# Episode 325: Bang Back Pinball Lounge

**Source:** Pinball Profile  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2021-12-06  
**Duration:** 17m 16s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-325-bang-back-pinball-lounge/

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## Analysis

Jeff Teolis interviews Fred Richardson, owner of Bang Back Pinball Lounge in Columbia, South Carolina, about building a thriving pinball community venue that opened during COVID. Richardson discusses his philosophy of community-first operations, women's and youth pinball programs (Bells and Chimes, Little Flippers), and strategic machine layout. The conversation covers tournament hosting, collaboration between local venues, and Bang Back's emergence as a regional pinball hub.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Bang Back Pinball Lounge in Columbia, South Carolina opened during the COVID-19 pandemic after three years of planning and preparation — _Fred Richardson directly states the venue opened 'right at the dawn of COVID' and was 'about three years in the making, longer than we had expected'_
- [HIGH] Bells and Chimes women's pinball program has grown to over 100 names on email list and has had two consecutive sold-out leagues — _Richardson states 'we've got an email list of over 100 names we've had two sold out leagues in a row'_
- [HIGH] Bang Back runs a Little Flippers youth program for 4- to 12-year-olds on the third Saturday of every month — _Richardson confirms 'We got a little flippers program going on for kids. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, 4- to 12-year-olds. It happens the third Saturday of every month.'_
- [HIGH] Columbia, South Carolina markets itself as 'the pinball capital of the world' and the search result appears first when looking up the term — _Richardson explains how Mark Mandeltort suggested the term and 'because of it people look it up on their phone it's the first thing and it says columbia South Carolina'_
- [HIGH] Bang Back is planning a tournament event for January 14-16, with about 20 people already committed — _Richardson states 'I think it's 14th, 15th, and 16th... I got about 20 people committed to coming out right now'_
- [HIGH] The machines at Bang Back are arranged in a circular 'pinwheel' layout with 60-degree spacing between each game — _Richardson explains the layout: 'all the games are back to back to back to back and they're in a big circle and they're spread out so there's like 60 degrees between each one of the games'_
- [HIGH] Richardson estimates less than 10% market penetration in Columbia for pinball awareness among the city's population — _Richardson tells his investors 'in the city of Columbia, I would say we don't even have 10% of the market penetrated yet that have ever heard of us'_

### Notable Quotes

> "pinball's therapy. And so, you know, like I said, we started with the women. We got a little flippers program going on for kids."
> — **Fred Richardson**, ~13:30
> _Articulates Richardson's philosophy that pinball serves a therapeutic/social function, especially for isolationists during COVID_

> "my best friends in my life are people I've met through pinball. And, you know, these are people that were in my wedding."
> — **Jeff Teolis**, ~20:45
> _Emphasizes the deep personal bonds formed through pinball community travel and tournaments_

> "What I want to do is eliminate the veto vote. Okay. So what I mean by that is if you've got a party of four, they're driving around in their car and they want to, Hey, we should go over to bang back. And one person in the car says, well, I'm vegan."
> — **Fred Richardson**, ~32:15
> _Reveals Richardson's business strategy to remove objections to venue visits through inclusive food/beverage options_

> "we're celebrating pinball. I want you to see the art on the cabinet. I want you to be able to stand on the side while your kids or your significant others playing and really enjoy that social interaction."
> — **Fred Richardson**, ~36:45
> _Justifies the circular pinwheel machine layout as intentional design for aesthetic appreciation and social engagement_

> "the ones that weren't as good were ones that people didn't work together"
> — **Fred Richardson**, ~24:30
> _States Richardson's core belief that collaborative ecosystem of pinball venues outperforms competitive silos_

> "rising tides, lift all ships"
> — **Fred Richardson**, ~25:15
> _Summarizes philosophy of supporting competing venues and collaborative growth_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Fred Richardson | person | Owner and founder of Bang Back Pinball Lounge in Columbia, South Carolina; experienced tournament organizer with women's pinball and youth program expertise; former Minnesota state championships GM at Brunswick Zone |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast; long-time pinball traveler and tournament participant; established in pinball community with deep personal friendships formed through the circuit |
| Bang Back Pinball Lounge | company | Pinball lounge and restaurant venue in Columbia, South Carolina that opened during COVID-19 pandemic; features 28 craft beer taps, in-house scratch cooking, pinball-focused layout design, and youth/women's programs |
| Bells and Chimes | organization | Women's pinball program founded at Bang Back with 100+ participants on email list and two consecutive sold-out leagues; represents community expansion effort |
| Little Flippers | organization | Youth pinball program at Bang Back for children ages 4-12, held on third Saturday of each month; part of bench-strength building strategy |
| Marco Pinball / Marco Specialties | company | Pinball parts distributor and supplier; five-year partnership with Richardson; credited with developing 'pinball capital of the world' marketing concept for Columbia |
| Columbia, South Carolina | location | State capital where Bang Back is located; positioned as emerging pinball hub with multiple venues coordinating through operator council; marketed as 'pinball capital of the world' |
| Free Play Florida | event | Annual pinball tournament in Florida (end of November) where Bang Back brought representatives including Bells and Chimes participants |
| Stern Army | organization | Tournament circuit mentioned as active in Columbia |
| Stern Pro Circuit | event | Professional pinball tournament series; Free Play Florida would normally be a circuit event in normal years |
| Southern Pride | event | Atlanta-based pinball tournament; described as Bang Back's 'home one'; sister tournament to Free Play Florida |
| Mark Mandeltort | person | Owner of Marco Pinball; credited with originating 'pinball capital of the world' marketing concept for Columbia |
| Kevin Stone | person | Pinball community member organizing MAGFest event; friend of Richardson |
| Jason Wordrick | person | Visiting pinball figure who has attended Bang Back |
| Steve Bowden | person | Visiting pinball figure who has attended Bang Back |
| Ray Day | person | Pinball figure who praised Bang Back highly |
| Crystal | person | Team member at Bang Back/Marco Pinball |
| Kyle Spitteri | person | Team member at Bang Back/Marco Pinball |
| Kim Martinez | person | Team member at Bang Back/Marco Pinball |
| Emoto | person | Team member at Bang Back/Marco Pinball |
| Brunswick Zone | company | Minnesota-based bowling/arcade venue where Richardson previously worked as GM and developed pinwheel machine layout concept in 2012 |
| MAGFest | event | Festival event organized by Kevin Stone; Bang Back's January tournament is scheduled one week after |
| Indisc | event | Major pinball tournament; Bang Back's January event scheduled three weeks before to avoid clash |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Community-first venue operations and philosophy, Women's and youth pinball programs (Bells and Chimes, Little Flippers), Pinball venue design and machine layout strategy (pinwheel circular layout), Collaborative ecosystem of local pinball venues vs. competitive silos, Columbia, South Carolina as emerging pinball hub and 'pinball capital of the world' marketing
- **Secondary:** Pandemic-era venue opening and operations challenges, Food and beverage integration in pinball venues (craft cocktails, vegan options), Pinball tournament hosting and organization

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.88) — Episode is a celebration of Fred Richardson's community-building efforts and Bang Back's success. Both host and guest express enthusiasm and mutual respect. No criticism or conflict present. Tone is warm, congratulatory, and forward-looking with optimism about pinball growth in Columbia.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Bang Back Pinball Lounge opened during COVID-19 pandemic after three years of planning; represents successful venue launch in challenging economic conditions (confidence: high) — Richardson confirms opening 'right at the dawn of COVID' and was 'about three years in the making'
- **[community_signal]** Little Flippers youth pinball program targeting 4-12 year olds represents bench-strength building strategy; monthly programming on consistent schedule (confidence: high) — Richardson confirms 'We got a little flippers program going on for kids... 4- to 12-year-olds. It happens the third Saturday of every month'
- **[community_signal]** Bells and Chimes women's pinball program has achieved significant scale with 100+ email subscribers and two consecutive sold-out leagues; represents intentional community expansion (confidence: high) — Richardson states 'we've got an email list of over 100 names we've had two sold out leagues in a row with that'
- **[event_signal]** Bang Back planning January 14-16 tournament with 20 committed participants; positioned as community gathering separate from major circuit events like Indisc and MAGFest (confidence: high) — Richardson confirms 'I think it's 14th, 15th, and 16th... I got about 20 people committed to coming out right now. So we'll see some of the people you've mentioned, some new faces.'
- **[community_signal]** Collaborative venue ecosystem philosophy contrasted with competitive/siloed markets; Richardson emphasizes 'rising tides lift all ships' approach and calendar coordination (confidence: high) — Richardson states 'the ones that weren't as good were ones that people didn't work together' and demonstrates council coordination to prevent event conflicts
- **[community_signal]** Columbia, South Carolina emerging as secondary pinball hub with multiple venues coordinating through operator council; positioned as sister city to Atlanta (Southern Pride tournament) (confidence: high) — Richardson states 'we even have a council in in our city where you know the owners and operators of these places we all get together and we we talk and we work through things' and describes Southern Pride as 'our home one' in Atlanta that Bang Back partners with
- **[market_signal]** Columbia pinball market has less than 10% penetration among city population; significant growth runway and untapped audience potential (confidence: high) — Richardson tells investors 'in the city of Columbia, I would say we don't even have 10% of the market penetrated yet that have ever heard of us'
- **[product_strategy]** Bang Back's pinwheel circular machine layout (60-degree spacing) differentiated from typical side-by-side configurations; intentional design philosophy emphasizing machine art and social interaction (confidence: high) — Richardson explains 'all the games are back to back to back to back and they're in a big circle... there's like 60 degrees between each one' and states design intent is 'celebrating pinball... I want you to see the art on the cabinet'

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## Transcript

 it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teals you can find everything on pinballprofile.com all your subscriptions past episodes and more we're on twitter and instagram at pinball profile we're on facebook and you can email us pinball profile at gmail.com in florida funky fresh in the house fred richardson good to see you buddy i know that's right good to see you too man. It is good to see you because you are one of the hardest working guys I know and I want to congratulate you on bang back. Tell me about what's going on in South Carolina. Well we're uh we got a bursting scene happening in Columbia. We're in the capital right in the middle of the state. We opened our place up right at the the dawn of COVID. Yeah that's a good time to open isn't it? Yeah it's funny people come by and say oh they give the look like you know someone had just passed in your family and you say well you know what actually opening a restaurant at any times never easy true yeah so you know we took that in stride and thankfully you know things have been growing the scene is wonderful there's a lot of really good people and you know it's a hot spot it's a new hot spot you got the stern army going i've seen on facebook you taking recommendations i know you're trying to grow it and you've certainly been experienced in pinball for so many years you've run a lot of tournaments you've done a lot with women's tournaments and i know this is going to continue to grow in south carolina but you mentioned yeah opening during the pandemic. But let's be honest, you've been working on this for a few years. Absolutely, yeah. This was about three years in the making, longer than we had expected it to be. And thankfully, the cards just fell in the right place. It worked. We got the right team of people together. And, you know, we had a really good plan. I think we had really good focus, a really good plan. You know, we had a strong track record, as you mentioned, you know, put together a really good team of people and you know all you can do is just water the garden and hope it grows. I've seen some of the staff here again we mentioned we're in Florida so this is Freeplay Florida end of November and I saw a bunch of bang back shirts looks like there was a big crew here. Yeah we brought some of the gals down from the Bells and Chimes Cola Bells and Chimes that was the first program we actually officially put together was the women's program that's grown to we've got an email list of over 100 names we've had two sold out leagues in a row with that And yeah, we brought some of the crew down this time. This was their first big tournament that they've come to. We rented out a house and had a good time, relaxed, and really, really had a fun weekend. They really enjoyed it. Well, it's a good experience for them, too, to see a big tournament like Free Play Florida. So I think that's probably what your attention was. Okay, this is all what we need, especially if it's a pump-and-dump type format. And knowing you and Bang Back, there's probably going to be single-day tournaments, multi-day tournaments. I guess, really, it's endless possibilities. Yeah, there's a lot out there. We've got good people, we've got good tournament directors that are helping us with that. The thing is, I'm a food and beverage person. Like, I'm about the community. I really just want all the tangibles in place. And then let the official pinball stuff sort of curate itself. What does it want to be? I'm really about recreational things. I really want the fun of people just getting together, making friends, you know, finding a place for an outlet. You know, we all know pinball's therapy. And so, you know, like I said, we started with the women. We got a little flippers program going on for kids. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, 4- to 12-year-olds. That happens the third Saturday of every month. Yeah, Fred, that's what we need, more young kids doing well at pinball. Us wood farts like you and I are watching all these kids just dominate, and here you are getting the 4- to 12-year-olds. Well, maybe that'll knock off the teens. Who knows? There we go. Well, we're about to have a really badass senior division coming up here pretty soon. Yeah, you're right. I'm in. But, no, with the little flippers, it's like get the imaginations going early and stuff. And, you know, it's all about bench strength. You're always, you know, the machine never stops. And we've seen it firsthand. I mean, look at Expo 2019, our final four in flip-ups. All kids. Under 18. Yeah. And it was outstanding, wasn't it? Yeah, pretty impressive. And, again, this year, too, with Zach McCarthy and Escher Lefkoff repeating again. So, Indisc was kind of like that, too. I know Eric Stone kind of they let that old guy in there but again it was young people Jared August and Colin Urban Yeah Yeah and the thing is again it about the community It about the people It about the friendships You know and a lot of times like people are drawn to pinball because it something they can do by themselves We found in the pandemic, you know, there were a lot of isolationists, right? Everybody's kind of stuck in their homes and stuff. And a lot of times, that's kind of what pinball players are. You know, they'll come out and they'll be by themselves because they can play by themselves and nobody bothers them. but what we want to do is add that social element we want to help them say hey there's more people like you that do this and we're here for you we're family and so it's in our motto you know everyone's welcome everyone's family and really give them a place where they feel comfortable they can come in and you know be relaxed and break out of that shell a little bit. It's funny for people who haven't been to tournaments or maybe they just go to one local tournament or a league when you start to travel you really get to know more and more people and And I know that's the case with you, I think. In 30 years, in March. That's amazing. And I was thinking, you know, we certainly had a good time in L.A. years ago when you kicked butt on Price is Right. Oh, yeah, that was a good time. But I think we hung out and maybe stayed together at the Louisville Arcade Expo, I think. I think so. Yep, yep. That was always the first one of the year. Yeah. L.A.X., Louisville Expo. It was always the first event of the year, the first circuit tournament of the year. And you're right. I mean, my best friends in my life are people I've met through pinball. And, you know, these are people that were in my wedding. These are, you know, people who, you know, I still talk to on the phone and make time for. And they're some of the best friends I've ever made in life. So that's kind of what, that's the joy of what we're spreading is the community. What's interesting is for someone like myself, here I am at this tournament. I think I'm the only Canadian here, but I know more than half the people here. and you are the same and other people that travel for pinball it is that kind of family and i mentioned this because here you are in south carolina and you've been all over and your your roots are not south carolina no they're not and so what i did was i dragged a bunch of people with me you did actually that's true yeah yeah so it's been almost five years uh that i've worked with marco specialties marco pinball and um you know we've really built up that that family of people um i mean look who's on the team we've got crystal and we've got kyle spitteri we got kim martinez is down now and moto of course is on you know on the team and you know we're always looking for great people to grow that and you know we jokingly have a banner you may have seen it says the pinball capital of the world and people come in and they see that and they're always like oh is it really and we're like well there's a sign right there isn't there and they look it up on their phone and now we have driven the algorithms that when you look it up it comes up it's a little embarrassing but it's it's definitely it's funny too hey take that ownership tim arnold threw pinball hall of fame on his place what made that the hall of fame because he called it that in banning the museum of pinball sure so the pinball capital i like that well it was mark mandeltort actually the owner of marco pinball who was the one that came up with that and now because of it people look it up on their phone it's the first thing and it says columbia South Carolina and they all just kind of look at each other. So smart. Isn't that funny? See, Fred, you think big. I think small potatoes. I think stupid things like, oh, I want to be the IFPA president in 2020. And that's, I mean, that's nothing. That's gone. You will always have capital of the world. Well done. Yeah. Well, you know, like it's about, I think, reaching out to as many people as you can, getting as many people involved as you can. You know, you talked about being the only person from Canada down here this time. I wanted to make sure that we had people from Columbia so they could come in, get a taste to kind of see what the big shows are like. So that way they can bring that enthusiasm back to Columbia and say, hey, we can do this here. We can have a show. We can do a tournament. About the shows too, because Freeplay Florida has a huge, huge arcade and they really do a good job. But you're right, it is an eye-opener the first time you come to a big event. And in normal years, this would be a Stern Pro Circuit event. It will be in 2022. It's just those events are paused until next year. But you really get to see a lot at an event like this. and do you have any other plans to take them to other events? Maybe, I'm trying to think what else would be close, like Southern Pride? Southern Pride, yeah. Southern Pride is kind of our home one in Atlanta. This is sort of the sister tournament to it so we all get along and work with each other and support each other so we have that going on I will say I know people want stuff to happen in Colombia yeah so I mean you know we'll see if we get to that point someday I've noticed too I mean certainly Bang Back is definitely you know a hot spot in Colombia and you've done so well there but I've heard that there are other places as well so you know what that's kind of good because that gets more and more people into pinball and they're going to go to all these different places maybe it's a league at your place on Wednesday night or something else? You hit it right on the head, Jeff. It's really about rising tides, lift all ships. And so I think our mission with Bang Back wasn't so much about what happens inside our four walls, but what happens in the city, what happens in the community. So we do work together. We work with the other locations and, you know, we're supportive. We give certificates, we give t-shirts, we give hats, whatever we have, you know, to show people like hey it's okay because i've been in great scenes before and i've been in some that just haven't been as good and the ones that weren't as good were ones that people didn't work together that's funny you say that you and i know a lot of people and i'll go to a certain city and they'll say well we don't really get along with that league or this league yep it's not good no well it doesn't grow it okay so you know i was an ifpa state representative and my mission was to grow pinball that's what you do yeah and where I was we ended up having kind of three places sort of rise up amongst the rest so what happened you know you've got you've got three places that are doing really well but they don't support each other and so the people that were in the one didn't go to the other two and it was just it was just kind of mind-wracking where it's like okay so you all got 16 people at your monthly and you got 14 people at your monthly imagine if you all went together oh think about that wait a minute now we have 42 people at our event so that's how i got into this and it's coming up to eight years seeing a league that was an hour and a half away from my home and then somebody in the league said well we've got one in this city i'm like that's closer to where i live yep and just it grows and grows and grows well and you want it to be dedicated nights which is so there's no confliction too yeah so so respect the calendar yeah respect the calendar that's a good point that's really what it's about it's like we all communicate with each other you know we we we even have a council in in our city where you know the owners and operators of these places we all get together and we we talk and we work through things and it's really about again the growth of the whole it's visibility like you know it's so funny such a microcosm you know we come to these events or we have these places in our city but ask yourself how many people in the city actually know about pinball like it's our whole world right and And then, like, you know, I was talking to my investors last week, and I said, you know, I said, really, in the city of Columbia, I would say we don't even have 10% of the market penetrated yet that have ever heard of us. Sure. So, you know. You still get those people, oh, they still have pinball, or they still make pinball. This is new? Oh, look at this new place. Well, we've been coming up on it a year and a half now. Well, the nice thing about Bang Back, and I've heard this from people that have been there, is, yes, you've got this great pinball facility, but I hear the food's quite nice, too. And that's, again, your specialty. So you're not going to chintz on something like that. No, never trust a skinny chef. I saw your post there. You called yourself Chunky Fresh. I'm right there with you, buddy. It was a rough patch. We got the Funky Fresh food truck. Everything we make is scratch, in-house. All of our sauce is everything. And yes, our food is great. Our drinks are great. our craft cocktails. We've got 28 taps. I mean, I'm not trying to do a commercial here, but it's about checking all the boxes. Okay. You have to. What I want to do is eliminate the veto vote. Okay. So what I mean by that is if you've got a party of four, they're driving around in their car and they want to, Hey, we should go over to bang back. And one person in the car says, well, I'm vegan. And you know, I don't. So we added a vegan portion to our menu. You do everything you can to eliminate that one person in a group of four or whatever that's going to say no. We family friendly We all ages all the time We do the little flippers program so people visibility they recognize recognize that hey this is a family place i seen the layout too first of all uh is that that roger sharp pitcher yeah yeah the roger banner but i like the way the games are spread out to pinwheels yeah yeah we call them pinwheels um you see that shows a lot well and that was the thing so i did it just off chance in 2012 when i was doing the minnesota state championships uh i was at brunswick zone i was a gm up there and so i set them up that way back to back to back to back and it was cool this was before i'd gone to any shows and then when i hooked up with marco pinball it was like oh wait you guys do that too you know and doing that here's the thing for people that are listening that don't understand all the games are back to back to back to back and they're in a big circle and they're spread out so there's like 60 degrees between each one of the games yeah there's no interruption. I mean, you'd have to throw a machine to bump into somebody. Absolutely. And this was intentional. Now, we all know that most places line their games up side by side by side by side. We get that space short. Yeah, you need the square footage. You want to do the square foot ROI? Good for you. But what we're doing is we're celebrating pinball. I want you to see the art on the cabinet. That's a good point. I want you to be able to stand on the side while your kids or your significant others playing and really enjoy that social interaction. And you don't interfere with anyone else. I think that's brilliant. Yeah, and so it takes up a lot of room, but that's what we're featuring. So, you know, it works for us. I know you've had a few people show up in Columbia. I know your good buddy Jason Wordrick's been there, and Ray Day went on and on about how great it is. Steven Bowden came out. Of course, and it got me thinking, you know, not this year, maybe not next year, but at some point I've got to do another one of these Pinball Profile World Tours. Would Columbia be a good place? Absolutely. You think Bang Back could take us? Oh, Jeff, we'd love to have you out there. Yeah, I'd love to go. And, of course, we'll tour you with all the other locations, go to some of the breweries and stuff. I mean, that's what I do when people come to town. It's like, you know, I usually start with them, bringing them to the other places and showing them what we got going on and then settle into our place. So we're going to do something in January. I had a lot of people asking. They're starting to break out of the COVID, you know, blues. People wanted to travel. And it's so funny because all my friends that I know from the circuits are always, oh, just tell me when you're going to do a big tournament. It's like, okay, which is always a lot of work. Yeah. So I floated something out there. Turned out we got the dates to work for January. I think it's 14th, 15th, and 16th. It's still three weeks away from Indus, so it shouldn't Slash with that too much. We're the week after MAGFest. Our friends Kevin Stone and those guys are up there doing that thing. So we're going to do it that weekend. I got about 20 people committed to coming out right now. So we'll see some of the people you've mentioned, some new faces. Okay, we're going to have to watch that in January. And I'm going to have to mention to my wife who works out of North Carolina. And you told me it's an easy jaunt to get down there. Yes, sir. Yeah, I might do a Pinball Profile World Tour event down the road. But I might be checking out Bang Back before then. I'm looking forward to it. Hey, you're family, man. You're always welcome. Thanks, Fred. It's good seeing you again. Good seeing you too, man. I'm really proud of what you've done. because I know how hard you've worked at this. Hey, we're just getting started, baby. Yeah, no, you've got the passion, you've got the know-how, and I can only imagine Bang Back will be successful for many years to come. So congratulations. Hopefully all of them will be successful. Yeah, see, you've got the right attitude. Fred Richardson, thank you very much. And where can people reach you? You can check us out online at bangbackpinball.com. All of our socials, they're fun. Check out our Facebook and our Instagram at bangbackpinball as well. Please follow us. if you're ever coming down let us know like people out there if you want to come and visit you know give us a heads up we'd love to give you you know kind of the red carpet treatment make sure that you have a great time when you come in awesome i'll see you soon buddy thanks very much this has been your pinball profile you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we're on facebook we're on instagram and twitter at pinball profile emails pinballprofile at gmail.com i'm jeff I want to get on the good foot. Good foot. I got to get on the good foot.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e590aab5-6650-4f4d-8394-6e02a8c20f4a*