# Episode 6 - Howdy Pardner! **Source:** Wedgehead Pinball Podcast **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2023-11-27 **Duration:** 37m 21s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** Buzzsprout-14025646 --- ## Analysis Alan and Alex from Wedgehead Pinball Podcast discuss the Howdy Partner tournament format with guest Zoe, a former IFPA Women's World Champion. Howdy Partner is a team-based, casual pinball tournament designed to welcome new players and create a fun, inclusive community experience as an alternative to intimidating traditional IFPA competitions. The format emphasizes coaching, camaraderie, and shared team success over individual rankings. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Howdy Partner was created as an answer to how intimidating traditional IFPA-ranked tournaments can be to new players — _Alan describing his motivation for creating the format_ - [HIGH] Zoe has run over 500 IFPA-related pinball tournaments and is in the top five to ten all-time for IFPA tournament play — _Alan introducing Zoe's credentials at the start of the episode_ - [HIGH] Howdy Partner teams consist of three or four people balanced by self-reported skill level, with a captain responsible for social experience rather than playing ability — _Zoe describing the format structure_ - [HIGH] In Howdy Partner, extra balls are played (unlike IFPA tournaments where they are not), and rule enforcement is deliberately lenient to prioritize fun — _Alan describing differences from official tournaments_ - [HIGH] Zoe ran a satellite Howdy Partner event in Boston after relocating there — _Alan crediting Zoe as 'the only satellite event so far of a Howdy Partner in Boston'_ - [HIGH] The name 'Howdy Partner' came from the Whitewater pinball machine's startup callout — _Alan explaining the origin of the tournament name_ - [HIGH] Zoe previously had her own podcast for seven episodes with Jack Danger and Bowen as co-hosts, now on hiatus — _Zoe's comment about her previous podcast experience_ - [MEDIUM] Portland has a long tradition of strong weekly pinball events that broaden the community — _Alan reflecting on Portland's pinball tournament history_ - [HIGH] Howdy Partner scores are not revealed to teams during the event, creating surprise at final reveal — _Alan and Zoe discussing the format's unknown progress feature_ - [HIGH] No single strong player can carry a Howdy Partner team to victory due to cumulative team scoring design — _Zoe explaining why exponential scoring by one player is mitigated by team format_ ### Notable Quotes > "I created the format as a sort of an answer to how I feel, how intimidating traditional, especially IFPA-ranked tournaments can be to people." > — **Alan**, early in episode > _Core motivation for Howdy Partner creation_ > "Your captain may not be your best player but they are your best friend." > — **Alan**, mid-episode > _Core philosophy of Howdy Partner captain selection_ > "Howdy's a social event. That's what I want. I want people that are afraid or nervous to go out and play organized pinball to come to one of these events and have a good time." > — **Zoe**, mid-episode > _Articulates the primary goal of Howdy Partner_ > "Honestly, less whining because it's Howdy and who fucking cares?" > — **Zoe**, mid-episode > _Summarizes the casual, non-serious approach to rule enforcement_ > "None of this matters. It kind of brings pinball back to what pinball is in that it's fun to compete, but it's not like competing is the actual important part. The important part is having fun." > — **Zoe**, mid-episode > _Philosophical statement on Howdy Partner's purpose_ > "The moment of reveal is my favorite part of Howdy Partner." > — **Zoe**, later in episode > _Highlights unique feature of hidden score format_ > "Tournament brain is not always healthy, especially for people who are trying to build their skills. It can be demoralizing to be so focused on, like, how am I doing versus another person?" > — **Zoe**, late episode > _Explains the psychological reasoning behind Howdy Partner's non-competitive approach_ > "I had my own podcast for like seven episodes back in the day, but when your co-hosts are Jack Danger and Bowen, things get busy really quick." > — **Zoe**, late episode > _Reveals Zoe's podcast history with notable industry figures_ > "Whitewater's a perfect game." > — **Zoe**, near end > _Personal game preference; explains emotional attachment to Howdy Partner name origin_ > "I went to go play a game of Whitewater and I pressed start and it said, Howdy, Partner. I was like, that's it, right?" > — **Alan**, late episode > _Explains the origin story of the tournament name_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Alan | person | Co-host of Wedgehead Pinball Podcast, co-owner of Wedgehead American Pinball bar in Portland, Oregon, creator of Howdy Partner format | | Alex | person | Co-host of Wedgehead Pinball Podcast, has served as captain in Howdy Partner events, involved in pinball machine customization and co-op pinball experiences | | Zoe | person | Former IFPA Women's World Champion, IFPA director, has run over 500 IFPA tournaments, primary guest on episode, ran satellite Howdy Partner event in Boston, previously hosted podcast with Jack Danger and Bowen | | Wedgehead Pinball Podcast | organization | Podcast hosted by Alan and Alex, based in Portland, Oregon, discussing pinball topics and community | | Wedgehead | company | American Pinball bar in Portland, Oregon, co-owned by Alan and Alex | | Howdy Partner | event | Casual team-based pinball tournament format created by Alan, designed to welcome new players and emphasize fun over competition | | IFPA | organization | International Federation of Pinball Associations, runs ranked tournaments and maintains player rankings | | Whitewater | game | Classic pinball machine by Williams, source of 'Howdy Partner' startup callout that inspired the tournament name | | Jack Danger | person | Pinball designer and podcast host, co-hosted podcast with Zoe and Bowen | | Bowen | person | Pinball designer and community figure, co-hosted podcast with Zoe and Jack Danger | | Bram Stoker's Dracula | game | Classic pinball machine, example of game Zoe had to learn without help at a tournament | | High Speed Getaway | game | Pinball machine, example of unfamiliar game Zoe had to play in a tournament | | TNA | game | Pinball machine with co-op feature mentioned by Alex as inspiration for team format | | Attack from Mars | game | Fan-made pinball layout with specific lock shot strategy discussed | | Guardians of the Galaxy | game | Pinball machine used as example for bite-sized coaching (hitting Groot) | | Medieval Madness | game | Pinball machine used as example for simple coaching advice | | Mandalorian | game | Pinball machine mentioned by Alex as having co-op feature that would increase his interest | | Fishtail | game | Pinball machine referenced in scoring example | | Black Knight | game | Pinball machine used as example for coaching (left orbit gives extra ball) | | Funhouse | game | Pinball machine used in example of surprised Howdy Partner team reveal | | Foo Fighters | game | Pinball machine mentioned in scoring discussion example | | Hulk | game | Pinball machine used in scoring balance example | | Portland | event | City where Wedgehead is located and where Howdy Partner originated, known for strong weekly pinball tournament tradition | | Boston | event | City where Zoe relocated and ran the first satellite Howdy Partner event | | Megan | person | Alex's wife, mentioned in context of co-op pinball experiences | ### Topics - **Primary:** Howdy Partner tournament format and philosophy, Community building and welcoming new pinball players, Team-based vs individual competitive pinball, Tournament captain role and leadership, Differences between casual (Howdy Partner) and official (IFPA) tournaments - **Secondary:** Coaching and knowledge transfer in pinball, IFPA tournament structure and rankings, Psychological impact of competitive vs casual play - **Mentioned:** Portland pinball community history ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.92) — The episode is overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic about Howdy Partner, community building, and inclusive pinball culture. Speakers celebrate the format's success, express genuine appreciation for each other's contributions, and emphasize fun and inclusivity throughout. Minor tensions mentioned (Alex sometimes getting in his head as a captain, some players disliking certain captains) are addressed constructively and don't diminish the overall positive tone. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** Howdy Partner represents a deliberate shift toward creating low-barrier, socially-focused tournament experiences as a counterpoint to traditional IFPA competitions perceived as intimidating (confidence: high) — Alan: 'I created the format as a sort of an answer to how I feel, how intimidating traditional, especially IFPA-ranked tournaments can be to people.' Multiple speakers affirm this welcoming philosophy throughout. - **[event_signal]** Howdy Partner has expanded geographically with Zoe establishing a satellite event in Boston, indicating potential for the format to scale beyond Portland (confidence: high) — Alan states: 'you've run the only satellite event so far of a Howdy Partner in Boston.' Zoe confirms she ran it after relocating. - **[community_signal]** Strong emphasis on fun, camaraderie, and player development over competitive ranking creates a distinct cultural identity within pinball community (confidence: high) — Recurring theme: 'none of this matters,' 'who cares,' emphasis on captain being 'best friend' not best player, coaching allowed, scores hidden until reveal - **[competitive_signal]** Howdy Partner's team scoring structure and cumulative point system creates different strategic dynamics than individual-ranking tournaments, where no single player can carry a team (confidence: high) — Zoe: 'one good Hulk score and three mediocre Hulk scores is not as good as four decent Hulk scores you know like you can't one person can't carry the whole group' - **[operational_signal]** Howdy Partner deliberately implements lenient rule interpretation as contrast to strict IFPA standards, including allowing extra balls to be played and using judgment calls to keep energy positive (confidence: high) — Alan describes extra ball ruling and Atlantis stuck ball examples, states philosophy of 'Howdy who cares figure it out it doesn't matter' - **[personnel_signal]** Zoe's multi-year involvement with IFPA (500+ tournaments run, Women's World Champion, director role) combined with her active role developing and running Howdy Partner represents bridge between competitive and casual segments (confidence: high) — Alan: 'over 500 IFPA-related pinball tournaments'; Zoe ran Boston satellite; she brings credibility to both competitive and casual spaces - **[community_signal]** Discussion of 'tournament brain' and its demotivating effect on developing players suggests awareness of psychological barriers to player retention and skill development in traditional competitive structure (confidence: medium) — Zoe: 'Tournament brain is not always healthy... It can be demoralizing to be so focused on how am I doing versus another person' - **[operational_signal]** Deliberate strategy of choosing team captains based on personality, charisma, and social skills rather than playing ability reflects understanding of what creates welcoming social experiences (confidence: high) — Alan: 'I never choose based on skill level. I always choose based on their personality and charisma.' Zoe: 'I want people to be good stewards to the game' - **[gameplay_signal]** Effective coaching in Howdy Partner relies on bite-sized, actionable rule knowledge ('hit Groot,' 'hit the castle') rather than comprehensive rule downloads, adapted to player's receptiveness (confidence: high) — Zoe discusses avoiding 'the whole game in one download' and giving 'bonbon of information'; specific examples: 'hit Groot in the mouth,' 'hit the castle' - **[community_signal]** Howdy Partner format includes deliberate design elements (funny team names, hats, kayfabe, surprise score reveal) that distinguish it from typical IFPA tournaments and enhance memorability (confidence: high) — Alan: 'funny team names is key... funny hats, funny names, funny kayfabe' are required; hidden scores create 'moment of reveal' that is 'favorite part' - **[business_signal]** Wedgehead bar hosts Howdy Partner events as part of regular programming, suggesting pinball tournaments are viable venue attractions that drive traffic and community engagement (confidence: medium) — Wedgehead hosts Howdy Partner events; mentioned multiple times; appears to be regular feature of venue operations --- ## Transcript Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast. My name is Alan. I am one half of Wedgehead, a pinball bar in Portland, Oregon. I am joined today by my co-host, Alex, the Waterboy. Yeah, I'm Alex. I'm one half of the Wedgehead Pinball Podcast. And we're also joined by our friend Zoe on the East Coast. Hello, hello. Zoe's a fantastic human being, but she is also a former IFPA Women's World Champion and an IFPA director. and she's run a lot of, what did you say, over 500 IFPA-related pinball tournaments? Yeah, if I had to guess over the insane amount, frankly. There's also stats on how many IFPA tournaments people play, and I think I'm in the top five, top ten area for all time. Oh my god. It's very embarrassing. It starts making sense. You know, when I see you play, this is always making more sense now. I've been doing this for a while, let's just say. And probably the most prestigious, though, is your number of Howdy Partner team captain victories. That is my defining achievement. Oh, that's good. Well, because that is our topic for this podcast today, the one you specifically chose to come on and talk about. Yes, I am really excited to talk with y'all about Howdy Partner. Playing in it, running in it, running in it, running it. It's going to be a blast. Good. I think I'll just start off with Howdy Partner, and I'll just sort of describe, like, I created the format as a sort of an answer to how I feel, how intimidating traditional, especially like IPA-ranked tournaments can be to people. New players to the hobby that just are learning to play and are looking more for community and for some help and to learn how to play different games and improve their skills. And I feel like while tournaments are fantastic, I don't know if it's the greatest thing at bridging the gap from brand new player to tournament player. It's not the most inviting environment when you have to show up. You're not sure who to talk to. Everyone seems to know each other already. And you're just kind of crossing your fingers and hoping you know where to go, what to do, and can play up to the level that you know you have when you've been by yourself. Yeah, and it can be tough even just from like without getting into the whole admin side of things, just asking people for general pinball help when you know they're your competition just kind of makes a different atmosphere. Yeah, it's definitely intimidating. Yeah, I mean, I look at things like just like you don't know the rules of games. Like I remember the first time I played a pinball tournament, it's I had to play two games that I had never played before. You know, I had to play Bram Stoker's Dracula and I had to play High Speed Getaway. Oof. and I had no idea how to play either of those games, and nobody was there to help me, like, at all. It's hard to imagine an Alan that hadn't played Bram Stoker's Dracula or High Speed Getaway. Like, I'm picturing you being, like, 11 years old at this point, because those are, like, two staples, I feel like. I think it was in the womb. I was in utero at the time. That's an achievement. Youngest IFPA pinball player ever, Alan Ed Robertson, negative nine months. Yeah. I believe that you were probably I didn't know you then, but I believe you probably had something to do with it because it was a Tuesday night tournament. That is probably true. Yeah, yeah. Portland has had a long, strong tradition of weekly events, and it has done its job as far as broadening the pinball community, getting people hooked, getting people into it. But like you were saying, it's not the most inviting. And I basically started playing in tournaments when I started playing pinball. so I've never known anything else I've never had an environment where it was just me and the pinball machine because I got into pinball I was someone's girlfriend who went to their first pinball tournament while I was trying to do my homework I was in college and I was like in between games I'm trying to write my senior thesis so for me it wasn't really like I'm going to prove my skill by getting into this tournament it was like all right I guess whatever these are my friends and I'll show up and probably lose. So for me, I feel like it was a very easy on-ramp into the tournament community. Whereas for someone who's like been playing by themselves, who doesn't really know other people who are into it, it really is a barrier to show up and maybe get your ass kicked for three games and then go home. Yeah. Do you think that had any effect or do you think that's a big part of what made you such a good competitive player is the fact that you kind of got into it without caring how you did maybe i think there's some of that for sure like starting my pinball career hearing people who are better than me seeing people who are better than me and being able to talk with them about it that is how i got good at pinball was soaking up the knowledge around me and so if you're someone who's into it but playing by yourself and maybe you only have youtube videos if that um you're not getting that same on the ground knowledge and so i think part of it was oh this is the only environment i've ever known to play pinball is the competitive one and also I'm gaining a lot of strategies from the people I already am friends with. But I don't think that that competitive brain is healthy for everyone or that it isn't all the time a way to enjoy a hobby. Sure, because you're a naturally competitive person, but in a friendly way. I think that's the beauty of it. If someone goes to their first tournament and they run into you, you're a great steward for the game. And we're not talking about that. Like, we're not talking about how I'm sure in every community across the country, there's some version of maybe they're not as skilled as you, but there's some version of a great pinball steward to help them in their tournaments and they're growing and all that sort of thing. and taking a new player that's interested in pinball, pinball curious, and making them a convert and a true pinball head. But that was my big hang up with Howdy Partner. And before Howdy Partner existed was, I also enjoy pinball, but I never play in tournaments. And part of it was just the community aspect of it. I just want to hang out with my friends and play pinball. And it's like, I don't want to see my friends as competition. Not that I'm not afraid to compete against anyone. It was more just like, I want to be there and I want to talk through the rules. And when I'm having a good ball, I want you to be able to coach me or me to coach my friend or cheer them on when they do well. And I was just like, how come this doesn't happen in structured events? And I know why it doesn't. I know it's against kind of the rules, explicit or unexplicitly stated, where there's not coaching in IFPA tournaments. But that's the fun part to me is discovering a game with my friends. Yeah. Yeah. And so Howdy Partner was, in essence, created to fill that void, meet that vibe. Yeah. Yeah. I was trying to create something that, one, I was told I was crazy when I was doing it. I think Alex can speak to that. Yeah. What was the development process? So what is Howdy Partner? And then how did you come up with this harebrained scheme? Yeah. Do you want to talk on that first? Yeah, I guess I was just sitting. I was just like, I'm trying not to. I want to preface this by saying, because there are some people in the local pinball community who shall remain nameless, that sort of paint me as an anti-tournament player, that I'm against tournaments. And that is not true. I'm not against them, I just don't play in them. And I think that they're awesome for the people that are seeking, and the IFPA does a great job as far as rankings and setting up events. And because you have to be ranked and you're incentivized to play in more tournaments and to do well, and then those things accumulate into state championships. And then so you can get entry into bigger tournaments and all that stuff. And that's great for those people that are of that mindset. But I always felt like it was just lacking a different component. Like there's a different type of person that also plays pinball that's just not represented, you know. And so I felt like one of those players. and then I instead of instead of being like oh I'm never going to play in a tournament I'm going to create a tournament that I want to play in and so I think about the things that when I do play with other players what is fun to me and just like I described it's playing with your friends and cheering them on I love figuring out a new game or even an old game and just being like what if we try to do x y or z what if we try to you know get get all the way to a wizard mode or what if we try a different strategy or what if we just try to see who can get us you know the most warp ramps or whatever. Like, let's see warp 9.9 or let's do any of those like kind of side quests on a pinball machine. And that's the stuff that I really liked then was sort of backtracking and trying to figure out, well, how do I make that experience for in a structured event Because the strength of a tournament is like it a structured event and a lot of people have a social aspect to it You know I think while you playing in a more serious tournament it not while you playing the game but it the in rounds that all the socializing happens And I like that part more than I care about the structure of perfect competition, if that makes sense. Right. So I just wanted more interaction. So I wanted people to play on teams. and I think my crazy idea was what if you had a team score not like you're on a team and then players play other players on a different team but like what if every team played the same machines and we added your scores up and I want to throw this to Alex because he was the one of the people that I threw this to when I was developing it and I want to see how he remembers it but everyone when I said that looked like I had three heads I don't know I feel like I wasn't immediately because I can't remember if this was, this would be after I played TNA with co-op on it. And it's like the idea of co-op pinball is immediately something that I love because it's something that me and my wife, Megan, it just gives a lot of legs to games I wouldn't really play normally. I feel like if they had co-op like Mandalorian, I pretty much only play because it has co-op, I feel like putting that into a tournament made sense to me. I remember our buddy Jay just immediately being like, this is going to be a logistical nightmare because part of the Howdy partner thing is trying to balance teams which uh comes with its own headaches but i think makes it fun and it's never too serious and i guess that's kind of the nice part about it not being an official tournament is that you never have to worry about anything too much so that's that's the one thing i remember from the couple howdies that i've run is that um you get to just like tell people that are trying to nitpick rules or like take something too serious you're like hey none of this actually matters do you get to pull that on people in like Boston ever. Oh, absolutely. Well, I actually I took notes for this podcast. And this is the last line of my note. Honestly, less whining because it's Howdy and who fucking cares? 100%. That is, I think, really what Howdy is all about is it's a good time. Yeah, that's maybe my favorite part about Howdy is that it's like, dude, none of this matters. It kind of brings pinball back to what pinball is in that it's fun to compete, but it's not like competing is the actual important part. The important part is having fun. That's really it. And I'm glad you said that, Zoe, because I say that all the time. Whenever I'm running a howdy, I'm like, who cares? And they're like, well, the ball got stuck. And I was like, nah, I'll put it on your flipper or I'll put it in the in lane. And they're like, well, but you know, such and such. Sure. It happened last week. We ran a Howdy. And oh, another thing, we'll talk about some of the distinct differences. And I think Zoe can speak probably most eloquently about it because you're sort of an expert in both worlds, which I don't think Alex or myself definitely are not. Like, I created Howdy Partner, but I'm not a tournament player. So you'll get to speak to the true differences. And that's where I really want to get your feedback. Last week, we had a ruling, just as an example for the audience is they were on a team somebody got an extra ball and in howdy partners we play our extra balls which is i know a big no-no in tournaments but somebody had played their teammates extra ball and then they got an extra ball and they came to me and they're like well who should play it i was like their teammates should play it yeah i was like okay have you played theirs play theirs and they're like yeah but it was it was their ball and so but then i played theirs and that if they're going to play mine i was like i'm going to add your scores together it's howdy who cares figure it out it doesn't matter you know it really doesn't matter so that was the biggest thing to me is like and i love that freedom of howdy and and when we play like when i put atlantis in which is an old gottlieb em you know sometimes you can get a ball stuck between two down drop targets or it'll it'll spit stick on one and they would be like oh we got a ball stick and i go part of that's getting that ball out without tilting like that's the rule Well, the more that you put your tilt bob back on Atlantis, it's a little harder to get it out between the tiles. That's true. I am realizing not to host your own podcast for you, but I think the three of us are potentially three of the only people in the world who have ever run a Howdy partner, let alone gotten an opportunity to play in it. Do you want to quickly summarize the format for your listeners since we've been already going off the rabbit holes of minutia? I feel like the best person to describe it is you. And I will stand in. Come on, Zoe. You've run the only satellite event so far of a Howdy Partner in Boston. I've been able to do that. Well, it was an honor that you wanted to, truly. But I want you to speak to the format as both a player and then as someone who has now run it. Sure. So, Howdy Partner. You have teams of three or four people. They are balanced based on skill level. You have people self-report their skill level when you sign them up. You also use your basic knowledge of your community to make sure that the people who are saying they're expert are really well distributed. People aren't sandbagging and saying they're only advanced because they don't want to brag too hard. There's a lot of, as you mentioned, the balancing of the teams. But you have people self-report your skill level, pretty balanced teams, have a captain who's in charge of at least the fun aspect, if not the rules aspect. And then all the teams play the same five games, add their individual player scores together for their cumulative team score on each game. Those cumulative team scores are compared to the other teams. And then whoever has the most, the best, you know, first, second, third on each game over the course of five games is declared the winner for the evening and wins. pull it right on the wall swag that you can't buy etc glory those are the basic that's the gist of it right that was a very yeah that was a very succinct i don't think i could have summed it up that well and i've run like three or four or something i created it and uh i could have never done it that succinctly so i appreciate it i'd like to sell people on coming to it because you have the the leg up of having founded it and having a core group of wedge headers that that wanted to come to begin with just to see what you were on about whereas i had to kind of sell the bostonians on the idea when i moved out here and everyone's like so what are we doing on thursday i was like you'll figure it out when you get there but here's the basics and that's probably the same spiel that i just gave to you guys i think it's fantastic that's exactly what howdy partner is and and just like you said we try to balance the teams by skill level that's really important and every team has a captain and the way i usually announce it because being a captain sometimes brings people anxiety because they feel like they need to like lead the team and they have to be the best player and you know and and you were there for so many of them and you did such a great job that people were like well i'm not zoe like i can't be a captain because i'm not zoe like i don't know how to play like zoe knows how to play i don't have rules at all it's like zoe has rules knowledge but we're like no what you say at the beginning of every event or most of the events that i've been to is your captain may not be your best player but they are your best friends. And I love that. It's about a person who is like making sure you're having a good time. Yes. I always, I never choose based on skill level. I always choose based on their personality and charisma. And I want people to be good stewards to the game. And I want new players to be paired with captains where they're going to have a good time. And that's very important because again, like I said, howdy's a social event. That's what I want. I want people that are afraid or nervous to go out and play organized pinball to come to one of these events and have a good time you know someone that might be intimidated to go to a different event and so that's that's the biggest that's the biggest thing about howdy and having a good team captain makes that very easy and you were the best at it let's not say that when alex is in the room alex you've been a captain as well did you have any sort of strategy we've had feedback from players and people do not like him as a captain. I thought you were just going to say they didn't like him in general. And I was like, yeah, that'd be understandable too. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like sometimes I'm a decent captain and sometimes I'm not, which is, you know, the difference between you and I, Zoe. I have bad days of pinball and then I feel like I'm letting my team down, which isn't supposed to be how it is at Howdy, but that just always hits me too hard. And I'm like, oh, no. And then I get in my head. It'll be like game two and I'm like, oh, this night's a wash. I'm sorry, guys. everybody let's go home you know usually if you're with a group of people that drink that's about when i grab like a round of shots for the team and i'm like okay this is gonna be a good howdy partner night you're like we're gonna get a bad spot but we'll be good we'll have fun yeah for me it's not really about the feeling like i need to play for my team it's the the social aspect sometimes i'm like oh am i do i have enough wherewithal to put on the zoe show or am i overwhelming my new friends with my enthusiasm like you have to figure out the balance of how do I teach them the amount that they want to know? How do I give them the social experience that they want to have? And I think that's why it's great to have captains who are not the people running the event, having Alan or whoever doing the administrative paperwork and then having the captains really responsible for being welcoming and making sure people are having a good time That a really good delegation of the different things people are trying to get out of the experience the administrator gives good structure the captain gives a good social life and your teammates are the ones who are teaching you how to play the game yep for sure and it very difficult if you're trying to run the tournament and everyone comes up to bullshit with you it makes your admin duties very difficult so it's nice to have like you like you go go talk to your captain like go hang out with them instead yes absolutely i also think that on the on the topic of captains the having a cumulative score means that there isn't one person can't win howdy partner for their team like i've heard many times because i am a successful captain and my teams do win a lot but people will be like oh i'm not that's always team's always gonna win i can't do it on my own number one i have bad games just like everybody else but number two not all games are exponential scoring not like if yeah we're gonna play foo fighters and i'm gonna get a billion points and no one can beat that it's gonna be like one good hulk score and three mediocre hulk scores is not as good as four decent hulk scores you know like you can't one person can't carry the whole group 100 and i think it's funny because people do do that especially with you specifically where it's like oh zoe's gonna like win this whole thing and then when you look at your teammate scores a lot of the times there's some of the best like intermediate player scores of the night you realize like having a captain that kind of like stays positive and actually does successfully coach people will impact the team like as a whole and oh i get carried some days some week yeah i just get completely someone else does all the work and everyone's like oh zoe you did it again i'm like i got two million on fishtail someone else got a video mode because i told them it existed yeah that's actually like some of those things where it's like oh if you just keep hitting the left orbit of uh black knight like you'll get an extra ball if you tell someone that and then they like execute it first ball and you're like oh my god like we're like we're gonna kill it now it's is great like i love that feeling of when you like can actually like relay some simple knowledge like that that somebody else wouldn't have realized and it ends up making a huge difference that's like the best part about howdy yeah and if the bite size knowledge is key because we all learn from each other but a lot of tournament players kind of try to explain the whole game in one download and that's not digestible like give me a little bonbon of information like if we're playing guardians of the galaxy hit Groot in the mouth well I'll do great exactly that's like the one thing that I kind of have to I can really rattle off like here's my basic strat or whatever and you realize quickly that doesn't work with like some people or some people they do want that but like 100% being like this is how you get a multiball that helps so many beginner players so much and it'll make it'll completely change like how they're playing the game and if they like a game or not and so it's kind of just nice to have that opportunity with like some of the beginner players or even like the intermediates or i mean every once in a while you have someone that's played a ton of pinball they kick ass at it but they just don't know the rules of some games and so it's just fun yeah and 100 the people who want to go deep will seek you out and say i want to talk more about this you just don't have to do it for everyone on your team all at once it's this is making the initial connection and then they'll keep on talking to you yeah i think you're really so good at being like we have one goal this is your goal like zoe can really kind of read the people on her team and know kind of how serious they are or sort of like how much of an appetite they have for like a deep download of rules and you're like as long as we all start Groot we're all playing Guardians as long as we start Groot just start Groot you're like just bang away at that or if you're playing Medieval Madness you're like just hit just what would you say to a team that's playing Medieval Madness for the first time I mean not to sound like a broken record but hit the big thing that's in the middle of the play field over and over again hit the castle it's funny how many games that'll work for yeah i do not tell people on attack from mars just hit the spaceship though that's the one outlier i would say of those fan layouts attack from mars we're going to talk about lock shot and only lock shot see there you go but that's that's a good example of like how you run your team and how your team learns from you and why you're such a good coach is because silly brings the floor up like every it's in pinball you know game to game ball to ball there's variation but the thing that you're really good at is you bring the best out of the players on your team and what i love about the format howdy partner is how much it allows you to do that and when you when your teammates do well you share in their success you know like if and that's such a great feeling and the final reading of the scores and how other teams did is the other thing that i do and howdy partner is your progress is unknown to you as a team right like you don't know how well your score is compared to the other team scores. And it's further obfuscated by the fact that you're used to playing, you know what a good score for you is on a certain machine or what a good score in a tournament is on said machine. You don't know what a good four player combined score is, right? Like nobody knows what that is. Yeah. And then you're not playing with the looming, I have to get exactly this many points that a lot of tournament games end up being like, Because you're not seeing what you're playing against. You're just playing for you. What's the personal best you can do in this particular context, in this particular moment? Yeah, I think it's a very funny... The moment of reveal is my favorite part of How Do You Partner. Is it? It's, I love that people don't know. I love when people walk up just dejected, like, man, I don't got it. Not today. You know, when they're turning in a team score on Funhaus of like 9 million points, and they're like, that ain't going to get it done. You know, and you're like, and in first place on Funhouse this week, somehow, you know, it's these bad weirdos who thought they were bad. Yeah, exactly. Funny team names is key here. One other thing is that it's not always the same winner's circle, even if you have the same captain over and over again winning, you've got different people on their team, different people are getting the experience. But having the funny team names is key. Having funny hats, funny names, funny kayfabe, those are the things I wrote down. and tournaments can have those but most don't and every howdy you are required to have all three yeah like the best i feel like the best ifpa tournaments do have like goofy shit stuff that makes it memorable or fun or whatever and it's like that's just built into the howdy like we don't even we kind of just take that for granted because that's part of it yeah you know did you want to talk about where the name came from for anyone that's not aware alan the name came from my favorite game of all time whitewater yeah when you press start on whitewater it goes healthy partner and and i love that game and i love the call outs in that game and i really did spend i was like okay what's what's the name what's in the name what what's what's the name going to be and i had a scratch paper and i probably went through i don't know 50 60 70 like phrases and words i was like you know it's like gotta it's gotta exude like friendliness it's gotta exude casualness right like it's got it's gotta mean all these different things And then it just became, I went to go play a game of Whitewater and I pressed start and it said, howdy, partner. I was like, that's it, right? Like, obviously, that's it. And you don't have to be a pinball dork who knows the minutia and all the call outs or is even familiar with the perfect game that is Whitewater. You heard it here, folks. You heard it here. Zoe Frable on record saying it's a perfect game. It's I mean, it's one of the greats. I would put it in one of my top five games that I would like to play. See, I'm vindicated. I've totally vindicated. Has anyone been telling you you're wrong? They're wrong. Whitewater's a perfect game. Some people don't like that game. Wrong. Some people really don't like that game. Wrong. Which is okay. This is why I don't have a podcast. I'll just say I would say wrong to everyone's opinion. I guess maybe that's why I need- Deleted. Yes, you do. Well, you're welcome on our podcast anytime. Oh, thank you. I had one. I had my own podcast for like seven episodes back in the day, but when your co-hosts are- You had Karen's. When your co-hosts are Jack Danger and Bo and Karen's, things get busy really quick. See? Humble brag. We're on hiatus. She's slumming it with us, Alex. Unbelievable. I'm just shocked that you would bother doing this. This is what I love about pinball. I think that, you know, like I said, tournament brain is not always healthy, especially for people who are trying to build their skills. It can be demoralizing to be so focused on, like, how am I doing versus another person? Like when I was playing soccer in elementary school, I would always ask my dad, who are we versing today? And I think that being so focused on who you're playing against isn't necessarily the right mindset for building your skills. Like, have a good time, have fun playing, and then it can be a joyful experience when you do your best rather than I'm pushing myself to the limit. I've got to do well. Oh, especially because if you're in a certain competitive market, Portland is a good example. Seattle is another good one. I think Denver has some really high-ranked players. it's like if you show up and you're competing against Escher as a local guy that plays in your local tournaments that's got to be demoralizing no matter how well I play like we're not even kind of I'm not even going to come close I have no chance yeah and in Howdy Partner if you do have a great game everyone is really cheering for you honestly even the other teams like not to do another humble brag I think this is making me sound it it late on the east I allowed to brag a little extra But you remember when I just destroyed the universe What is it called on Attack from Mars When you do all the stuff I ruled the universe I ruled the universe during a partner game. And everyone was crowded around getting to see this cool thing that a lot of people don't get to very frequently or even at all. And so seeing like, hey, look, someone I know can do that. And sometimes I beat that person. So I could maybe rule the universe is what I hope other people are seeing. Yes, I, I think it's very helpful to just like what you said is to see to see a superhuman player like you are have a bad game. And I and I'm shameless about it. I wear a giant foam cowboy hat. I have a big bullhorn that I announced things to when I'm like, you know, just so everyone knows they feel bad about the Jurassic Park score. So we scored 4 million on it. That's a real example. I hate this. I think that's the best. I don't know what happened. But what it does is it makes everyone feel better because like, oh my God, I know how awesome Zoe is. I know what a great player she is. And she knows this game. It's not like she's playing it for the first time. It means it can happen to her. It can happen to me. I don't need to be so hard on myself. Exactly. Right? Yeah. And I think part of the Howdy atmosphere is never punching down. I think we only really insult the like very best players and then the regulars that who, you know, really know are OK with it. Yeah, because that is definitely part of like it's like, I don't know. I think the shit talking is part of pinball culture and it's very embraced at Howdy Partner and it's, I think, part of the fun. I mean, I've booed Alex more than I've cheered for him, I think. Exactly. And even just like when your partner, Daniel, who's also an incredible pinball player, when when he would play at a howdy partner and i remember he would he used all his torpedoes and fishtails and so he didn't get a chance to shoot for his extra ball and he's typically a tournament player so i guess that mistake doesn't really matter to him most of the time but it's funny to watch it happen and be like wow that's a rookie ass mistake and he put up a terrible score and it was it is funny to watch and and then everyone feels better about it because then when he blows up skateball and everyone's like oh my god i'll never play like that ever in my life right but then they're like but i beat him in fishtails it's that great equalizer absolutely so the last thing we're going to talk about with howdy partner before we sort of end it is just retouch on a few things that i think makes it different it's one the social aspect two you're playing on teams three the teams change each and every week so there's a very there's a community and what's fun about it is you're going to get to know and become friends with your teammates while you play that week but then next week they're on a different team right and so you're competitors just like we were saying before it's like you root for them even though they're not on your team right because because now there's a community like oh well so and so it's so and so won their first howdy and i'm happy for them because we were on a team two weeks ago we finished dead last and so you're genuinely happy for for how these people do and there's like a nice sort of friendly rivalry where you have roommates that show up or you have you know partners show up and they're on different teams and they're they're definitely keeping a score of how many times they've won Howdy versus how many times their partner or their roommate or whatever has won Howdy. And I think that makes it really fun. Yes, absolutely. And I guess the last thing we'll talk about on it is just the prizes. I'm very adamant about keeping the casual nature. So what's common in a lot of tournaments is where you have a buy-in and a buy-in is, you know, so that there could be cash prizes to give to the winners or the top finishers. But what happens to a lot of bad players when they start out playing is they feel like it's just sort of a tax to the best players in the room is you're just paying them to basically hand you your ass and with howdy i was very like i never want a cash prize we're playing for stickers we're playing for keychains we're playing for these pint glasses or whatever that that say howdy partner champion on them that you can't purchase and they're cool pieces of swag but they're but they're there's no cash value and there's no ifpa points one because the format's completely not supported and will never be supported by it. Correct. You're not concerned about your ratings being affected by any goofy ruling we make, right? Because we're there to have fun. And some of those rulings are just on the fly. And I'm just like, well, this makes the most sense for this sounds fun to me. And you know, you've been there, Zoe, where you're like, Alan, I need a ruling. And I'm just like, well, what do you think? And you're like, well, in IFBA, we would do this. I go, do you want to do that, Zoe? And you're like, no. And I was like, that sounds good. Yeah, it really, it truly doesn't matter. You're just having fun with your friends every week for some cool swag. It's all it comes down to, like very, very cool swag. The swag is cool. But I will give credit. We just started doing a grand prize raffle, which was actually Alex's idea. And I want to give him credit for that because I think it's made it extra cool where it's basically we host seasons because Howdy Partner is pretty much more like a Lee. And every season, every time you show up to Howdy Partner, you get a raffle ticket. And after 12 weeks, we do a raffle and you get a free pinball machine rental in your house for a whole month. So you get your own pinball machine in your house on free play for a whole month. And what I think is really cool about it is Alex came up with the raffle idea because I was hesitant. I was like, I don't want to give away this to just the best player because I don't want to upset the balance of people get too competitive at a Howdy. I want them to get too upset by who they get paired with or whatever. We have new players coming in like, these people don't know what they were doing. I had no chance. Like, they were on a better team, all that kind of stuff. So we made it a raffle. So the more you come, the better your chances of winning, but it's still totally luck, and it's based on just number of entries and a random draw, and it has nothing to do with how well you did in the tournament, which I think is unique, and I want it to preserve in any prize structure that we do in the future. Yeah, I think that that's a great way to do it because you don't want to feel like you're just donating to someone else. If you like, why would you participate in something that you have no chance of winning other than because it's fun and you enjoy it? And forcing people to pay for the privilege of getting beat at pinball is kind of silly when you think about it. Yeah, it doesn't make people want to come back. Like I've talked to more than one person who's come to a Howdy saying, oh, I came to one or two Tuesdays, but, you know, I didn't feel like I was good enough to be there. And even though that's not true, and we try to cultivate a welcoming atmosphere at tournaments as well, if that's not the right vibe for you, Howdy is perfect for that. 100%. And that's like one thing. It's like my wife, Megan, would have zero interest playing in a tournament. And she'll come out to Howdy's with me, you know, whenever she can make it out on a Thursday or whatever. And it's just a huge part of that is the fact there's no buy-in or anything. It's a place we like hanging out anyway. And so you're like, yeah, you may as well play pinball. And I know it's made her a better pinball player because, I mean, Megan regularly kicks my ass on stuff. But it's funny when she knows stuff about games that I haven't taught her. And it's like, oh, someone must have actually showed you how to play this, huh? And that just cracks me up. I think she might have been in my shoot Groot in the mouth group because it was like me, Crystal. It was a very female forward group of people just hitting Groot in the face. And we all got over 100 million on that occasion. So it was really the right strategy. That Guardians is not a nice Guardians. That's why I thought that was just a good one. Yeah. Just hit that guy in the face. and I've never seen like almost any pinball IP I didn't have a TV growing up I don't watch a lot of movies so I don't know the names for things and then I can get my teammates involved by being like here's what you here's the guy you should shoot does anyone know what his name is because I could not tell you off the top of my head you're like it's Stumpy just hit kind of Stumpy in the middle there yeah well Zoe I think I think that was a nice chat about kind of the history of Howdy partner and what it means to play an Audi partner and sort of what makes it different. I want to thank you for joining us on the podcast. Oh, absolutely. And I would hope that you would come back because I think that you bring a lot to this podcast and I miss you now that you're on the opposite coast. And I know that everyone else that comes out to each and every Audi partner, they miss you as well. So in the future, we'd love to have you come back on. I'm there whenever you want me. I'll end this episode saying what I always say at the end of these episodes, which is, if you're listening, go out, find some pinball on location to play, put some coins in a game, go to your local spot, play those games, have a good time. And since we're speaking about friendly competition, get your friends involved or find a local group or meetup or league or tournament and play in it. You know, and maybe in the future as this Howdy Partner grows, it'll spread to more cities. And you'll get to play in one of these yourself. But if you're ever in Portland on a Thursday night, come on down and play in Howdy Partner yourself. It's a damn good time. Thank you. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: ed45e8f1-0095-4f84-a25a-70bfbfb94cad*