I saw you win today. I saw you win today. California dreaming, dreaming. Oye, mira, yo quiero gozar en California porque yo me siento tan bien. It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter, X, Instagram, at pinballprofile. Great Facebook group as well. You can email pinballprofile at gmail.com. If you'd like to show your support on Patreon, don't worry. The show will always be free, but thank you for help keeping this going and patreon.com slash pinballprofile. The first time I saw this woman, I was watching some videos that she created, and they were fun, and it made me realize, oh, yeah, that's kind of why I loved pinball. I mean, I'm into the competitions and stuff now, and I'm fascinated by all these great players that we see. And here I am heading off to InDisc in California. So I thought, oh, this would be a good time to go to California to talk to our next guest, Northern Cal in the San Fran area, a half an hour or so away. You, Noor, from Erica's Pinball Journey. Erica joins us right now. How are you doing, Erica? Hey, doing really good. Thanks so much for having me, Jeff. It's good to talk to you again. I think I last saw you at Expo and then maybe another time in Chicago before that. Expo was the media mixer, and you and Colin from Kineticist and This Week in Pinball and so many others, Dan in New Hampshire and so many other people put that together, and it was so much fun. I didn't go to it a couple years ago, but last year I thought, I'm going to be there, I'm going to go to it. And kudos to you for doing things like that because you made me realize, not only with the people that create content, but the people that admire, I guess, what we do, they kind of dig it. And I was just as much a fan as everyone else. Yeah, no, that was really fun. I'm glad that I was able to help Colin out with that and yeah, just help get some sponsorship and just showing support for the community. That's been so kind to me. Well, you are doing that even to this day. In fact, today, the day we record is January 20th and I guess the Twippy voting comes to an end today but you're a big part of the reason the Twippies are coming back and it's going to be a lot of fun in Houston with the wonderful people at Wormhole Pinball Jamie and others there what are you doing with the Twippies? With the Twippies I'm helping again finding sponsorship to like get trophies and what not and have people you know you can advertise your business a bit too by wanting to be a sponsor we still have some sponsorships spots left. You can either be a sponsor for a trophy or sponsor for like a trophy or for the creator awards and all that kind of good stuff. So yeah, there's still time to sign up if you want, but I'm sure when this comes out, cause the Twippies are in February. So we still have like three spots left for one of the, for the lower tier. And I think like four spots left for the higher tier, something like that. And where do people reach you? You can reach me at Erica's pinball journey on Instagram or on YouTube. Um, Erica's pinball journey at gmail.com is how you can like email me. And yeah, if you're interested in being a sponsor for the Twippies in any way, like whether you want to get yourself advertised on the event or, you know, get your name on a trophy so that people know that that was you that helped sponsor it. That's pretty cool too, I think actually. So yeah. And there's a lot of different awards too. So that's Erica with a K by the way, not a C, Erica, E-R-I-K-A. Actually, let's talk about your real day job, a filmmaker that is now this huge pinball enthusiast, and you've put a bunch of great videos on. But the day job, tell me about this filmmaking. I've got a son. My youngest son is at college right now for film and TV. So what do I have to look forward to as a parent? Oh, man. Well, I would say the film industry has definitely changed. I used to do a lot of freelance work on movies and TV shows that would happen in like San Francisco. And I did a few travel jobs too. Like I worked on a movie in Germany for about five months and then I went to Connecticut for about three months or so for some Hallmark movies. So that was a lot of fun. Been to New York for a film as well. So yeah, just I used to freelance working on movies and TV shows as like a production assistant or a coordinator. And right now the day job is I'm a assistant a production supervisor and I work at a studio for a company and I just do all our in-house stuff. So what your son could look forward to? Learning the new technology that is coming in the film industry. It's a very interesting time to be into film with creative and AI and all that good stuff. See, now that's interesting because when I went to college, and this is going back a few years, Erica, we had the greatest technology. And then I got to a real radio station. I'm like, yeah, we don't have that stuff yet. The college had everything, right? Because they had the budget and they had all the tuition fees and everything like that. So that's the good thing about learning an education in this field. But it's long hours. You have to love it. I mean, I know how long it takes me to edit and it's just audio. Video is totally different, right? The syncing, the sound. Perfect example. I brought my son out yesterday to the Ontario, the province I live in, the Ontario women's provincial championships. He had to get some hours of doing some video and stuff. I go, I got a project for you. So I brought him out, did some interviews and stuff. And normally I do interviews like this right now. But he's got video and he's like, okay, you got to make a big sound. So I did a big clap to make sure. Yep, got a sync. Got a sync and he did all that. And nice little project for him, a little piece. And I think the women were excited to have not only them, but others do some media for that event. So you've done this. I mean, here you are. That's your day job. It amazes me that you take your free time to do the same kind of thing, but for something you love in pinball. I guess I could be the same in radio doing podcasts, right? So I guess I can relate to it. But it is a lot of time. Yeah, it is a lot of time. I would say because I'm more in corporate now. I don't work in freelance film anymore. Like, I've done a few. I, like, produced a project not too long ago, which there's reasons there's gaps in, like, my videos because I'm just a busy person. And I do want to dedicate more time this year, though, to my channel. I've just been going through, you know, the motions of life. And I have my, like, leg injury, right? So I've been going through that. But, yeah, it does take a long time. And I missed out on getting to film the California State Championships for this weekend because of my foot. It's just, like, really hard for me to stand for long hours right now. Like, I'm just starting. I just got to start walking again on Friday. So I'm growing the strength back in my leg. I wasn't walking on my left foot for about a month. I saw you in the boot, so I guess for you to film now, you'd need a tripod for the camera and maybe one for you as well too. Yeah, I've been going around on a knee scooter at my parents. They were helping me during my recovery as my mobility is a little different. But yeah, I'm on the road to recovery, which is great because I have a lot of fun pinball things planned. So yeah, surgery was back just a month ago, And, yeah, I guess it would be a little bit of time for the recovery, too. And also, I guess with you favoring the one leg, you know, you're going to have this displaced kind of muscles. Like, look at how strong that leg is. Look at that little flap. Yeah, you can see, like I can see right now, like the actual muscular difference of my legs. It's kind of funny. But it'll get back. I know it's going to slowly come back, and I'll be better than ever. And people won't have to keep seeing me in a boot. Well, that's good. And I do know you love doing these little projects for pinball. Again, I saw you a couple times last year. The first time was at the John Wick Stern event that they invited a bunch of media people to. And thank you, Stern, for doing that. It was nice to see people from all over. And we had a good time. We went to Logan Arcade afterwards with a bunch of us. And those kind of media mixer things, in that sense, from the manufacturer, I'm glad to see them doing it now. What do you think? Yeah, that was really cool for me. I had heard about the media day from, I think, Kevin Loza Kid Pinball Podcast. They were saying, oh yeah, we got invited to go. And I thought that was really cool. And then I was at work and then I saw this email at my erikaspinballjourneyatgmail.com. I saw this email that said Stern visit. And I was like at work, got this email from Zach Sharp, never talked to the man before in my life. And I'm being asked to go to Stern's newest release, which was like one of the coolest days ever for me because I hadn't even been on YouTube for a year yet. So like that felt like really kind of wild. I have to say, you know, you're very, very modest, really do enjoy the work that you put in on the videos. And yeah, it has been a short time, but it looks like you've been doing it for a long time. And that's probably because of your career. Yeah, I can take some of this stuff from what I've done from work. And I used to have my own film business where I would film weddings and events. So I'm really used to that freestyle of running around and doing stuff. And I do a lot of coordination and producing now. So that's like more where my brain is at. So the editing, that's why it takes me forever because I'm so I feel like I'm too hard on myself on my edits. And I just want to make really nice content and things that are that look good. Well you putting your name out there right and these are projects and videos that people are going to see years from now So you want to put a good stamp on it I feel that way with my podcast Let the truth be known I really talk like this. But I do a little voice enhancer and you can't tell the difference. It's all the tricks of the trade. You know about it, Eric. Oh my gosh. No, Jeff, you have like, honestly, like your voice is like one of the best voices on pinball podcasts. Thanks. So when I first heard your podcast, I was like, this guy deserves a podcast. With a voice like that, heck yeah. So kudos to you. Thank you. Keep me off the video. The pods are fine. Yeah, thanks very much. No, but we like what we do. We're not trying to pat each other on the back here. But what we like about it is the interest in seeing other people and some of your videos. You're going to different arcades and really getting to share a place that some of us have never been to. And then because of your videos, because of the excitement, because of what you capture, I'm like, I want to go there. I've never been to Lens Arcade. And Mike looks like he's doing a great job there. Yeah, no, Lens is great. And, yeah, I like these new 360 videos I'm doing. A lot of people are really happy with those. They're just really big files and, like, they take a lot of time. So there was definitely a learning curve for me when I got that camera to, like, shoot these 360 videos and, like, exporting them and having the details be good enough so that you're not, like, looking at the super pan. pixelated thing so that people can do little looks around and really see where they're at. I enjoy some of your 360 videos. We have a common friend and somebody I admire big time in Manu Smith, what he does with Mystery Pinball Theater 3000. I think Manu, he's one of my favorite people in pinball. And it's like you, and I'm saying this to your face, it's the excitement that you bring. You can't help but just get excited by their enthusiasm, by your enthusiasm. And you and Manu do a wonderful job. Yeah, Manu is like the best. I feel very lucky to like have him as a friend and someone that's close by. Like, honestly, I can go see Manu. Like I just hit him up and be like, I'm going to show up today at your house, like your home, right? So he's a great guy. I love his content. I absolutely love his stream. He does such a great job and he inspires me for my own channel. So I feel very lucky to know Manu as well. So you've been to Chicago a few times. Again, we saw you at that Pinball Expo, the 40th anniversary. It was a wonderful event. The Media Mixer was there. Yeah. But you've also done some other tours. You were at Jersey Jack. You got to see Avatar when it first came out. You did a video, a first reaction playing Avatar, and maybe just kind of summarize that for some of the people that haven't seen the video. Yeah, no, that was cool because Jersey Jack did a similar thing. That's turned it and had a media day with a few creators, and we got to go play Avatar and hear about what that process was like for them, get a tour. I have a 360 video of the tour of the factory as well as first reactions with Manu, actually. Me and Manu shot a little video about what we thought about the game, and I really loved it. It was a lot of fun. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful game. It was kind of like the Stern Day 2, except the difference was that they mainly just talked about the game. They were really open about any questions we really had, besides what their next game was, obviously. But, yeah, it was cool to hear from them about what they were up to and what they do and the work that they put into the games. One thing, when you are in these factories, you really realize, holy cow, we're excited about pinball, but we learn a lot and realize the key to everything is the manufacturing. Oh, yeah. They just happen to be manufacturing pinball and do it very, very well. I know you've had other reaction videos. That one was great with Avatar, but there's a good one, a blind react to Alice in Wonderland by Dutch Pinball. Maybe some quick thoughts on that? for Allison yeah like um a lot of people uh I'm on Instagram pretty often and so a lot of people actually message me there's actually quite a few people that I talk to almost every other day and whatnot they're like hey this new game came out what do you think I'm like I haven't even played it yet but it's kind of fun that they already want to know like what I'm thinking about the game and whatnot and you know I played it at Expo it was fun and I did those blind reacts kind of just to give my first reaction to seeing something right of like what game are we about to see what does it look fun kind of things. And I really do think about it though now, because like as a filmmaker and someone that like, I would work on movies for like a few months and I would work long nights and then all of a sudden everyone's, you know, crapping on your movie. Like, oh, that sucked. And I'm like, man, yeah, I spent like three months of my life on that. Like I had to wake up and I didn't see my family. I didn't see my friends. Like I was working 16, 18 hour long days. And then all of a sudden, so I definitely try to think more of the positives now. Like when we get a new pinball. You can talk maybe bad about it sometimes a little bit, but I definitely try to look for more of like, hey, these people just worked their asses off. When you work really hard on something and you share a personal project, I try to think more positively, like how can I constructive criticism wise. I get what you're saying because it is a lot of work. It's not just the designer. It's not the person doing the code. It's so many people that we see when we go on these factory tours. And a lot of times, you know, it's just subjective. Maybe the theme doesn't grab you, whereas you know other people are fascinated by a theme like that. Sometimes I, as I've been doing this for years and years, try to really refrain from any kind of criticisms. And I'm not trying to say everything is wonderful. I just want to highlight the positives. And if there are criticisms, not so much on this show, maybe on Final Round, but hopefully they're constructive and not just me being a jerk because I don't want to be the person who just barks at this, that, and the other thing because people are investing their time in it. People are investing their money into buying these games. I don't want to crap all over them. So another really important thing is I'm not quick to rush to give an opinion, especially if I haven't played it. And that's the one thing that I don't want to say I cringe over when people are negative and they've never played it okay it's silly that's what i think also too i have seen this so many times in great pinball machines that started off the code was like oh that's a mess never judge the code when it first comes out because look at the walking dead garbage and i can say that but now a masterpiece because of the code batman 66 one of the most beautiful games i've ever seen terrible code when it first came out. A masterpiece now. Just give it time. Yeah, definitely. I think about that a lot with games. If you haven't played a game and you want to judge it, I think that's kind of silly. It's kind of like, you saw a trailer for a movie and all of a sudden you're like, yeah, that movie looks dumb. And I'm like, okay, cool. Well, you didn't watch it so how do you know? Yeah, I don't know. I just think it's kind of silly. I'm happy to give my opinion on what I think it's like and then a full opinion once I've played it. Right? So I think that every game deserves a bit of a chance of like, hey, maybe you should just play it first. Because there's so many games that I like that other people don't. I don't have the probably classic love of some games that people really like. So everyone has a different style of what they like to play and what's fun for them and what's not. There is certainly, I don't want to call it clickbait because it's not that, but the first in wins a lot of time, as you probably can appreciate in videos, maybe it's in podcasting as well, where the first opinion piece or somebody, what do they call those videos? Kerry Hardy does them all the time. And Kerry, I like Kerry, don't get me wrong, but I'm just giving you an example of somebody who does these, where they watch the trailer and they break it down as they're watching the trailer and give feedback back and forth and everything like that. First of all, you got to rush to get that edited and put that out as quickly as possible. Not always easy to do, but the first one in kind of wins. John Youssi all the views and it's a different game, but you build a reputation on that and kind of the go-to person. It's tough to do and there's certainly a place for that in pinball media. No question about it. A successful place. But I kind of like the creativity. I like the different features that other people do and you're definitely one of those people that just take your time to put something together. Even that Stern tour that we went to back in whatever month that was, May I think it was. Yeah. You put out something quickly and said, okay, you know, I've got more here, but I've got other things going on. But here's a little teaser right now. Yeah. No, definitely. I definitely think about it. There's been several games released since that tour, and it's kind of like, it feels like really old news. But I also know, like, I do have footage that I filmed. It's just I didn't finish it. There's just so much that's happened. Yeah, editing is hard. That's all I'll say. Like, editing is hard. It's time consuming. And I feel really blessed that so many people are really interested in my content. and I just need to buckle down and fix my filing process so that I can get through these videos. I could do a Pinball Profile podcast every single day. There are that many people I still want to interview. There are that many people that have great stories. I just don't want to edit it. It takes forever. Yeah. And so if you're listening and you like editing podcasts, hey, shoot me up, pinballprofilegmail.com. Here are the files. Go nuts. Wouldn't that be heaven? Hey, you know what? Now that I think about it, my son had to do volunteer hours for doing the filming. There's got to be somebody in radio or podcasting or some sort of audio medium that is looking for hours. I'll sign the note. You edit these things? Yeah. Is there somebody you would let do your editing or you like okay it doesn have my touch or it this and that Yeah I had somebody edit a video before and then I have two people that are currently working on some other videos It just like the coordination and like I know where in my footage like since I shot it, I know what clip I'm looking for or the thing and having to explain pinball to people too because if you're getting someone to edit pinball and you're like, yeah, just like show a picture of the slingshot and they're like, what's a slingshot? I kind of have to like take the time to like guide them through. this is the shot that I'm looking for or these are the pieces of the game. And yeah, I have a particular style and I think I just need to be okay with letting that go. But I do kind of have some people lined up. It's just coordinating with them and for me to get my footage in order. I have it all over the place. And I download a lot of pictures and I get video clips and I try to pull stuff from other places and get a lot of little things that are in there. I have big aspirations, just that I need to pull myself together a bit better. So it's happening this year for sure. My son is excited by doing the editing, but he's been handcuffed a little bit at college where he was in high school and he's making these videos. He can use whatever he wants. He can use copyrighted music. He can do all the free will. He gets to college like, yeah, you can't do any of that. You know, you have to have permission and things like that. He feels so put inside a little box. I'm like, well, it makes you work harder, right? Yeah, definitely. You have to be a little more creative. And you certainly know that too with what you can and can't do. Yeah, me and Motion Array, we're good friends. So I just use different software to give me permission to have songs and things. Because, yeah, you can't just put your favorite Green Day song in a video. It's going to get taken down. Screw it. I'm putting Green Day at the end of this podcast. And you know what's funny? I do. And I get a note from Spotify like, we're going to have to pull that song. I'm like, OK, whatever. I don't care. It's on other media. You can listen on Apple Pod or whatever other pods. I don't even know where my podcast is. But if it gets dumped on Spotify, I'm like, whoop-dee-doo. You know, other people have it and they subscribe to it. They get it. That's fine. So explain to us, for those who haven't seen the video, the beginner's guide to pinball, the five P's of pinball. So I like started my channel because I had a lot of friends are like, wait, pinball, you got into that? Like, how do you play or what do you do? So I kind of made this five P's of pinball video to like share with my friends. And that's kind of like how my channel kind of grew. I wasn't intending to like make as much of the different types of content that I do make now, but I'm actually really happy about it. It's a lot of fun. But the five P's of pinball, it just kind of tells you like how to turn on a game or how to make sure the game is on and then what you're going to do in order to either credit up or if it's on, you know, if you need to put coins in or if it's on free play, then you also have like the plunger and pressing the buttons and starting the game. So yeah, it's the five P's. I should probably make a graphic for that. I think that'd be fun, like something that people can put up somewhere. But yeah, it was just like, how do you get started to play? Because a lot of people will walk up to a pinball machine and they'll be like, what do I do now? Right? Like not everyone knows to put quarters into it or where the start button is. So I kind of go over like, hey, this is the start button. It might look like this in other games. And a lot of people don't know that you can put up to four players on most games. And I do have like a draft of another video that talks about how to like notice what type of game you've approached, if it's a Bally or a Stern or like, is it a four player or a two player. There's all sorts of different ways to go about it. But yeah, that's just kind of like a basic one where it's like, hey, you want to play pinball? This is almost seems silly. Like once you start playing pinball, it seems almost silly. Like those, wait, people don't know this. But yeah, like when I started pinball, I had no idea you could play up to four players. It was just a great discovery. It's not silly. When you walk into an arcade, you're probably looking at a pinball machine and maybe it's a theme or something you recognize like, hey, I love Jaws or hey, I love this band or whatever it is. And that draws you to it. But thankfully with the new machines and the LCD screens, you actually have a track mode videos that show you how to press the start button, how to plunge, how to flip. Yeah. It seems, yeah, we know it like the back of our hand and you want to bring in new people to pinball. That's the big thing about this hobby. We that are in it are so passionate about it. But I think others would be too if exposed to it. It's unfortunately an expensive hobby to own, but there are lots of places that have pinball machines. Hopefully they're working. That can get you in because I fell in love with pinball long before I ever owned a machine. So it is possible. But again, we just have to have that kind of exposure. And I think your videos do that. Certainly Twitch streams like Manu's and others, the competitions. What can we do to make more people find out about this? Is there any kind of, I mean, John Youssi it every now and then. I know Ted Lasso was a big, wonderful television show that really was positive and stuff, and Jason Sudeikis is a massive pinhead. So he put a Wizard of Oz pinball machine in season two in the bar there, and so people could kind of see this. And maybe John Youssi it a little more mainstream here and there. There's got to be something that will push pinball over the edge. Certainly the movie Pinball, Roger Sharp's story was wonderful for that, But I'm wondering what it'll be for people to go, oh, my gosh, this is the greatest thing ever. Why haven't I been playing? Yeah, I think it's hard, right? Because it's a lot of, I think the big thing is that I hear a lot when I tell people I play pinball or make pinball content. They're like, pinball? That still exists? So I think there needs to be something that gets people to understand that this is, like, D&D just came out. Like, Dungeons & Dragons is now going to be coming out for people to play. and some people had no idea that pinball is still being made and that it's current. Because when I remember I was talking to my coworkers and I was like, yeah, I bought pinball machines. Like, oh, like that old school stuff. That's cool. I was like, no, I have new games. They come out, like 12 games came out last year or something like that, right? Yeah, I think it's finding the way to get people to understand that this still gets made and still out there. I have some fun video ideas. I just need to edit them. I just need to edit more, Jeff. I'm very behind. I know. Well, the future of pinball and its growth is all in your hands, Erica. I'm just not trying to put all this weight on top of you here. But really, it is people like yourself that share these videos and get seen on Instagram and YouTube and all these wonderful things, too. You have a collection. Do you have a favorite game that you own and maybe a favorite game that you would like to own someday? Oh, yeah. I have a collection. I have about six games with my dad. We have a total of ten. So I got him to start collecting a little bit, too. Smart. My Lord of the Rings is my favorite game. That's the first game I bought, and that was the only game I thought I was ever going to own. I didn't really think that I was going to make a YouTube channel or that I would buy more than one machine or any of that. I bought Lord of the Rings thinking that would be it, and then the addiction became real. I was like, you know what would be fun? Well, I'd wait for someone else to play their ball if I had another pinball machine so I could play the other one. That's the dirty secret, right? I mean, I remember the first pinball machine I got about 10 years ago. It was a Lethal Weapon 3. I'm like, this is great. I've always wanted one. This is fun. That seems like a fun theme. Sure, it'll be good. I'm enjoying that. And then people were like, yeah, you're going to get more. I'm like, oh, no, no. I've got a bedroom here. I've got a couch here, a chair here, a TV there. And they're like, yeah, well, if you get rid of that couch, you can put three more. I'm like, no, no, just slow down. This is fine. This is all I need. And then, you know, you kind of see some here and there. And I started playing the pinball arcade. and I'm like, well, there's some games I certainly know about with Medieval Madness and Attack from Mars, but I was really into this Flight 2000 game, and I saw one for a really cheap price. I'm like, I've got to get that. Okay, now I've got two and maybe three. You just keep looking and... After two. That basement where I had a full sofa, lounge chairs, television, a bedroom, all gone now. All it is in the basement is just pinball machines. There's no bedroom. There's no couch. But you can't sit down. You have to go outside if you want to sit down. You're playing pinball machines if you're coming downstairs. And I'm looking at my TV in the corner. I'm like, you know, if I get rid of that, I can probably squeeze in one more game. I know the space is like a big thing for pinballers, right? They talk about how much space they have. They can only have this many games. My parents have a nice basement, and I keep telling my dad he doesn't need a pool table. Oh, you need two people to play pool. That's ridiculous. That's got three pinball machines written all over it. Oh, sell it. Come on. Yeah, but there's still actually space. There is plenty of space. I could probably have like 10, like probably 20 games in the basement, but like just get rid of some couches and stuff. My mom is all for it. It's just like money as well is a thing, right? So if I'm going to have 20 more pinball machines, I need money for 20 more pinball machines. Yeah, I have like a little room right now, like sectioned off in my parents' basement where most of my games are. I recently moved, so I don't have any pins with me now, but I can fit maybe about two pins at my new place. and yeah the addiction is real what's kind of fun though is like i didn't know like anything about pinball when i bought my lord of the rings like i never i didn't know they had pinball leagues i didn't know that there were expos or festivals and shows like i bought my lord of the rings totally blind i just had a friend he bought a jurassic park data east and he's like erica this is like the best thing ever and i was working a lot from home you know pandemic i i get to work remote a lot for my job unless if I have to go into the studio and we do some recording and some filming stuff right so so I was like well what am I going to do on my lunch breaks and then I was like I should buy a pinball machine I always wanted one that an expensive machine too it not like you just bought an EM or something Yeah Well I live in California right And I thought that I had like a nice amount of money to like put a down payment on something. Like I'd been saving for a while and I thought like I could, maybe I could get an apartment or something. And then I like talked to a real estate friend. They're like, no, no, you need like way more than this. I was like, way more than this? Like, this seems like a lot of money. So then I decided to spend some of that money on a pinball machine thinking like, you know what, I'm ready to buy a place. I'll just sell the machine and then put that money back to buy something. But now I could never sell my Lord of the Rings. That money is there now. But the nice thing about that, and even with prices kind of coming down a little bit, it's a good investment. Whatever you put into it, good chance you're probably going to get that back the day you sell it, maybe even a little more, certainly not a lot less. And that's the nice thing about buying these machines is it's just, well, at least this what I told my wife anyway. I'm like, it's just, why keep the money in the bank? We can just have it here when we need the money. That's it. That was the thought process. Yeah. When I first started too, I was, I have this thing called pinball math. I'll eventually release an episode about it. Oh, nice. But yeah, I would say that my Lord of the Rings for sure, I could probably make more than what I, since, you know, it's like kind of a, not rare, but like, you know, it's not often on the market. Yeah, it's a good one too. So that's your favorite game. The game you don't have that you'd love to have in your collection is? At the moment, I'm going to say Attack from Mars. Good choice. Because that was the game that got me into pinball as an adult. I remember going to this bar with my friends. I was working on this movie and I was crashing on a friend's couch. And we'd go to this bar and they had an Attack from Mars original. It was not yet. CGC. The CGCs, yeah. And I remember my friend and I getting drinks and playing Attack from Mars and just playing and playing and playing. And that was the first game that got me back into pinball. I played as a child. I played as a kid a little bit. But I remember playing Lord of the Rings and I remember playing Pirates of the Caribbean and maybe Terminator. I remember playing my first games of pinball at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. That's my first memory of pinball. I was a kid at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk playing Pirates of the Caribbean. and then skip 10, 15 years later. I'm now in my 20s and I'm playing Attack from Mars at this bar, having a lot of fun and then trying to seek out more pinball machines. I wish I knew about pinball map when I was getting started. I didn't learn about pinball map until, I don't know, like four months into buying my Lord of the Rings. I really went in blind and just like, my dad's an engineer. My dad retired and I was like, the only reason I think I really trusted to buy a pinball machine for myself too was because my father, because he retired. I'm working from home. If it breaks, my dad is like MacGyver, so he can fix it. So I like trust it. And I was like, dad, you know, electronics. If it breaks, you can fix it, right? He's like, yeah, I could fix it. And so like very confidently bought my Lord of the Rings knowing that my dad could fix it. Later learning, you know, people that are capable and fix games like for a living, right? Like that's their job. We all don't have your dad, a former engineer at our disposal, but that's the great thing about owning a pinball machine. If you're listening to this podcast right now and you're thinking, I'd like to take the plunge, but I don't know how to fix anything. You're not alone, but the great thing is the community is there to help you. There are certainly the companies, if you're buying a new machine, will have the service techs give you a call, walk you through. There's all kinds of YouTube videos to help you. Just type in what the problem is. Go on pinside.com, not certain parts, but ask the question on the forum and there are people that will help you. And listen, I have the softest hands in the world, all right? I have not done any hard labor in my life at all. You ask me for a tool, I have to Google what that tool is. The point is, even I can fix the odd thing here and there, and I am the least inclined to do so. So if I can do it, and if I can at least find out how to fix these things, so can you listening, or maybe even better yet, you know Erica's dad. One of the two. Yeah. Well, my dad and I, we're still learning how to fix machines. But yeah, it's fun. You know, I think if you own a pinball machine, you have to be willing to get like a little bit under the glass, like at least to fix a stuck ball or something. Right. But otherwise from that, yeah, like there's usually people that can help you fix it. Like you don't have to be the know-it-all to fix your games. So totally, yeah, not being afraid to buy a machine just because you don't think you could fix it. So I would buy now knowing what I know and being exposed to what I have been like, I would if I not to say that if I did my dad, he's going to be sad hearing that. I was like, oh, I didn't need my dad to like buy a pinball for permission. Oh, we're giving out his email. We're getting everybody in touch with your dad. He's going to be busy for the next little while. But you told me you're kind of working on kind of a big project. Oh, yeah. That's what I want to start this year is I want to work on my own homebrew. Yeah. Really? Do you have a theme in mind? I do. I do have things in mind. I think for me at the start of it, like I'm actually going to I need to hit him up. Joel from Boys Night Out. Oh, yeah. He's local to me and he's like, Erica, when you want to make your pinball machine, let me know. And yeah, I have different ideas. I really would like to spend more of my free time this year trying to get a homebrew going. It would be really cool to bring at least something flipping to Expo maybe. I don't know. That sounds like big things going out. It's a big commitment. But you mentioned Joel. And I first met Joel years ago at Expo when he brought Boys Net out there. And it flipped. It worked and everything. But he since brought it back out last year. And I could see the improvement. Yeah, he's really changed it. It's a big project you're always tinkering with. And you have no deadlines. It's as you find the time to do it. But that's good that you've got people there. And talk about a great community, the homebrew community. Oh, my gosh. They want to help everyone. I love it. Yeah, no, they were super great. It's really inspiring this year at Expo. I felt more inspired than ever to make the games that I know that I won't see from the – I won't see Stern or Jersey Jack or Spooky and whatnot make these games, right? You say that, but TNA was a homebrew. Archer was a homebrew that became Iron Maiden. Legends of Alhalla was a homebrew that American produced. Don't say that these won't be mass produced someday because you never know. I guess with the IPs that I'm interested in making stuff, I'm just unsure about the... Sure, the theme. But yeah. Mark Mark Seiden, who made Avatar. I played his old Metroid game years ago at Pintastic. That's such a cool thing. These games exist. Ry Ryan McQuaid, same thing with his old Sonic game. Sonic game. Uh-huh. So, all right, Erica. Super cool. Yeah, and I bought a P3 as well because they also have a third-party software. Not a lot of people know, but they have a third-party software where you can make games on it. And so that community has also been very nice to me. And I have a cousin. He works on video games, and he understands Unity. So I've been toying with Unity a little bit, trying to learn that. Potentially, I might make something on the P3 before I make something physical because it is really expensive. I would say that like building your own pinball machine costs thousands of dollars. It's not a cheap thing to try. So but that doesn't mean I can't grab some cardboard and put some sticks in it. And my dad has a 3D printer. He's been like loving his 3D printing. And so we talk a lot about how he could print out, you know, some of the ramps or things. And yeah, but I have ideas for this year. I would reveal like maybe the ideas I have. But then like then that like spoils the surprise. Yeah, don't worry about it. We're all going to see it this year at Expo anyway, fully flipping. And I expect nothing less from you, Erica. Oh, God. But it is exciting. And Erica, I'm sorry I won't see you at Indisc when I'm in California, but you're recovering from the surgery back in December and all the best with that. But I do look forward to seeing Erica's pinball journey on Instagram and, of course, YouTube. And it's always a pleasure to talk to you. Yeah, likewise, Jeff. Thanks so much for having me. I love listening to your podcast. It's a lot of fun. and you interviewed some really great people. So I feel really honored that you wanted to talk with me. So thank you. You're one of the greats as well. Thank you so much, Erica. We'll talk to you soon. Okay, thanks, Jeff. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter, X, Instagram, at pinballprofile. You can email pinballprofile at gmail.com, especially if you're an editor of a podcast. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. That's, you know, oh my goodness. I could do one a day. That'd be fantastic. And if you'd like to show your support on Patreon, Don't worry, the show will always be free, but thank you very much. It helps with the expenses and everything. So thank you to GME Law, to Tony V, to Nick N, Albert A, David M, Derek K, and others. Again, patreon.com slash pinballprofile. Check out Erica's pinball journey. I'm Jeff Teelhoff. I'm Jeff Teelhoff. © BF-WATCH TV 2021