... they're really good'_
- [HIGH] Cassie is a part-time caretaker for her younger brother who has a seizure disorder — _Cassie: 'My mom's a full-time caretaker. I'm a part-time caretaker... He has a seizure disorder. He cannot do much for himself. So it's a full-time job 24-7'_
- [HIGH] Cassie initially got into pinball through friends at Three Kings Tavern in Colorado who encouraged her to play — _Cassie: 'There was a local watering hole called Three Kings Tavern... there was an owner-operator who had games there... friends, like I said, like Adam... would invite me to play pinball'_
- [HIGH] Cassie's understanding of pinball rules and strategy significantly advanced during COVID when she and Walt rented a Walking Dead machine — _Cassie: 'During COVID. Oh, okay. Yeah. We rented a Walking Dead, and we had it in our storage in the back behind my house. And I just played it. Walt and I, we just played the heck out of it'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I really didn't look at the game list. Wow, that's awesome... I kind of quit studying like the game list beforehand. I think it's just helpful for myself that way."
> — **Cassie Begay**, ~16:00
> _Reveals unconventional tournament prep strategy of avoiding advance game study to prevent information overload and allow natural learning during competition_

> "If I saw somebody else do it, that means I can do it... If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. On to the next tournament."
> — **Cassie Begay**, ~33:00
> _Demonstrates confident and resilient competitive mindset focused on learning from others and not dwelling on mistakes_

> "even though I'm traveling alone, and you might be the same, you know a lot of people once you get there, and you never really feel alone. It's kind of a nice, I don't know, little safety zone in a way."
> — **Cassie Begay**, ~19:00
> _Highlights community bonds within pinball tournament scene that transcend geographic boundaries_

> "I have no idea. I don't look. It doesn't matter. I'll know at the end of it. It's not going to change the way I play. I'm going to try to win every game."
> — **Cassie Begay**, ~08:00
> _Explains mental discipline approach to avoiding standings anxiety during match play tournaments_

> "it's all mental for the most part. And I feel like that that helped me get my head around the games and play the best games that I could"
> — **Cassie Begay**, ~40:00
> _Identifies mental focus and energy allocation as key to tournament success, particularly in women's events_

> "There's something in the water in Colorado that makes great pinball players because, my goodness, you can just list on and on and on"
> — **Jeff Teolis**, ~12:00
> _Acknowledges Colorado as an exceptional regional hub for competitive pinball talent_

> "I always try to say to myself, I don't... I hear a lot of people saying, oh, I hate this game. I can't put that in my head ever because at some point or another, I'm going to be playing that game in a tournament."
> — **Cassie Begay**, ~28:00
> _Reflects competitive philosophy of maintaining open-minded approach to all games rather than developing strong dislikes_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Cassie Begay | person | Elite competitive pinball player from Colorado, 2025 InDisc women's champion, part-time caretaker for brother with special needs, frequent international tournament traveler |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast, tournament director, media figure in pinball community |
| InDisc | event | Major annual pinball tournament held in January, one of the five biggest tournaments globally, features women's division with card-based format |
| Walt Wood | person | Competitive pinball player from Colorado known for exceptional skill, played Walking Dead machine extensively with Cassie during COVID |
| Adam Higgins | person | Long-time friend of Cassie from Colorado medal scene and pinball community, encouraged her to start playing tournaments, now lives in Sweden with wife Heliana |
| Heliana | person | Wife of Adam Higgins, excellent competitive pinball player from Colorado, now lives in Sweden |
| Kerry Wing | person | Top-ranked female pinball player, placed in Women's Championship finals at Papa Chicago September 2024 |
| Jane Verwise | person | Elite female pinball player, placed in Women's Championship finals at Papa Chicago September 2024 |
| Carrie Wing | person | Exceptional female competitive player, made significant comeback win on Deadpool at World Women Championship last year |
| UK Open | event | International pinball tournament held in England in 2024, uses card format similar to InDisc, growing event for European competitive pinball |
| Three Kings Tavern | venue | Local bar in Colorado where Cassie initially played pinball casually and became introduced to competitive community |
| Walking Dead | game | Modern pinball machine rented by Cassie during COVID that significantly advanced her understanding of rules and competitive gameplay |
| Stern Pro Circuit | event | Professional pinball circuit organized by Jeff Teolis, includes 'the Beast' event with dedicated women's divisions |
| Whipped | event | Women's pinball tournament held at ReplayFX's Pinburgh with dedicated Sunday event to avoid scheduling conflicts with main tournament |
| Neon Ranch Pinball | venue | Pinball venue in Victoria, BC hosting women's tournaments and events |
| KPO tournament | event | Pinball tournament held in Christensen, Norway that Cassie will attend in coming weeks |
| Papa Chicago | event | Major pinball tournament in Chicago hosting Women's Championship division |
| Bram Stoker's Dracula | game | Pinball game at Three Kings Tavern that initially drew Cassie into competitive play due to her love of the movie |
| The Sopranos | game | Pinball machine at Three Kings Tavern that Cassie became obsessed with while developing her skills |
| Star Trek | game | Pinball machine at Three Kings Tavern that captured Cassie's attention early in her pinball journey |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Women's pinball growth and tournament scene, Competitive tournament strategy and mental discipline, Regional pinball communities and player development, International pinball travel and global tournament circuit
- **Secondary:** Flipper skills and modern gameplay techniques, Tournament scheduling and women's event logistics, Personal life, caregiving, and work-life balance with competitive pinball, Game rules learning and competitive preparation methodology

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Overwhelmingly positive tone throughout interview. Cassie expresses gratitude for community support, enthusiasm for travel and tournaments, and constructive reflection on her development. Jeff is encouraging and celebratory of her achievements. No negative sentiment detected; minor tensions around caregiving responsibilities and tournament scheduling conflicts are discussed pragmatically rather than bitterly.

### Signals

- **[competitive_signal]** Cassie Begay won the 2025 InDisc women's championship, one of the five largest tournaments globally, marking significant competitive achievement (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'you went up against some heavyweights there in such a massive tournament, and you came away the big winner' and multiple references to banner placement
- **[competitive_signal]** Discussion of mental discipline strategies including avoiding standings checks during match play, managing frustration between balls, and learning from watching other players' comebacks (confidence: high) — Cassie describes not looking at scores until final ball, managing frustration buildup, and referencing Carrie Wing's Deadpool comeback
- **[community_signal]** Strong evidence of growing women's pinball scene with multiple women's-specific tournaments, scheduling improvements to reduce conflicts, and community infrastructure development (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'one of the biggest growth areas of pinball is definitely the women's scene... bells and chimes, chapters everywhere, and women's leagues and tournaments popping up' and discussion of Whipped scheduling improvements
- **[community_signal]** Colorado identified as exceptional regional hub for competitive pinball talent with sustained player development infrastructure and strong local venues (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'There's something in the water in Colorado that makes great pinball players' and Cassie's description of depth of local competitive players beyond the known elite
- **[personnel_signal]** Adam Higgins and other local Colorado players identified as mentors who directly encouraged Cassie to enter tournament play, demonstrating community investment in talent development (confidence: high) — Cassie: 'Adam Higgins... they're the ones that suggested me to start going to tournaments... I owe a lot to them because they really like encouraged me to start playing in tournaments'
- **[event_signal]** Evidence of growing international pinball tournament circuit accessible to North American players, including UK Open and Norwegian KPO tournament (confidence: medium) — Cassie: 'I attended UK Open in 2024' and 'I have a trip coming up in a couple of weeks to play the KPO tournament in Christensen, Norway'
- **[gameplay_signal]** Discussion of advanced flipper skills (tap passes, shatzing, live catches, drop catches) being learned and applied by competitive players through observation and experimentation (confidence: medium) — Cassie: 'if I saw somebody else doing it, okay, it's possible... I'm going to try it anyway if I feel like I could do it' and Jeff's reference to fear of implementing new techniques
- **[venue_signal]** Three Kings Tavern in Colorado identified as casual venue that served as entry point to competitive scene through social play and operator support (confidence: high) — Cassie: 'There was a local watering hole called Three Kings Tavern... there was an owner-operator who had games there... friends would invite me to play pinball'
- **[design_philosophy]** Discussion of different skill requirements between modern rules-heavy games (requiring strategy stacking) and classic games (emphasizing flipper skills and luck management) (confidence: medium) — Cassie: 'Modern games, for myself, it's an exercise for my brain... Classic games, I feel like you're lucky sometimes... but to have flipper skills... certainly helps'
- **[operational_signal]** Tournament directors implementing dedicated scheduling for women's events to prevent time conflicts with main tournaments, improving competitive opportunities for women players (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'I now am purposely scheduling women's events where they don't have to conflict... Whipped is doing at Pinberg... got that Sunday event... not conflicting with anything because Pinberg's done'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Cassie acknowledges frustration management as active area of competitive development, noting that early-game frustration affects subsequent ball performance (confidence: medium) — Cassie: 'I got really frustrated... I'm working on now is to not let that frustration build up because it does affect my playing... It carries over ball to ball'

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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 we've got a great facebook group we're on twitter x at pinball profile instagram as well too you can email pinballprofile at gmail.com and if you'd like to show your support in the show don't worry the show will always be free but we certainly appreciate those helping with the costs that go with producing a podcast so thanks so much to lua w and francis w jake c derrick s john l and more that's patreon.com slash pinball profile happy international women's day if you've been watching a lot of pinball lately you've seen wonderful pinball players and probably one of the biggest growth areas of pinball is definitely the women's scene a lot of bells and chimes, chapters everywhere, and women's leagues and tournaments popping up. And we just had a massive one, in fact. If you watched InDisc, you would have seen our next guest because she was the champ. Cassie Begay joins us from Colorado. Hey, Cassie, how are you? I'm doing great, Jeff. How are you? I'm good, but you still must be on cloud nine. I mean, you went up against some heavyweights there in such a massive tournament, and you came away the big winner. Some nail-biting moments at times, I'm sure. Yes, I did just enough to get ahead. What was the turning point for you when you won your Indus Championship? When did you go, I think I got this? Actually, I had the math wrong in my head. So the very last ball that Yaswain played, I thought that I was going to do like a tiebreaker. So that's kind of what I was thinking already in my head. But then a friend of mine, her husband, looked at me and he's like, you won. and I was like, oh, what? And a couple other people came up to me and they were just like waving their arms and like, hey, you know, congrats and stuff. So that's kind of when it hit me that I won. Well, maybe, I don't know. That takes some of the pressure off. I don't know because, you know, I'll play tournaments and people ask me, oh, how are you doing? Like, let's say it's a match play. You know, where are you in the standings? And I give the honest answer. I have no idea. I don't look. It doesn't matter. I'll know at the end of it. It's not going to change the way I play. I'm going to try to win every game. But sometimes that helps me relax a little bit. But it's different. When you're in that big tournament, you've made it to the final 16, and then you advance to the semifinals, and then you're in the finals, and you know, at the very least, I'm coming away with probably some good cash and definitely some hardware. I might as well win it all. I mean, I'm with you there on not paying attention really where my standing is. I just try and concentrate on either getting first or second. And I feel like that that does help. When I did initially start the finals tournament, I had lost two of my first games. So I was kind of, you know, just kind of down and out about it because I'm like, here I am at end disc again. I've gone like three or four other times and I'll get to the finals and then I'll just bomb out the first round. And this time I just kind of was a little frustrated with myself. and I was like, man, I got to do something. And my third game I won and that forced a tiebreaker. And then I was able to do the tiebreaker and get ahead and go into the next round. Have you ever noticed when you see people in tiebreakers like yourself and they win, it kind of starts to snowball? You know, the tiebreaker is like, oh, okay, they're on a mission here. I've noticed that with other people. Did you feel that way? A little bit. I'm like, okay, yes, I'm in like top eight now. You know, that's kind of a little bit of a, a little more relaxing for myself. Like, okay, I did it. I can, you know, kind of sort of relax, but I really need to still focus and keep going. I'm curious, when you go to really one of the five biggest tournaments in the world and one of the five majors as far as the Open's concerned at InDisc, you get advanced knowledge of the games. I would guess that you would look at the game list and maybe, I'm wondering if you see a game, geez, I'm not that familiar with or I don't get to play it that often, Do you study it? Do you go check videos? What do you do? To be honest, I really don't look at the game list. Wow, that's awesome. I used to do that a lot, and I feel like I kind of, like, for the way my thought process works, I'll just, it's like almost too much, like, oversaturating myself with knowledge. Whereas if I go there and end up playing a game, I have a feel for it. And then I might look at, like, some rules or so forth. or might ask, like, well, he's usually there with me at a tournament. I might ask him, I'm like, okay, well, this is playing this way, and we kind of just talk about it a little bit. And if he doesn't really know either, then I usually just go to, like, pen tips or something and kind of just develop a strategy at that point. But I quit studying, like, the game list beforehand. I think it's just helpful for myself that way. It's interesting you say that because if I come up to a foreign game, I don't know or I'm certainly not familiar with, I can't quickly go through all the rules. I can't get deep into it. So it's kind of my brain. I try to learn three things. And these are the three shots. Maybe what do I do on the left flipper? What do I do on the right flipper? Certainly find the multi balls or locks if it's a game like that. You know, you can't do that, obviously, on some of the older games. But very, very limited. And, yeah, it's good that you've got some great people to help you. Yeah. And, you know, sometimes ignorance is bliss. It's like I'll go up to a game I've never played before and just keep going and going and have a great score. And I don't know how I got there, but obviously knowing rules and stuff helps. And it doesn't hurt, Cassie, that for many years now you've lived in Colorado where I've said it on stream before. Tim Sexton, I think, was the first guy I ever heard say it, so I'll give him credit. There's something in the water in Colorado that makes great pinball players because, my goodness, you can just list on and on and on all the wonderful players there. And I know when I'm playing with good players or against good players, it makes my game better. Do you feel the same? I absolutely do. We have a lot of players just in our local scene that they don't travel. I mean, they just might do the leagues or just do the tournaments, one-offs here, and they're really good. And, you know, obviously we have our great players like Usher and Z-Mac, but, you know, these are just, they're all over the place now. And I feel like if playing those people all the time, it does make you a better player, very well-rounded. You see all kinds of styles and techniques and so forth and developing friendships, which just helps you be more involved with the pinball scene here. I attribute a lot of that to being a well-rounded player. And it funny because you are in Colorado and when I see some of these people expand outside of Colorado at bigger tournaments I remember the first time I saw Walt Wood and it was at InDisc and it was Doctor Who and just looping and looping and looping and I like who is this guy because i want to watch him play and then legends like donovan steph who been doing it for years and years and obviously a great uh operator as well and i know in fact you were at a tournament i ran at um at lions uh for the pinball profile played in america tour a few years ago with ryan and cindy they're more great players it's just it's tough to win in colorado but it makes you a better player when you do travel outside. I agree. And I think that drive for myself, that drive to always play with good players, just kind of expanded to more tournaments outside of Colorado. And you've been doing a little bit of that. We talk about your big win at Indis, but you almost had another one of those just last September when in Chicago at Papa you finished in the top three. In fact, a great finals for the Women's Championship. It was Kerry Wing, it was Jane Verwise, and then yourself in third place. And on that stage, certainly had to do a lot for your confidence. You probably already are confident, but it's always nice to be able to put it down at a tournament and go, look, I can play with the best. Yeah, it certainly helps when you put in all the work with playing tournaments and so forth, and then you go to a big tournament, and then you find yourself in the top 16, or the top 8, and then the top 4. So it's definitely built up my confidence more, and I thrive off of that. I just feel like it's good GG for me to keep going. And I remember even not last year, but the year before in 2024, across the pond, and that's a big trip when you're coming from Colorado, you were at the UK Open, which is kind of very Indisc-like, right, with the card format. But that's a real exciting thing for certainly Europe because they don't get a lot of that, and that tournament's growing and growing. What did you think of the UK Open when you were there? I loved it, and I agree. I thought it was like a mini-indisc as well. Part of that trip was I've never been to England. I wanted to go to London. Before my pinball travels, I traveled on my own. So traveling with pinball just seemed to make sense. And when I went to the UK Open, I just had it in my head like, okay, every year I'm going to really try and do one out-of-the-country tournament. So I saw that the UK Open was there. It was availability. My schedule worked out. Money worked out. And I just went for it. It's not easy to travel. It certainly is expensive. It takes a lot of time away. It's good that you were able to make that trip to the UK. I know there's a pretty good women's event in Victoria, BC, the Neon Ranch. They have a, you know about the big rodeo. Obviously, they're in San Antonio that I just absolutely love, but they've got a good one there in Victoria, BC at Neon Ranch Pinball, too. So if you're looking to travel outside the country, might I suggest something like that? I would definitely look at it. I think there was a group of Colorado women that went to the Neon Ranch. I wasn't able to go, but I do have a trip coming up in a couple of weeks to play the KPO tournament in Christensen, Norway. Wow. No, that's great. Oh, wow. I've never been to Norway. That's definitely... Me neither. That's one of the two places I really want to go when it comes to Europe, and I'm excited for you. Oh, boy, that's going to be a good one, too. What do you know about Norway so far? Other than the black metal bands I really love from there, not a whole lot. It looks like a really beautiful place. I don't know when I'll get the opportunity to go back there or spend some vacation time or whatever, but I saw that the tournament was available, and I just thought, why not? I also have two friends that are attending as well, and I always like seeing them play. And that's something I always tell pinball players that might not play in tournaments, and they question, you know, why do you go to these tournaments? Well, it's because even though I'm traveling alone, and you might be the same, you know a lot of people once you get there, and you never really feel alone. It's kind of a nice, I don't know, little safety zone in a way. Yeah, it's definitely a community. I mean, even when I did go to UK, I met so many really cool people. And I have some new friends there just by going to the tournament. So the funny thing about my friends that are going, they used to live here in Colorado. Adam Higgins, I had known him for many years before even pinball in our medal scene. And he and another friend of ours where I used to play, they're the ones that suggested me to start going to tournaments. And I was just like, what am I going to do at a tournament? you know but um i owe a lot to them because they they really like encouraged me to start playing in tournaments and we're still good friends his wife heliana we're still really good friends i miss them a lot but uh they'll be at that tournament so it's just another opportunity to be with them and i'm sure i'll meet new people there as well that will all become friends too yeah we're talking about colorado players i forgot about adam and heliana because they've been Sweden, I guess now, for a little bit. And my goodness, just legends. I one time played I played Heliana and Snow at a tournament at a one-up Colfax. I was in Denver for a few weeks or something like that, or a week or something like that. And I just kind of created a one-off. It was called the Pinball Profile Road Trip or something like that. And we did it on some machines there and stuff. And I had to play around with Snow and Heliana. And most people who know me, the game was Ghostbusters. Before we started, I just said, congratulations, you've won. And I played, and I was correct when, yeah, they won because I couldn't play that. Not to mention they're outstanding players. But, yeah, it's just so good. You know, traveling is not easy. You mentioned time off. You mentioned, obviously, it's very expensive. But you are a wonderful person for many reasons, but you're also a bit of a caretaker, too, for your younger brother who has special needs, and that makes it also a little difficult to get away, doesn't it? It does. My mom's a full-time caretaker. I'm a part-time caretaker, so when she goes out of town, I'll take over and vice versa. My cousin's son also helps out. He actually moved in with us a couple of years ago. So with him being here, that's allowed me to do a little more traveling and feel better about being away from home to do it. My mom is totally supportive of me traveling and especially doing pinball and so forth. But he has a seizure disorder. He cannot do much for himself. So it's a full-time job 24-7, seven days a week. So it's definitely a lot of effort on both our parts. I'm curious because where I live in Canada, it's certainly different than other parts of the world and different states and different countries and whatnot. What's the care like in Colorado? model The care here is if you with a really good program company it awesome I pretty grateful that we found a company that is very supportive of our training and how we provide care for my brother They extremely supportive with whatever we need because they understand what an undertaking it can be for families who have family members with special needs. And I'm just grateful that we have that available here in Colorado. I'm really glad to hear that, too. That's not always the case, unfortunately, in certain parts, but I'm glad you've got that support there in Colorado, which is a state I absolutely love. My wife and I were there not too long ago and are making plans to go back, in fact, because every time I go there, it's just a wonderful time. So I'm glad to hear that other side of Colorado. I already liked it. Now I like it even more. But you were originally from New Mexico, and you were only there as a child. But I've always kind of wondered about the New Mexico pinball scene. I know Measel Mods, and they do a wonderful job out of New Mexico. but trying to grow it, whether it's Albuquerque or wherever the case may be. I don't know much about New Mexico pinball. What do you know? I know it's very small. I feel like it is growing. I know that they have a tournament in Albuquerque. I mean, it's not necessarily New Mexico, but they have a tournament in Durango that I noticed a lot of people are starting to go to. It's a pizza place of some sort. I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of that spot. There's a smaller town in Farmington that has a tournament as well. I haven't been to it yet. I've always been curious. I kind of just miss it every time in town. It's not on that day. But at some point, I'd like to just go down and just check it out and check out the tournament scene also in Albuquerque. Yeah, it's funny how we all get into pinball, right? If you probably stayed in New Mexico, you might not have had the exposure like you do in Colorado. and really, Colorado's kind of like a Washington in a way. That state certainly has pinball. You walk outside and there's a pinball joint, there's a pinball joint. There's a lot of it in Colorado with the one-ups. We mentioned Lions and other things too. I don't know. How did you get into pinball? There was a local watering hole called Three Kings Tavern and I used to spend a lot of time there because it had a lot of music and there was an owner-operator who had games there. I really didn't take it seriously. I had friends, like I said, like Adam And there's some other local folks there that would play pinball and they would invite me to play pinball and with them. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. And I'd start doing it. And, you know, it slowly just started becoming really interesting to me. They ended up bringing in a Bram Stoker's Dracula. And I really love that movie anyway. So I started to play that game a little more and became really obsessed with it. The other game that they had there that I became obsessed with was The Sopranos. and Star Trek. All great games for sure. Yeah, that would get me hooked too. Were you successful beginning? Were you like, oh, I'm actually pretty good at this. Hitting that Stugatz boat. Oh, there's a multi-ball. There's another one. I feel like I got lucky a lot. I noticed the geometry when you hit the ball from the flipper and it goes this way. I started to really latch on to the physics of how the ball travels on the play field. I know rules and stuff really didn't occur to me until a little bit later. Then I started reading more about it and playing with other folks and talking about it and so forth. But honestly, the real moment where my mind just kind of opened up to rules and the play feel was during COVID. Oh, okay. Yeah. We rented a Walking Dead, and we had it in our storage in the back behind my house. And I just played it. Walt and I, we just played the heck out of it. And I learned a lot about that game just going over it every day, you know, just flipper skills on top of that and rules. And it really just opened my mind to what was possible and how much more interesting pinball got. So is it safe to say you're more a fan of the modern machines because of the rules? I don't know if I would say I'm more of a fan. I just feel like now that I enjoy competing in tournaments, you have to learn about all the games. You have to, especially if you're going to compete in classics, you have to go through classics. I always try to say to myself, I don't, you know, I hear a lot of people saying, oh, I hate this game. I can't put that in my head ever because at some point or another, I'm going to be playing that game in a tournament. And I want to have the best open mind approach about it when I come up to a game. Modern games, for myself, it's an exercise for my brain to try and learn how to have strategies, stack rules, and so forth. Classic games, I feel like you're lucky sometimes, you're not. But to have flipper skills and to know the rules certainly helps as well. Well, that's the thing about flipper skills, too. I still remember seeing the ball, hitting the ball, seeing the ball, hitting the ball, never thinking of trapping up, never thinking of don't flip and let it dead bounce to the other side. What? No, what that little drain? And you see it on video or you see people do it and you go, okay, I'll try it. Oh, that seems to always work. Then it's, you know, are you shatzing? Are you doing live catches? Are you doing drop catches? Next level stuff. But I still remember the fear of doing that. And still once in a while in tournaments, you know, like, do I want to do a tap pass? I haven't tried it yet. Is this going to work? Is the flipper going to go too far? Am I going to miss? All that kind of stuff. But that was really the game changer for me. Is it the same for you too, having the confidence to do some of these flipper skills? Yeah. I mean, I feel like if there's someone saying, oh, I wouldn't try to do that, in my head, I'm definitely going to try to do that, especially like little tap passes and so forth. I'm not quite like 100% in shatting, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to try it anyway if I feel like I could do it. Or if I see somebody else doing it, okay, it's possible, you know? Well, what you just said there is something everyone should remember. If I saw somebody else do it, that means I can do it. And that kind of falls into place. Like, let's say you're behind in a massive game and you're just, you know, but you've got the hammer, you've got ball three, and somebody blows it up. Are you the kind of person that goes, okay, if they did it, I can do it too? Yep. Yeah. I am that person. And if it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. On to the next tournament. I try not to hold on to those things and say, oh, I should have done this. I should have done that. I mean, maybe if I thought that I could have improved my score by doing this or if it's a rule I didn't know and I needed to stack it with this or something like that, then I might think about it. But it is possible to catch up. And I've watched tournaments where this looks impossible. like before I started to have that mindset where people just blew it up on ball three and they came back and won. And it's just, if I felt awesome for them, you know, I'm sure they felt even more liberated. I think of Carrie Wing at the World Women Championship last year on Deadpool Like she was a dead person walking and then just kept going and kept going And next thing you know made that big big comeback to win it all So, yeah, if someone else can do it, you can do it too. But kind of a good mindset to have. You know when I get in trouble, and I like this kind of kibitzing back and forth with you about just tournament thoughts and things. One thing I do when I'm playing somebody, especially if it's a one versus one, like just a two-player game, head-to-head, I never look at their score. ever, until my last ball. I used to do that all the time and then sweat, oh, they had a bad ball, and it would get in my head. So now I couldn't even tell you what they've got. I know how long they've played because of how long I've been sitting waiting, but I never look up, which I do it at the end. And for me, it's about controlling pressure and it's less pressure. I still find myself once in a while taking a glance and I find myself getting in trouble every time I do it. I I didn't know. Does that get in your head? Is that something you're conscious of? Yes and no. I tend to not look at scores as well. Maybe like ball three, I'll definitely look, but I try not to pay too much attention. If I'm looking at another player playing, what I'm usually looking for is to see if they've endangered or tilted the game. That's one thing I definitely look for. But, yeah, at the beginning of my in-disc rounds, I got really frustrated. And part of what I'm working on now is to not let that frustration build up because it does affect my playing. And it's like every other game after that, I feel like I don't – like I've never played pinball in my life. You know, that's how I'll play. It does. It carries over ball to ball. And, you know, whether you had a great ball or a lousy house ball, it's done when you play the next ball. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. This is the only ball that matters. And funny enough, talking about Colorado players, I used to get so frustrated, like, oh, a house ball. And it was Escher Lefkoff who said to me, well, good, there, it's out of the way. And it just kind of laughed it off. I'm like, he's kind of right. The odds are he's probably not going to get another one. So hopefully it doesn't happen on your last ball. But don't get so frustrated after the first ball. The last thing I want to talk to you about is kind of something I don't have to deal with, obviously. I, when I go to a big tournament, I'll play usually two tournaments, probably the main, probably a classics tournament. When I was younger and just was IFPA crazy, I would play as many things as I could, but then dividing that time I found really hurt me because I would suffer in many versus concentrating on just one or two. You and any woman that's listening to this podcast have to divide your time more than the men because of the women's tournament. And sometimes they cross over, they don't align properly, and it really has to split your time. How hard is that? And do you sacrifice things by splitting that time? So if there's a tournament where there's like classics, women's and like an open, I, well, it kind of depends on like how I'm feeling. Am I really tired? Is my mental brain feeling tired? If I'm on 10, then I'm going for it. Like I'm going to go put a card in for classics or try the classics and then do a women's and then an open. But at some point, you know, I feel like I got to be realistic if I'm actually going to try and place well or try and get to finals. Like, where do I want to divert my energy towards? And this time at InDisc, I didn't do any classics because I just we left like the day before Thursday morning to go to InDisc. It was very last minute decision. So I was already tired and kind of fatigued a little bit the night before work and preparing and just getting on a plane and hopping over. But I really wanted to focus my time on the women's because, like you said, I feel like it's all mental for the most part. And I feel like that that helped me get my head around the games and play the best games that I could in the women's and then trying to play swell in the open. Yeah, that's interesting because of the crossover. And Indisc is like many, many tournaments where you've got a schedule, you try to squeeze everything in. There was the Gottlieb big tournament as well, and there's the Sunday Strikes tournament. There's a lot going on, which is exciting, but it's hard to be successful at all of them. So I know as a tournament director for the things that I do, which include things locally here, but even bigger things like the Stern Pro Circuit event, the Beast, I now am purposely scheduling women's events where they don't have to conflict. So that might be a Sunday tournament. And if they're playing in the playoffs of the main, we wait. We make sure that the women get to do both. Because I've had people give me that feedback. It's great that you have these events, but I'm splitting my time and I can't do it. So let's have some devoted time. I always liked what Whipped is doing at Pinberg. They've now got that Sunday event. You're not conflicting with anything because Pinberg's done. So it's really nice for the women, and I'm kind of taking a note from that to help women's pinball grow but also just be able to devote that time. So nothing is perfect, but we tinker, and hopefully we figure it out. You figured it out at Indisc for sure, and I wonder next year when you go, will you again avoid the classics now that you've seen what the devoted attention does for something like women's? Yeah, I mean, like I said, it really depends on how I'm feeling and how I'm playing overall. Even if I put in a couple cards and I'm not feeling it, I might not even put more time into it. But if I am, then I'll go for it. Well, I'm glad you did. The Indus Champ, your name goes on a banner. You're immortalized, which is, I would imagine, because I don't have my name on a banner. That would mean more than the wonderful prize money, the incredible trophy, that every year I go and everyone goes to this. There it is, Cassie Begay right there. It's pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I still can't really wrap my head around it, honestly. Well, get used to it. There's probably going to be a few more. Maybe you'll do it in Norway in a couple of weeks. Who knows? Who knows? Cassie, it's great to talk to you again, and congratulations on the win and all the best. Safe travels, and hope to see you in Colorado or somewhere else very soon. Likewise. Thank you so much. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Instagram, Twitter, X, Facebook, at pinballprofile. pinballprofile at gmail.com is our email. And if you'd like to show your support, don't worry, the show will always be free. But we certainly appreciate our contributors like Ken G, GME Law, Jerry S, Tony V, Erica's Pinball Journey, and more. That's patreon.com slash pinballprofile. Great talking with the in-disc women's champ, Cassie Begay. I'm Jeff Beals. B executable card.

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: c854f773-8e8b-4424-a8f7-5a5064614aaf*