# Episode 196: Julie Dorssers, the Wonder Woman of Pinfest **Source:** Pinball Profile **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2019-05-13 **Duration:** 14m 29s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-196-julie-dorssers-the-wonder-woman-of-pinfest/ --- ## Analysis Pinball Profile Episode 196 features Julie Dorssers, a top competitive female pinball player from London, Ontario, discussing her third-place finish (ninth overall) at the Allentown Pinfest tournament. The episode covers her custom Wonder Woman-themed Electromatic machine, her role organizing the London Ontario Pinball League and Monday night pinball events, and her tournament strategy and accomplishments including a previous PAPA 20 women's championship. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Julie finished third seed (top woman) at Allentown Pinfest with a ninth-place overall finish out of approximately 240 players — _Jeff Teolis and Julie both reference the third seed position, tournament bracket restructuring from 24 to 32 competitors, and the ninth-place overall finish explicitly stated by Jeff_ - [HIGH] The tournament changed playoff structure from 32 to a larger bracket due to exceeding 240 players, requiring more than 10% of entries in playoffs — _Julie explains: 'because they thought they were going to exceed the 240 players, the threshold, then you have to have more than 10% in the playoffs. So they went up to 32'_ - [HIGH] Julie's custom Wonder Woman machine was built from a purchased Electromatic costing $500 USD with significant additional parts investment — _Julie states: 'I bought it last year at Allentown, and it cost me about $500 American' and later mentions substantial additional parts investment and LED upgrades_ - [HIGH] The London Ontario Pinball League now has two shifts due to growing volume and is potentially Ontario's largest league — _Jeff Teolis states: 'It might be Ontario's biggest league now. We have two shifts, which is pretty neat because the volume was so much that we couldn't accommodate everybody'_ - [HIGH] Julie previously won the women's championship at PAPA 20, which she considers her biggest prior accomplishment — _Julie: 'It was' [her biggest accomplishment before Allentown]; Jeff recalls 'Sunshine was in that Heliana and some other great female players' competing there_ - [HIGH] Julie hosts Monday night pinball events at Speed City Records in London, Ontario, which has attracted new players to the competitive league — _Jeff: 'you also for a few years now host every single Monday night Monday night pinball and it's been at a few different locations currently at Speed City Records'_ - [HIGH] Julie had a glitchy game at Atlantis that registered as two-player without proper input, which tournament organizers resolved by allowing her to play first ball only — _Julie describes the malfunction: 'The game would play two player without even... I pushed it again and it did it again. I said, see, I only pushed it once. And they said, okay, so just play your first ball and then drain the second one'_ - [HIGH] Kyle Pern (referred to as Kyle in the conversation) free-handed the Wonder Woman artwork on the machine's side — _Julie: 'Kyle came up with some stuff. He free-handed the artwork on the side. No kidding? Yeah, he's really good at that'_ ### Notable Quotes > "I really just wanted to win the Wonder Woman trophy because I made a Wonder Woman game. So that was my only goal, and I surpassed that." > — **Julie Dorssers**, early > _Expresses her primary motivation at Allentown and satisfaction with exceeding her goal_ > "It's really just a weekend away where I don't think about work. I go back to teaching the following week. So it is my kind of de-stress weekend." > — **Julie Dorssers**, mid > _Explains the personal significance of Allentown beyond competitive results_ > "I think the Papa was still bigger because I had to compete against the wind and I had to beat everybody. So I think that meant a little bit more." > — **Julie Dorssers**, mid > _Compares her PAPA 20 women's championship to the Allentown result, showing her assessment of competitive achievement hierarchy_ > "because the volume was so much that we couldn't accommodate everybody. And we didn't want to turn anybody away." > — **Jeff Teolis**, mid > _Explains the growth of the London Ontario Pinball League to the point of needing two separate shifts_ > "it's nice to see people embracing pinball and... that means it's growing and it's amazing" > — **Julie Dorssers**, late > _Reflects on community growth despite some Pinside complaints about overcrowding_ > "I was glued to it. I was like, okay, let's get the buys over so we can see how Julie plays. She's going to go." > — **Jeff Teolis**, late > _Shows how community members were actively following Julie's tournament performance_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Julie Dorssers | person | Top competitive female pinball player from London, Ontario; third seed (top woman) at Allentown Pinfest; co-organizer of London Ontario Pinball League; hosts Monday night pinball events; previous PAPA 20 women's champion | | Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast; co-organizer of London Ontario Pinball League with Julie; competitive pinball player | | Kyle Pern | person | London, Ontario pinball artist; member of London Pinball League; created free-hand artwork for Julie's Wonder Woman machine | | Allentown Pinfest | event | Major pinball tournament and marketplace event held in Allentown; Julie finished third seed (top woman) and ninth overall out of ~240 players | | London Ontario Pinball League | organization | Competitive pinball league co-organized by Julie and Jeff; operates with two shifts due to high volume; plays six games per night with top four counting toward score; potentially Ontario's largest league | | Monday Night Pinball | event | Weekly pinball gathering hosted by Julie at Speed City Records in London, Ontario; entry point for new players into competitive pinball | | Mrs. Pin | person | Pinball community figure; created the Wonder Woman trophy for Allentown; made podcast with Julie discussing WOMP (Women of Marvelous Pinball or similar) | | Speed City Records | organization | Current venue for Julie's Monday night pinball events in London, Ontario | | Alexander Kuzmarchuk | person | Young pinball player; won the Allentown tournament bracket that Julie competed in | | Jason Zoller | person | Pinball player; competed against Julie in Allentown playoff brackets | | Corey Cook | person | Mechanical restoration/modification specialist who worked on Julie's Wonder Woman machine, fixing sound connectors the night before Allentown | | Glen Avola | person | Owner/operator of Signature Graphics in London, Ontario; created plastics and back glass printing for Julie's Wonder Woman machine | | Phil Birnbaum | person | Ottawa-based pinball player; sent Julie congratulations during Allentown tournament | | Signature Graphics | organization | Graphics company in London, Ontario that printed plastics and back glass for Julie's Wonder Woman machine | | Pinball Profile | organization | Long-running interview podcast hosted by Jeff Teolis covering pinball community and competitive play | | Heroes Comics | organization | Comic book store in London, Ontario where Julie sourced Wonder Woman reference materials | | PAPA 20 | event | Prior major tournament where Julie won the women's championship, which she considers her biggest competitive accomplishment | | Pinside | organization | Online pinball forum where league growth concerns were discussed | ### Topics - **Primary:** Competitive tournament performance at Allentown Pinfest, Custom machine building and restoration (Wonder Woman Electromatic), Women in pinball and female competitive play, Community league organization and growth in London, Ontario - **Secondary:** Tournament mechanics and playoff structure decisions, Game selection strategy in tournaments, Community building through casual play events, Pinball machine artwork and customization ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Episode is celebratory and warm, focused on Julie's accomplishments and contributions to the pinball community. Frequent compliments, insider humor, and genuine appreciation are evident throughout. Jeff expresses pride in Julie's performance and contributions. No criticism or controversy present. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** London Ontario Pinball League experiencing significant growth requiring split into two shifts to accommodate demand (confidence: high) — Jeff: 'It might be Ontario's biggest league now. We have two shifts, which is pretty neat because the volume was so much that we couldn't accommodate everybody' - **[community_signal]** Monday night pinball events successfully attracting and on-boarding new players into competitive league ecosystem (confidence: high) — Julie: 'I've actually gotten a lot of people into the London League because they come to Monday night and they go oh is there anything else anywhere else we can play and then I say oh you can come to the London League and then they do better than me' - **[event_signal]** Allentown Pinfest tournament exceeded 240-player threshold, requiring bracket restructuring from 24 to 32 competitors in playoff (confidence: high) — Julie: 'they thought they were going to exceed the 240 players, the threshold, then you have to have more than 10% in the playoffs. So they went up to 32' - **[community_signal]** Custom machine creation process in London pinball community involves collaborative network of artists, graphics professionals, and restoration specialists (confidence: high) — Wonder Woman machine involved Kyle Pern (artwork), Signature Graphics/Glen Avola (printing), Corey Cook (mechanical work), and Julie's research at local comic shop --- ## Transcript it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teoles you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile emails pinball profile at gmail.com and please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Well, if you saw what happened in Allentown last week, it was a one-woman wrecking show because Julie Dorsers was on fire. She was the third seed after qualifying, the top woman. She won a great prize from Mrs. Penn, and she's here to talk about it. A good friend, Julie. Julie, congrats on last weekend. Thank you so much, Jeff. It was an awesome weekend. I had so much fun. Which is rare, because you're always miserable. No, I always have fun at pinball. There's a whole pinball family, and I really enjoy it. And I got to meet Mrs. Pin, and I was really stoked. I really just wanted to win the Wonder Woman trophy because I made a Wonder Woman game. So that was my only goal, and I surpassed that. So I was really stoked. You'll see some pictures on our Facebook page of the Wonder Woman game, the custom re-themed game that Julie brought to Allentown. It was made from an old electronimal, but the artwork was spectacular. Talk about that game, first of all. Well, I bought it last year at Allentown, and it cost me about $500 American, which is like a million dollars Canadian. You're not supposed to say the price. It cost you thousands of dollars for when you resell. Dually. Big mistake. Yeah, but I put a lot into it. So I put a lot of new parts into it, and then I gave it to Kyle, who's... Kyle Pern. Kyle Pern, who's in our league, who's just a great artist. And I said, I was originally going to do Hello Kitty. But then I thought, oh, I don't think the guys would like Hello Kitty. What the hell were you thinking with Hello Kitty? And then it came to me to do Wonder Woman. And so I gave Kyle some pictures. I went and got some comics down at Heroes Comics here in London. And Kyle came up with some stuff. He free-handed the artwork on the side. No kidding? Yeah, he's really good at that. Wow. And then we sent the plastics to a company here in town, a graphics company, Signature Graphics. A friend of mine, Glen Avola, who's awesome. You getting paid to say that or what? No, he was an old neighbor. And, you know, they've done a lot of work and they do a great job. So they printed the plastics and did the back glass. And so we put it all together. And Corey Cook did a lot of the mechanical stuff. He was in the room the night before fixing the sound connectors like one by one. It was unreal. So it all came together and it looks phenomenal. And I put a ridiculous price on it because... You didn't really want to sell it. But if someone's going to give you a lot of money, more than what you put into it, because you blew it, you're done. I did put a lot of money into it. And it's a beautiful game. And I actually bought more parts. So I'm going to LED the... I got an LED lamp driver board thing and some new star targets and a cup holder and that goes. Anyway, so I souped it up. So, and it played great all weekend. It only had one little glitch and you just turned it off and on and it fixed itself. So that's always a good thing. And everybody said it was great Even Dr Pinball Dr Bob Pinball or whatever Anyway so I was pretty happy with it It was definitely a showstopper. A beautiful game for sure. And I don't imagine you'll be selling it soon because you're really taking this Wonder Woman theme. You've got that great now topper that Mrs. Pin did when she made the trophy. But you're even wearing a Wonder Woman necklace. You're like, where are the bulletproof bracelets and the lasso of truth? I need the lasso of truth. Oh, and also Satin Tights, Fighting for Your Rights, and the old Red, White, and Blue. The greatest theme song ever. Wonder Woman? You ever heard it? Yeah. Oh, it's classic. And it's probably your theme for this show. We'll put it in post. Okay. Julie, the tournament is, I don't know if it's something that is a big deal for you going to Allentown, because Allentown's more about the experience, the trading, the Winnebago down there, the fun times, meeting up with old friends. You just so happen to do very, very well at the tournament. but we'll get to that in a second. So what does Allentown mean to you going to that event? It's really just a weekend away where I don't think about work. I go back to teaching the following week. So it is my kind of de-stress weekend. And, you know, there's a whole group of us Canadians that converge. Never a good thing. Never a good thing. We get, we put a game in a, you know, a couple of games in the party room and we all play and we talk about pinball and, And it's a great time. It really is. The show is great. The market's awesome. I play a lot of pinball. And then I do the tournament. I always do compete in the tournament more than a lot of the other guys I go with. So you must have been just stoked when you looked at your score at Atlantis, three-something million. And then I think your Stars game was one of the best, too. So it's tough to do very well in a tournament like that when it's limited entry. It didn't matter for you. well I actually went up I played the gauntlet which was the other tournament and I did awful like I was like I don't know how to play pinball anymore and so I went away and I played some other games and I came back and went I'm gonna I'm gonna play earthshaker because I we used to have that at the bar and so I went up and played it and I got like three million I was like oh that's okay I'll see how that does because I was the first one to play it well I heard the multiball was tough like that upper left was tough. I couldn't get up the side ramp. I just did lots of ramps and I put in the hole to get like 100,000, 100,000. Chop and wood. Chop and wood. But the ball kept staying in play so I was really happy. And then I went to the Atlantis and I played one game and they had a problem. The game would play two player without even... So you cheated? No, no, no. I said, oh, it went to two player. Why are you winking? I pushed it again and it did it again. I said, see, I only pushed it once. And they said, okay, so just play your first ball and then drain the second one. So then I tripled my score because I got the multipliers. Controversial. Just joking, Julie. You know I am. I know. Anyway, so I had this awesome game. I was like, wow, that's two decent games. And four was the magic number. You need four good games, right? Right. So I played Joker Poker, and I had an okay score. And I played Stars, and it was okay. So I kept playing those games and the Friday I ended up getting 300,000 on Joker poker. And I was like, that's really good for me. That's a good score for anybody. So I went back and then the next day I came back and Saturday and I said, okay, I'm going to play stars. And so I played stars a couple more times and I got a decent score. So I was like, okay. And at one point I was in first and I was like no this isn going to hold Well it did hold because you were third overall which was amazing And because of the number of people that played in the tournament they had to change the playoff structure So originally it was going to be the top 24 in kind of a strike tournament. But because they thought they were going to exceed the 240 players, the threshold, then you have to have more than 10% in the playoffs. So they went up to 32. And what that meant was because you finished third, you got not one, but two buys. I know that really helped, except then I had to play the Alexander kid. Alexander Kuzmarchuk, who won. Yes, and then Jason Zoller, and I was like, oh. So you hate children is what you're saying? No, I don't. I've played with Jason. My first Pinberg I played against him, and he's such a nice young lad. And I know Steven very well, and he's such a good guy. And they look up to you to buy their beer? No. I don't think he drinks yet. I don't think he's quite there yet. No underage kids ever drink, Julia. Come on. Anyway, so the problem was I had to pick a bank, and I picked up and down instead of across. So I picked the wrong bank completely. But it's fine. I don't think any of the banks would have done me a perfect. We'll talk about vertical versus horizontal later. But, Julie, I want to talk to you about something else that you do. So Julie has been playing a long time, and Julie is one of the executives, like myself, of the London, Ontario Pinball League. And that's where we are right now today on the Saturday, the day before this comes out on Pinball Profile. And that's a league that just keeps growing. In fact, it might be Ontario's biggest league now. We have two shifts, which is pretty neat because the volume was so much that we couldn't accommodate everybody. And we didn't want to turn anybody away. And we don't, which is very, very exciting. So if you're looking for some pinball action and you're in southwestern Ontario, you get to play six games or six games each night. There are six nights, the top four go towards your score, and then the playoffs, which it's been a lot of fun, and you do very well in that too. Well, I think I've made the playoffs every single year, but I'm not always in the upper echelon, but I do make the playoffs. Who is in the upper echelon? Jeff Teolas. I didn't notice. Although I don't know if he had a good night tonight. What are you talking about? I got three million on Flash Gordon. Come at me. What was your star score? Just be quiet. You're a star expert after Allentown. Well, it actually had like a rubber and it didn't tilt really easily. So I was like, wow, this is how it's supposed to do. Here I am gloating, giving your own pinball profile and she's rubbing it in. All right. You know what? I'm so proud of you, though. I mean, you and I were texting while I was at home and you were downtown. Like, whoa, like what's going on? And I think for me, that was almost as exciting because people were texting me. Nice. And like Phil from Ottawa. Phil Birnbaum, yeah. Phil sent me a message. He's like, wow. And I was like, oh, like people are watching. Oh, I was thrilled. And I was glued to it. I was like, okay, let's get the buys over so we can see how Julie plays. She's going to go. And you know what? You did so well. I think you finished ninth in that tournament of over almost 240 people. And you've won big tournaments before. In fact, a few years ago, we were at Papa 20 and you were the woman's champion. So that was at the time, I assume, your biggest accomplishment. It was. Would this be bigger? Um, I think, I think it, it's close, but I think the Papa was still bigger because I had to, I had to compete against the wind and I had to beat everybody. So I think that meant a little bit more. I remember Sunshine was in that Heliana and some other great female players that were just kicking butt and you just you were on fire I just sometimes you have a good day and you know I and you kept picking the old games You had Bobby Orr I remember Cosmos if I recall and the players were like why are you picking these duds? And you crushed it. Cause I'm like, Oh, I might be able to win with this. So yeah. So, well, Julie, not only the London Ontario Pinball League, but I mean, you want to talk about both feet being in pinball you also for a few years now host every single Monday night Monday night pinball and it's been at a few different locations currently at Speed City Records and that's a lot of fun you've gotten a lot of people into pinball I I have I've actually gotten a lot of people into the London League because they come to Monday night and they go oh is there anything else anywhere else we can play and then I say oh you can come to the London League and then they do better than me and I'm like oh I trained you too well so it but it is nice it's nice to see people uh embracing pinball and I was looking at pin side and that was one of the complaints there's too many people I'm like but that means it's growing and it's amazing you draw them in too because of your awful personality too you know I thought that would scare people away but for some reason I guess the pinball just overshadows when I have to collect money I'm a little bit militant but well because I don't want the books to not sure balance right so I stress about that all right now I want to talk about one more thing this is airing on Mother's Day and you and I were talking beforehand I said I'm gonna have you as my Mother's Day guest I know you're not a mom you went well wait a second I have two cats and they're my like my children they are your babies they are my babies so Prince Rory Von Maples and Hannah Von Solo my two children oh Julie you know I love you you're a wonderful person and everybody I know you come across knows when Julie's there because you can hear that infectious laugh your big smile and you know what you're a damn good pinball player too thank you so much Jeff thank you so much and you're a great pinball player too oh now you say now you say it yeah yeah yeah and we'll be we'll be in New York competing so we'll have to see what happens yes New York you know there are certain places where I go where you know Vegas I was just in in March in New York City yeah we're going to play pinball but there's other things to do in those cities i know i know i'm going to see the statue of liberty oh cool and uh my my partner tim has like a whole list he's he's got all the comic book places he's got all the seinfeld locations he's got like all these delis he's going to he he has it all mapped out never gets out of the small city does he i'm just kidding tim's awesome all right hey julie congratulations again it's been a hell of a run for you over the last few weeks and topped off not only by the topper for wonder woman that great trophy but you were the most current at this time of recording the most current womp women of i don't know something like that yeah i think that's awesome i didn't know what it meant until i heard her podcast with me and and i was like oh that's what that means because the guys were like what's a womp i'm like swimming of something anyway family show here of marvelous pinball or something like that. Anyway, Julie, congratulations again. Thank you so much, Jeff. This has been your Pinball Profile with the Queen of Pinball here on Mother's Day. 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 Teels. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: fc5772e7-a388-4fc7-8069-21bcf60fbb32*