# Episode 192: Pinball Nerds Podcast

**Source:** Pinball Profile  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2019-04-28  
**Duration:** 31m 19s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-192-pinball-nerds-podcast/

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## Analysis

Jeff Teolis interviews Orbital Albert (Albert Edgar), host of Pinball Nerds Podcast, about his unique daily blogging/podcasting approach inspired by filmmaker Casey Neistat. Albert discusses his philosophy of unedited, high-frequency content creation, his upcoming move to Nova Scotia to expand his pinball collection and streaming setup, and his ambitious summer plans including a 1,000km Bruce Trail hike and house sale before relocating.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Orbital Albert has released nearly 200 Pinball Nerds Podcast episodes in less than a year — _Albert states 'I'm coming up to 200 shows' and Jeff notes he's done it 'for less than a year' compared to Teolis's 3 years and ~200 episodes_
- [HIGH] Albert's podcast inspiration came from Casey Neistat's philosophy of daily content creation with community feedback — _Albert: 'one of my favorite social media personalities is Casey Neistat from YouTube... just make a film every single day, and your followers, your friends will tell you'_
- [HIGH] Albert did not promote his podcast to Pinside or social media for the first 100 episodes — _Albert: 'For the first 100 episodes, I did not post it to a single link on Pinside. I didn't put anything on Facebook'_
- [HIGH] Albert and his wife are purchasing a property in Nova Scotia with plans to expand from 2 to 6-8 pinball machines — _Albert: 'I also get to expand from having two pinball machines to I've done the measurements, everybody, six to eight machines'_
- [HIGH] Albert is hiking the Bruce Trail (nearly 1,000 kilometers) from May 25 to Canada Day with rotating weekly companions — _Albert: 'from May 25th until Canada Day, I will be hiking the Bruce Trail. Almost 1,000 kilometres, 600 miles'_
- [HIGH] The London Ontario Pinball League (LOPL) features Monday night play and has been running for at least 3 years with Albert attending ~100 sessions — _Albert: 'The only place I've ever kicked a butt at pinball is Monday nights at pinball at Call the Office, Monday Night Pinball. I go to one a week for like two years now. I've been to 100 of them almost.'_
- [HIGH] Albert's most-listened episodes are short 2-3 minute format, receiving ~70 listens in 24 hours — _Albert: 'the ones that get like 70 listens in 24 hours are the short two ones'_
- [HIGH] Albert rents pinball machines from Mike Dimas every three months to rotate his home collection — _Albert: 'I've now rented, I think, seven machines off him. So every three months or so, I rent a machine'_

### Notable Quotes

> "When you take away the fear of, oh, what if it's not perfect? You can do anything. And that's not a lot of people have that."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~10:00
> _Core philosophy behind his high-frequency content creation approach and willingness to publish unedited material_

> "I'm 99% for me... slowly... by episode around 100, once I did the one for Mark, that was my very first podcast that got 100 listens. And all of a sudden the pressure comes in."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~45:00
> _Reveals creative evolution from personal project to audience-conscious content, tension between authenticity and listener expectations_

> "I don't want to be the fun guy who just talks about falling back in love with pinball, doing cool competitions, talking about the enjoyment of playing pinball and making pinball more popular instead of tearing it down."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~47:00
> _Clarifies his content philosophy and positioning against negative/critical commentary in the pinball space_

> "If I had to call it anything, it's an interview show... mine's more about people. It's always about people."
> — **Jeff Teolis**, ~60:00
> _Teolis distinguishes his Pinball Profile format as people-focused rather than news/review oriented_

> "I enjoy streaming, I think, either equally or even more because you get direct feedback from the people you're streaming with... I'm not going to have as much time for podcasting."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~70:00
> _Indicates shift in Albert's content strategy toward streaming over daily podcast releases, reducing from 7 to 2-3 per week_

> "If the house doesn't sell for what I need it to, I get less pinball machines."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~85:00
> _Reveals financial constraints on planned machine expansion in Nova Scotia; house sale proceeds directly fund pinball acquisition_

> "We have to sell it by the 30th... I've got about 43 things left to do by Wednesday at noon."
> — **Orbital Albert**, ~86:00
> _Indicates extreme time pressure on home sale and preparation; interview conducted April 22, deadline April 30_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Orbital Albert | person | Host of Pinball Nerds Podcast; daily content creator from London, Ontario; competitive pinball player; LOPL participant; moving to Nova Scotia; planning Bruce Trail hike |
| Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast; ~9 years of episodic content; ~200 episodes; competition-focused podcast; interviewer in this episode |
| Casey Neistat | person | YouTube filmmaker/personality with 10M+ subscribers; inspiration for Albert's daily content creation philosophy |
| Pinball Nerds Podcast | product | Nearly daily audio blog/podcast by Orbital Albert; ~200 episodes in <1 year; unedited, conversational format; focuses on local pinball content and competition |
| Pinball Profile | product | Podcast/interview show by Jeff Teolis; ~200 episodes over 9 years; people-focused; edited, professional production; 500+ industry interviews referenced |
| London Ontario Pinball League (LOPL) | organization | Weekly Monday night pinball competition; venue moved from Call the Office to Speed City; Albert has attended ~100 sessions over 2-3 years |
| Mike Dimas | person | Pinball machine operator/rental service provider in London, Ontario; rents machines to Albert on 3-month rotation; provides setup, leveling, and maintenance support |
| Mark | person | Pinball operator; designer of The Nightmare Before Christmas pinball (referenced as 'revolutionary' and Twippy winner); Albert's first major podcast guest |
| Chris the Pinter | person | Pinball community member; attended Texas Pinball Festival; received Twippy Award for Nightmare Before Christmas; wore Willy Wonka costume to award ceremony |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas | game | Pinball machine by Mark; described as 'revolutionary'; Twippy Award winner |
| Texas Pinball Festival | event | Major pinball event where Twippy Awards were presented; Albert plans to attend; source of shout-outs on other podcasts |
| Slam Tilt | product | Pinball podcast by Ron and Bruce Nightingale; hosts give shout-outs to listeners on Facebook at show end; first mention of Albert's podcast |
| Head to Head Pinball | product | Pinball podcast; host Ryan C. mentioned as formerly active; noted for banter between hosts |
| This Week in Pinball (TWIP) | product | Pinball news/podcast; mentioned as source of feedback on Albert's episodes; hosts provide community recognition |
| Mrs. Pin's Pinball Podcast | product | Pinball podcast introduced to Jeff by Albert; noted as edited and professional, contrasting with Albert's daily approach |
| Bruce Trail | event | ~1,000km (600 mile) hiking trail in Ontario; Albert planning to hike May 25-Canada Day with rotating weekly companions; northern section has free camping and rattlesnakes |
| Nova Scotia | location | Canadian province; Albert and wife purchasing 7-acre property with 3 bedrooms; expansion location for pinball collection and streaming setup; significantly lower real estate costs than Ontario |
| Walking Dead | game | Pinball machine currently rented from Mike Dimas by Albert; used in house staging despite potential buyer turnoff |
| Skateball | game | Pinball machine owned by Orbital Albert; currently in home (April 2024) |
| Total Nuclear Annihilation | product | Live streaming platform where Albert streamed with Ian Hayward; Albert expressed preference for streaming over podcasting after this experience |
| Ian Hayward | person | Pinball community figure; collaborated with Albert on Total Nuclear Annihilation live stream |
| Purple Bricks | company | Real estate agent service; Albert's agent scheduled to photograph house on April 24 (2 days after interview) |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Podcast/content creation philosophy, High-frequency vs. edited content production, Pinball community media ecosystem
- **Secondary:** Personal relocation and life changes, Competitive pinball and league play, Streaming vs. podcasting as content mediums, Pinball machine collecting and rentals
- **Mentioned:** Authenticity and content creator identity

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.82) — Overwhelmingly positive and celebratory tone. Albert expresses genuine gratitude for community support, excitement about his plans, and passion for pinball. Jeff is complimentary and encouraging. Minor tension around creative constraints (editing vs. unedited) is philosophical rather than negative. Only mild stress references regarding house sale deadline.

### Signals

- **[business_signal]** Albert's real estate transaction in Ontario with proceeds directly funding Nova Scotia pinball collection expansion; house sale by April 30 deadline with extension possible to May 15 (confidence: high) — Albert: 'If the house doesn't sell for what I need it to, I get less pinball machines... We have to sell it by the 30th... We do have an extension until May 15th'
- **[community_signal]** Orbital Albert planning 100 mini-interviews at Pembroke pinball event; strategy to build audience through grassroots fan engagement and merchandise distribution (confidence: high) — Albert: 'I want to do 100 mini-pinterviews... five questions or three questions... I might put like five to ten interviews per episode'
- **[community_signal]** Pinball podcast ecosystem reaching critical mass with multiple shows (Slam Tilt, Head to Head, This Week in Pinball, Pinball Profile, Pinball Nerds) providing cross-promotion and audience overlap (confidence: high) — Albert discovered podcast through community members; Slam Tilt provided first exposure; shows explicitly mention each other
- **[content_signal]** Shift in content prioritization: Albert discovered short-form (2-3 minute) episodes receive highest engagement (~70 listens/24h) vs. longer nerd-out episodes despite his personal preference for latter (confidence: medium) — Albert: 'the ones that get like 70 listens in 24 hours are the short two ones' vs. acknowledging longer episodes are personally most exciting
- **[market_signal]** Narrative arc of unedited daily content creation as viable/superior model to polished professional podcasting; audience preference for authenticity/frequency over production quality (confidence: medium) — Albert contrasts his approach with polished competitors; Teolis admits envy: 'I like your style. Like, I'm envious, you know?'
- **[market_signal]** London Ontario real estate market characterized as 'seller's market' with strong pricing conditions; Albert confident of house sale at desired price point (confidence: medium) — Jeff: 'In London's market being fairly hot, I think it's a seller's market. You'll do fine.'
- **[community_signal]** Orbital Albert self-identifies as formerly 'hot-headed' pinball player; consciously adopting 'zen' approach and anger management strategies during competition (confidence: high) — Albert: 'I was known for some period of time as being a little bit hot-headed, right? So I try to go out of my way to be more of a peaceful, zen type of pinball player now.'
- **[community_signal]** Orbital Albert is transitioning from daily podcasting to more frequent streaming (2-5 times weekly), reducing podcast output from daily to 2-3 per week to accommodate streaming expansion (confidence: high) — Albert: 'I don't want to do a podcast anymore... I enjoy streaming, I think, either equally or even more... now that I'm streaming more, I love streaming so much, I'm not going to have as much time for podcasting.'

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## Transcript

 It's time now for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. You know this guy because he is the host of Pinball Nerds Podcast. Is it a podcast? Is it a blog? Let's find out. Orbital Albert is here right now. Albert Edgar, how are you? I'm doing excellent, Jeff. How are you doing? Now, this is a guy I've known for a few years because we play in the London, Ontario Pinball League, LOPL. And it's about three years for you now, right? I think it's getting close to that, yeah. Albert's a great player. And, in fact, I think you play at another place, too. It used to be Call the Office on Monday nights and now it's Speed City. I think the only time we've ever played, you kicked my butt. I'm positive. I know it was. Well, to be honest, Jeff, the only place I've ever kicked a butt at pinball is Monday nights at pinball. at Call the Office, Monday Night Pinball. Perhaps that's because I go to one a week for like two years now. I've been to 100 of them almost. So it's a matter of just trying. Don't shortchange yourself because I'm giving you a compliment. You're a very good player. Thank you. Yes, there is some familiarity when you play machines on a weekly basis, but you still have to execute. We just had a league at my house on Friday night. Nobody knows those games better than I do. Does that mean I win? No. So, I mean, anything can happen. and you're a very, very good player. So let's talk about this Pinball Nerds podcast because here I've done this for, I don't know, three years now. I'm coming up to 200 shows. You've done it for less than a year, and you're coming up to 200 shows. But there's a reason why. Essentially, I used to, one of my favorite social media personalities is Casey Neistat from YouTube. And when he originally went to film school, they had said, oh, you take months and months and months making a film project, and then you edit it and just make sure every shot is perfect first. And he dropped out, and they said he would never make it. And so now he's one of the top personalities on YouTube. He's not quite PewDiePie, but he's over 10 million subscribers. And he said, just make a film every single day, and your followers, your friends will tell you. They will give you feedback if you are doing something wrong. And, of course, I had never podcasted before. I had never live streamed, and I decided, why don't I start this little blog slash podcast, very unedited, very shooting from the hip, And I'll try to do one each day if I can, just commenting about what's going on in pinball. Not so much news, but just how I interact with pinball. So, so much local content. And believe me, people let you know when you make mistakes. I think 80% of the messages I've ever got were, you screwed up again, Albert. And that's great, though. So this is just free feedback that I get. And slowly, I'm hoping the show will get better. But you're expecting that kind of feedback, whether it be, and it's not negative. It's just feedback in the sense of, oh, you might have mispronounced the name of somebody or something like that. When you take away the fear of, oh, what if it's not perfect? You can do anything. And that's not a lot of people have that. This show and shows that I do, I sit on for a while. I edit. I make sure that, one, I don't sound like an idiot. Two, my guest doesn't say something incorrect. Make sure they're comfortable with it. So it takes a little longer for me to put that through. If I were to put this one we're recording right now, zero edits, I could do it right away. And I have done that a few times because of time sensitivity. But I guess I'm just conscious of, okay, can I make the production sound as good as possible? And I like your style. Like, I'm envious, you know? Well, thank you so much, Jeff. It certainly isn't for everybody. Almost all the pinball podcasts I listened to until you introduced me to Mrs. Pins, pinball podcast, of course, seemed very edited but very professional, and the sound quality is great, and you get these really interesting – I mean, if you're going to get a pinball designer on your podcast, you better darn well be taking the time and energy to edit it, make sure the sound quality is good, make sure the questions are important. And that's why for my first 100 shows, I didn't interview anyone I considered important in pinball. I mean, I interviewed, like, my son, my best friend. I wouldn't even – you know, I've never even gone to anyone asked to do an interview until Mark and Citi. And that was just because I felt comfortable with Mark and I had been with him for 200 Mondays and every single lopple ever. And he was doing, obviously, The Nightmare Before Christmas, a revolutionary pinball machine. A Twippy Award winner. That's right. That's right. And Chris the Pinter, shout out to Chris the Pinter. I know he listens to Pinball Profile. He was actually able to run up on stage and get the Twippy. Dressed as Willy Wonka in Texas. It was very good to see him. And I knew I was going to be at Texas Pinball Festival. I see Mark on a, not weekly basis, but certainly, let's say, every three weeks at the worst. I thought, well, I should probably pick that up for him. And then I saw this Willy Wonka guy go up, and it was Chris the Pinturn. And he was great, too, and he got a good applause there and obviously looked the part. I went up to him after, and I said, hey, I don't know, A, who you are, just by visual. I certainly knew who he was from hearing about him, but I didn't know who he was to look at him. And I said, I see Mark all the time. Are you sending this to him? because I can hand deliver it to him the next week. And so I said, look, even text Mark or text Albert. And they did, and they said, oh, yeah, it's all good. So it was funny to see that. But how did Chris the Pintern start for people who don't know? So it's kind of funny. After a while, I realized, and you probably noticed this yourself doing the podcast, some of my favorite parts of head-to-head pinball, slam tilt, even this week in pinball, my favorite parts are the banter back and forth between the hosts. And, of course, with Ryan C. being gone, that's part of, you know, they're trying to bring in yourself and many other people to keep great banter going back and forth. And I thought, wouldn't it be nice? I don't want to do every show. No one's going to want to do a daily show with me. But wouldn't it be nice if once a month or every couple weeks I had someone who came on the show and was able to give a different perspective and have some of that banter? Plus, I thought, I can't go to TPF. I'd love to be there. I can't go to the Louisville Arcade Expo. I'd love to be there. Is there anyone going that wants to be part of a podcast? I can't pay you very much, but I'll give you a cool Pinball Nerds podcast t-shirt, $20 Canadian, which he didn't know what to do with. That's right. He was paid. He was paid. Wow. And I did upgrade him. He's now the assistant to the podcaster. In honor of The Office, I'm sure. That's very cool. Dwight Schrute would be proud. You mentioned it's difficult talking to yourself or having a bunch of different ideas. as you certainly relay what you're doing in ball, whether it's league night or a new game coming out, some observations. But it is nice to be able to banter back and forth to somebody. Even though this show is, I guess, just me, it's never just me. It's always somebody. So my co-host is, in this case, you or whomever I'm talking to. So it is kind of nice to have Chris for you, the intern, and other people that you've interviewed. But how do you do it when there isn't someone there? I've done it maybe once or twice. And it's hard. Is that when you interviewed Pinside Petey? I have no idea what you're talking about. That was somebody totally different. That's right, right. He's no relation to Jeff. None. I think that the cool part for me is that most people tell me to shut up because I talk too much. And so even when my wife goes to work in the afternoon, she's like, can you wait till the afternoon to record that podcast? I'm like, no problem, honey. Because I like talking so much, no matter who I'm talking to on the phone about pinball or through Facebook or any social media, Eventually, they just don't want to talk about pinball anymore. And there I am left by myself with all these cool, interesting pinball ideas and no one to share them with. And now I have a very small audience online who likes to pretty much listen every day even if I talk about a boring subject You are the fifth favorite podcast for everybody I like that you take that moniker That's pretty cool. I know I'm never going to have the type of guests. I'm not going to be able to get really awesome pinball designers and people every single day. You just couldn't do that. It would be impossible. You'd run out of people to interview after about a year. What I can do is I like to try every 10 to 25 episodes to interview someone really big. So I'd like to ask you live here on the show. If I know anybody? If you know anyone with the last name Chiolis who would love to be on episode 200 with me. I'd love to be. That's very flattering. Of course, for sure we'll do it. And it's good to have you on here too because I know other podcasters are interested in what you're doing and really appreciate what you do because of the uniqueness of what you do. Thank you. You know, there are a lot of podcasts out there right now, and I am all for every one of them because they're different. You know, nobody is just reading off of a website or reading a press release. What makes them unique is everyone's individual tastes, their opinions if they offer them, what interests them. For me, I'm more about competitions, and you probably hear that when you listen to my profile, and the people that play in these competitions. So we get to know a little bit about these people, But there are other great podcasts where they dig deep into the new games that come out, and they talk about the collecting side of it, which is fascinating to me because I don't consider myself a big collector. I have machines, but it's not about mods and toppers and things like that for me. But I love the passion of the people, and I can't say that I won't be that one day. Maybe I will. Just right now, it's more about, okay, I want to learn the games. But I love the pride that people have in collections, and you must too. Yeah, like if it wasn't for people like Mike Dimas who are purchasing machines and make them look beautiful, people like myself who are not at all good at fixing up machines, not very handy that way, couldn't have beautiful machines to purchase. I consider myself, first and foremost, a competitive pinball player and every other type of pinball player in the middle at the very end a collector because I would always rather purchase. I am half Dutch, by the way. I'd always rather purchase a player condition machine just to get to learn it better. of course in good working condition, than maybe an expensive, really high-end collector's edition of a great game. That's just me personally. Now, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd be getting all collector's editions. But for me, just to keep rotating in and out like I have, I don't have a lot of money. I'm not a super wealthy person, but I managed to make a good connection with Mike Dimas here in the city. I've now rented, I think, seven machines off him. So every three months or so, I rent a machine. He brings it over. He sets it up. He helps me level it. We play a few games on it. He teaches me the ins and outs. And then I have the next three months to just enjoy this game. And if something breaks down or has some issue, he comes over and helps me with it. Nice peace of mind. Oh, it's incredible. Now, when I go to the East Coast, of course. That's what I want to get to. I'll have to find a Mike Dimas. If you follow Albert on Facebook, you'll know that he and his wife have bought a place out in Nova Scotia. And Nova Scotia is a beautiful part in the Maritimes. I love it out there. I have family out there. And I saw the property that you're going to be purchasing. I guess you've already purchased, you're going to enjoy that huge, huge spacious place and a lot more pinball opportunities, I believe. I like to tell people I'm moving out there 25% for my sons. I have a 14-year-old and 10-year-old, and we're in a two-bedroom house. So the 14-year-old's been in a bunk bed with his brother for like eight years since we moved there. So he's going to get his own bedroom now. He's got his own bedroom. It's on the other side of the house. He actually has his own stairs. They used to be like the servant stairs or the maid stairs or something, you know, So you can even sneak in late at night, like I said. And when we get out there, I also get to expand from having two pinball machines to I've done the measurements, everybody, six to eight machines if I switch the way the door comes in. So now, of course, with me doing live streaming on Twitch, I would love to have more pinball machines at home. And the only way for me to financially get the seven acres I'm getting, the three bedrooms I need, and an extra room for pinball streaming is really to move out there because that would be $300,000 to $400,000 here somewhere in Ontario. and significantly less out there, which gives me more money to come to Pemburg and Louisville and Texas Pinball Festival. It just should provide me with some extra funds to be able to go do all the awesome pinball stuff I want to do. So, Albert, what are some of the shows that you're going to be looking at going to? Well, this year for sure, thank God, I'm coming to Pemburg. So I'm extremely, extremely stoked about that. I want to do Expo, of course, in Chicago. And then really anything I can afford to go to where I can meet some of the Pinball Nerds podcast fans, Maybe give them some stickers, some high fives, do mini-pinterviews. I don't know if you heard my expectations for Pemberg, but I want to do 100 mini-pinterviews. Wow. So depending on if it's an EM or a newer machine, you'll either get three questions or five. But just something fun, enjoyable, really quick. I might put like five to ten interviews per episode and just literally record them. Stockpile. Boom. No, I'm just going to record them and just hit go. not even pre-listen to them, just let them off into the world and hopefully people like them. Albert, I love what you've done. When you first started this podcasting and blogging, did you think it would get to where you are today? Now we're almost at 200 and it's really grown. You've got some fame across North America as people reach out to you and enjoy your different take on pinball. I am extremely shocked. What I thought would happen is a couple of the local people would like it. And for the first 100 episodes, I did not post it to a single link on Pinside. I didn't put anything on Facebook. I didn't tell anybody except for my best friend. I didn't even know about it. I know. And then I saw you at Mike Dimas' house for Loppel. And you said to me, Albert, did you hear they gave you a shout out on Slam Tilt? And I said, are you serious, Jeff? Someone knows about my podcast. This is incredible. That means Jeff Teolis knows about my podcast. That means Bruce and Ron know about my podcast. And then I listened to it. And at the very And they said, and have a good day, Albert Agar. So what they do at the end of Slam Tilt is they just thank the last person who liked them on Facebook. Which happened to be me, but they didn't say anything about the Pinball Nerds podcast. And when I was disappointed from that, I thought, well, I'm going to start telling people. And that's when I actually started sharing it with people. Why didn't you share right away? Were you nervous? Were you shocked? Very nervous. Really? Very nervous. Because you don't come across that way in person and in listening to the podcast. I think it's because I started by listening to yours, of course, because I found out someone in my league had one. And then I started, you know, you give a throat to Head to Head, and then I started listening to all the different podcasts out there. And I thought these people sound like either they're in radio, television, production of some way, shape, or form. They know what they're talking about. It sounds crystal clear. You know, there are people with millions of subscribers on YouTube, and their videos don't sound nearly as clean and as crisp been as well done as a lot of the pinball podcasts. I thought, maybe there's room for a blogger. But if I call myself the pinball nerd's blog, it doesn't have the same feeling. So I wanted to be like a video blogger. And I actually recorded two episodes for YouTube. And they were god awful. So I deleted them. They're not even on my one terabyte. I had a whole terabyte on my computer, and I got rid of them because they were that awful. And I couldn't even stand watching them. And then I recorded a blog, like through like audio version of a blog, i.e. a podcast kind of. And I thought, this is okay. I mean, I guess if I was really bored, I would listen to it. and from there I think I've got better. I think by episode 100 I was kind of figuring out what I like to talk about and for me my most exciting episodes are to record. I did one that's so boring that no one listened to but it was the top 10 nudges you need to learn. I heard that one, yeah. Was it okay? Yes, yes, yes. It a little slow I get that But when I nerd out the most I enjoy doing those episodes but the ones that get like 70 listens in 24 hours are the short two ones So okay who do you do the podcast for Do you do it for you or for your listeners? Originally, I would say the first 30 to 50 when I thought it was just me as a listener and I was getting four to five listens, it was 99% for me. And slowly, I would say by episode around 100, once I did the one for Mark, that was my very first podcast that got 100 listens. And, of course, got a showdown this week in pinball and such. So I was extremely excited by that. And then all of a sudden the pressure comes in a little where should I make it kind of for the listeners? And I think from like 100 to like 110, I don't even like those episodes because I was maybe a little grumpier than usual or trying to be more, you know, Howard Stern-ish and be a little bit like judgmental and stuff. And I thought, that's not me. I want to be the fun guy who just talks about falling back in love with pinball, doing cool competitions, talking about the enjoyment of playing pinball and making pinball more popular instead of tearing it down and pointing out minor mistakes in manufacturers. That's interesting that you say that's not me because I've been doing this almost three years now, and I have good days. I have bad days. I have opinions. and I think one thing in the other days, maybe with a little more education, I think something different. So once you put it on a podcast, yeah, it's in stone, but that doesn't mean you don't have the right to change your mind and have different feelings. Right. So if I were to go back and listen to my older episodes, I probably would cringe because that's not what I sound like right now or what I'm thinking right now, but it was at the time. So I'm okay with it. Do you have difficulty with that? Because I think you just said, I don't want to be like that. That's not who I am. I was angry. I only have deleted two podcasts that I've completely recorded ever. And both of them, the one, three people out there have heard it. Because I finished recording it and I hit upload before I edit or touch anything or listen to it or check the audio qualities or anything. Afterwards, sometimes I listen to it. But my wife came home from work and I said, I think I was too angry for this podcast. I was angry at a certain pinball situation. And she listened to it and she said, it's funny and it's interesting if that's your whole shtick is being angry and rude and mean. Like if you're the Howard Stern of Pinball Podcast, great. But that's not you. You're the fun-loving, you love pinball, you love talking to people. Every pinball competition I've ever been at, I always chose to socialize over learning more about the game or reading my phone or asking people about the game. I'm just so interested in seeing my friends who I maybe haven't seen for a couple weeks. And then I always prioritize the enjoyment of the night over even doing well in the competitions. And that's probably, you know, I probably could have done better in a couple competitions had I not had an adult beverage or two or prioritized speaking to so many people I hadn't seen in a while, right? The self-enforced count to ten rule, all right? You know, you're angry, you're angry, just count to ten. Are you still angry after ten? Then maybe, okay, you've settled down a little bit. That's interesting that you say that. If it gives context, I was known for some period of time as being a little bit hot-headed, right? So I try to go out of my way to be more of a peaceful, zen type of pinball player now. And I found it really does help. I tend to get angry far less often while playing pinball. I usually do a mantra in my head or some type of thing while I'm playing that kind of calms me down. Do you know what's interesting about who you are on the podcast and who you are maybe in real life, let's say? Hopefully in real life. On this podcast, this one right here, I try to have not even an interview, not even a question and answer thing. I try to have conversations. Right. Really, to get people to know who my guest is, if they don't know already, or maybe some insight. But when I go on other podcasts, I kind of change my role a little bit. I'm much different on other podcasts because maybe I'm asked an opinion, or maybe I want to goof off a little more and tell some jokes or be a character, whatever the case may be. But they're still both me. It's just I'm conscious of what this format is on this podcast. Now, earlier you just said that Pinball Nerds is more of a blog, but you called it a podcast. To me, Pinball Profile is not a podcast at all. It's not in the title, but it's under that guise of podcasts. But really, it's just pinball conversations with people. That's all it is. It's interviews. If I had to call it anything, it's an interview show. Right, because you're not doing the typical news each week and reviews and updates. Pretty much never. Because there are other people that do it way better than I do, and that's what their format is. And that's who we go to to listen when games are launched and whatnot. But mine's more about people. It's always about people. So is it a podcast? I guess maybe. But you said you wanted to call it Pinball Nerds Podcast because the word blog doesn't really associate. But really, it is a blog. I think it's more of a blog cast. So I've been trying to joke around with that term. But podcast was just what people were familiar with. So I think I went with that. Maybe for the place to find the audio. Is that why? Because people know where to find podcasts? Right. I mean, if you type in pinball podcast, no one's typing in pinball blog into Google. So they're never going to find me that way. Do you know what I mean? Sure. And I've said this several times. I got to, with our friend Ian Hayward, I got to live stream on Total Nuclear Annihilation. And I told this to Ian. Five minutes into doing that live stream, I said, I don't want to do a podcast anymore. And what I meant was, I don't want to stop podcasting, but I enjoy streaming, I think, either equally or even more because you get direct feedback from the people you're streaming with. They can ask you questions right there as it happens. And so I have told all of my listeners, now that I'm streaming more, I love streaming so much, I'm not going to have as much time for podcasting. I may no longer be your daily dose of pinball, but hopefully I'm still going to do a couple a week. And for me to go down from seven a week to two or three a week, that gives me so much more time for streaming. Now, if I come up with an idea for pinball or a brand new machine like when Willy Wonka came out, yeah, I did two or three because I had a lot to talk about. But I'm just not going to feel like I need to podcast every single day, especially when I'm streaming four or five-hour live streams two to three times a week. And you're almost up to 10 now. By the time this airs, you probably have your 10. Although moving and stuff, maybe you're going to be putting that on the back burner for a little bit. Yes, and I know this isn't exactly about pinball, but from May 25th until Canada Day, I will be hiking the Bruce Trail. Oh, yeah, you've got to talk about that. Yes, so it's almost 1,000 kilometers, 600 miles for any non-metric people listening. for seven weeks. I'll be back. I'm coming back Sunday, Mondays. I get to do what's called a zero. So my wife is picking me up on Saturday nights when I'm finished the last day. I have five different friends which are walking with me from Tobermory until around Toronto. And then I'm filling in holes or walking by myself, which is totally fine. But I planned this out for a long time. And yes, Pimble Nerds, I will still be putting up podcasts from time to time while on the trail when I can actually get data or non-roaming. And if I ever come into contact with a rattlesnake, I will do a cool podcast. There's tons of them up there, and I'd love to do one in listening distance. And maybe talk about some pinball machine that is snake-related. I don't know, the Kill Bill one with the Black Viper or something. You know what I mean? Police are going to be using this podcast to find out what happened to Albert when he went missing on the trail. My body lost in the forest. I was fighting down two bears. Don't worry, Jeff. There's no grizzlies there. There's no black bears. There's the odd. Or there's no brown bears. There's the odd black bear, but they're very friendly. They're like Yogi Bear. They're cool. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time. Each one of my five best friends are going to come with me for a week This is a chance for us to get away I was wondering if you going to be alone No no no no no no no I have a good friend coming for each week until I get to about Toronto And there honestly you hitting trailheads every 10K You're seeing people all over the place. You can call an Uber, for gosh sakes, any 5K. It's not a big deal there. The more issue is when you're out of service and you're with rattlesnakes and bears in the first 400K. Okay. Talk about Carl Weathers. Talk about tents. Listen, I don't go camping. My wife wants me to go camping all the time. they call it glamping if I go because I'm not a prima donna by any means, but I like to have a hot shower once in a while. I know it doesn't look like it, but once in a while, like a hot shower and nice meals and a comfortable bed. So you're going to be pitching a tent. You're going to be food. What's going to be going on? Jeff, every two to three days when I can hit a hotel or an Airbnb, you better know I'm going to be glamping it up. I'm going to be listening to some podcasts, having a nice hot jacuzzi tub. I'm going to have a great time. But those other days, I will be in just a one-man, some people call it the condom tent. But they're basically like $100. Just imagine it. It basically goes around a person like a condom. You don't have a lot of room in there. And the nice part is that there is several places up through the northern part that you can actually just throw up your camp and stay for free. I did get some ultralight gear. Basically, I have to bring two to three days' worth of water, a water filter. and of course I have Williams Pinball on my phone and I have a couple tables downloaded so I can even play pinball late at night in my tent falling asleep. Look at this. I'm looking at these one-man tents online right now. I never saw these. Oh, ribbed for your pleasure? What's that? Never mind. You're going to be doing this. This is crazy. But I mean, like you say, it's something you've always wanted to do and more power to you for doing that, especially right before your big move out to Nova Scotia. But, boy, this is a busy summer for you. Yes, it should be. It should be. The hardest part is we have to sell our house by Wednesday. So I had cocking all over my hands before I came here. Why by Wednesday? Oh, sorry, sorry. We have to sell it by the 30th, but the Purple Bricks agent is coming on Wednesday to take the pictures. So I've got about 43 things left to do by Wednesday at noon. So I'm very excited for that. Once the house sells, see, if the house doesn't sell for what I need it to, I get less pinball machines. Because we still have to buy the tractor and everything when we get out there. That's not an if. That's a for sure, right? So we're recording this on April 22nd. Okay, you've got to turn this around pretty quickly. We do have an extension until May 15th with no fees or anything. So we can do that if we have to, but we'd prefer not to apply for the extension. And in London's market being fairly hot, I think it's a seller's market. You'll do fine. Yeah. And the two pinball machines in there just show it well, right? Sure. What games? Skateball? I have Skateball right now, which I own, and then I have Walking Dead, which I'm renting from Mike. Okay. Walking Dead might turn some people off. Well, we don't want those buyers. You know who the buyers you want, the ones that can pay and have no conditions. That's right. That's true. The Walking Dead is a game I absolutely love, but it's one of those games I said I probably can't put into my house when I think of who's going to be coming in my house. Right. Especially the version I have now. Oh, no. The mixtape with the different audio. I don't know if you've heard it. Basically, the Radiohead's all PG. It's all good. The Nine Inch Nails, believe it or not, is also PG. However, some of the callouts, they're not the callouts you want to have on. When my dear Oma comes by, she's almost getting to 90 there. She's got a heart condition. I'm not going to be playing that on full volume for her. Yeah, turn off the attract mode. Well, best of luck with the house, with the hike. I mean, my goodness, Pinball Nerds podcast. We're going to be streaming more. You can check that out on Twitch. Albert, you've done a lot in a short amount of time. Thank you. It's been very exciting, and for the most part, I've got decent feedback when I talk to people. They think it's at least mildly interesting. It is. I'm trying to get better at the interviews. I'll never be the guy who has an interview every single show, but we already have a guy doing that, which does a great job at it, so thank you for doing that. There's lots of people. Well, I don't think too many of the other podcasts, when I think of Special When Lit or any of the other newer podcasts, They don't have guests typically every single solitary show, and you do that. So there is only two podcasts, Pinball Podcasts on the Planet, that I've heard every episode of, and that would be yours and Mrs. Pins. Oh, thanks. Yes, I've listened to every one of yours. I remember when I first started listening, you were at episode 50 or 60, and I went back. And at the time, I was delivering for a food company, so I went back, systematically started at one. I would listen to two or three every single day. So if anything, you inspired me to start it. I kind of would like to give a minor shout-out to Jack Danger because when I watch him on Twitch, I think, wow, is there any way I could kind of even be like one-tenth of that cool when I'm doing podcasting or streaming? Do you know what I mean? And there's only one Jack Danger. Don't get me wrong. But I think we need more of that in pinball that just makes pin fun, keeps pinball weird. You've got to keep pinball weird, right? And just really the excitement. And he probably has brought over more non-pinball people to pinball than almost anyone else. And I really, really appreciate that. So I thought if I could take a tiny bit of how he does his live streams and kind of mix that into a podcast, that might actually work for people. And hopefully people are enjoying it, and I'll just keep trying. Well, you're doing great. Don't change a thing. And we look forward to these great adventures you've got in the next few weeks. Boy, that's exciting. I have to ask, where did the name Orbital come from? Do you want the PG version or the real version? Let's go PG. Okay. So essentially, I found that I suck at hitting ramps. So quite often, even the exact Walking Dead that's at my house, I tend to, on that right ramp, get about three-quarters of the way up, and you think it's going, and then, no, it's coming back. And forever, I just said, hey, if I can make points on any pinball machine hitting an orbit, I'll do that. So I don't know if it was just the call-the-office machines that I was playing weekly, but, like, on KISS, I can hit either of those orbits no problem. Even with Ghostbusters, I don't see people backhanding the right orbit very often. I can do that in my sleep from a cradle. It's just no problem because on the one mode, the second light up is on the right there. And I just have no problem with orbits. Maybe I can hit an orbit that doesn't go up a ramp, so you don't have to hit it as clean for it to work. So if I find a machine, sometimes it's a little boring, and I wouldn't ever do it on a live stream. But if I find a shot that is worth some value, so ACDC, what mode is it? The left orbit. So that's what I pick every time. Oh, you mean War Machine. War Machine. Thank you, War Machine. That's a tip from Mark Turan. Thank you, Mark Turan. But I just have no problem now on ACDC. I can hit those ramps okay, but I prefer, and I know at the last Loppel, I played ACDC with you and the team, and I think I got 136 million, which was my highest score. And I literally just went for Orbitz until other things were lit, and that seemed to help me. So I thought Orbitz should be a good name for me. So when I did a craft beer show on Rogers here, and I was called Bert the Craft Beer Geek because of the BB, right? And I wanted to have a different moniker, a different name for myself, not to be identical to like Jack Danger or someone else that has a cool pinball name, but I wanted to kind of keep it separate. So I don't want to post too much of my pinball stuff to my Albert Agar account. I would prefer that to be some family stuff, some beer stuff, some other interest, hiking, of course, but keep all my pinball stuff to Orbital Albert's page, which is the Pinball Nerds Podcast Facebook group. Good thing you're good at orbits and not spinner Albert or gobble hole Albert. Yeah, gobble Albert doesn't sound as nice. Albert, always a pleasure to talk to you, buddy. Thanks so much, Jeff. I appreciate it. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. I'm Jeff Teolis.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e86827b4-f1df-4692-b7f5-d2c9d314846d*