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Episode 71: Buffalo Pinball Summer Open 2017 recap

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·23m 29s·analyzed·Sep 10, 2017
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Buffalo Pinball Summer Open 2017 PAPA Circuit recap with winner Alex Kazmarchik.

Summary

Jeff Teolis recaps the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open 2017, a PAPA Circuit major event held at Pocketeer Billiards in Cheektowaga, NY. The tournament featured 62 machines, a sold-out 50-player three-strikes pre-tournament, and top competitive talent including Robert Gagnon (Canadian #1), Levy Naiman, Tim Sexton, and 14-year-old Alex Kazmarchik, who won the main event. The episode covers player interviews, tournament logistics, and highlights the growing competitive depth in pinball.

Key Claims

  • Buffalo Pinball Summer Open featured 62 machines available for play

    high confidence · Direct statement: 'now 62 games here for the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open'

  • The three-strikes pre-tournament sold out with 50 players and had a waiting list

    high confidence · Steve Daniels: 'We just had the limit based on the number of games and space available... but they totally did [fill up]'

  • Trent Ogdenstein won the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open the previous year

    high confidence · Greg Pavarelli: 'Trent Ogdenstein, who won it last year'

  • Alex Kazmarchik, age 14 from Pittsburgh, won the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open 2017 main event

    high confidence · Jeff Teolis: 'Alex Kazmarchik has won it all again, the Year of the Youth, 14 years old from Pittsburgh'

  • Robert Gagnon is ranked #1 in Canadian WPPR standings

    high confidence · Jeff Teolis: 'number one and number two, Robert Gagnon'

  • Phil Birnbaum is ranked #2 in Canadian WPPR standings

    high confidence · Jeff Teolis: 'the guy who's chasing you in the Canadian standings, Phil Birnbaum'

  • Steve Bowden won the three-strikes pre-tournament finals against Trent Ogensee

    high confidence · Steve Daniels: 'you had Trent Ogensee versus Steve Bowden, some heavyweights right there'

  • Steve Daniels is the Vermont State Champion and first Vermont player interviewed on Pinball Profile

    high confidence · Jeff Teolis: 'You won the Vermont State Championship, which I can't believe. I've talked to over 100 people on Pinball Profile. I don't think I've ever talked to anybody from Vermont'

Notable Quotes

  • “I've never seen the X-Files in a main tournament. Seven years I've been playing, I have never seen the X-Files yet in a main tournament.”

    Jeff Teolis (quoting another player) @ mid-show — Highlights the rarity of certain classic games appearing in modern tournament lineups

  • “I was sitting in the parking lot getting ready to eat some pizza and chicken wings, and suddenly I find out from Alberto that we have a tiebreaker tomorrow. It crushed me. I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

    Levy Naiman @ late-show — Illustrates the dramatic tension of tournament tiebreakers and sudden playoff situations

  • “He's sitting on a stool, you know he's doing good because that game is lasting a while.”

    Maurizio (Robert Gagnon's father) @ mid-show — Describes Robert Gagnon's playing style and how family recognizes when he's performing well

  • “Three top 15 players. That's just to get into the semis. Just to even advance. It just goes to show you that pinball's progressing.”

    Greg Pavarelli @ late-show — Commentary on the increasing competitive depth in pinball tournaments

  • “Just happy to finally win a circuit event.”

    Alex Kazmarchik @ show-end — Tournament champion's reaction to winning the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open main event

Entities

Buffalo Pinball Summer OpeneventPocketeer BilliardsorganizationPAPA CircuitorganizationJeff TeolispersonRobert GagnonpersonAlex KazmarchikpersonLevy NaimanpersonTim SextonpersonGreg Pavarelliperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Buffalo pinball community characterized by strong local league participation and infrastructure supporting large tournament operations

    high · Jeff Teolis: 'Buffalo Pinball has a huge pinball scene and a lot of great leagues and team leagues' with 62 machines available and multiple classics bank options

  • ?

    competitive_signal: High concentration of top-15 WPPR-ranked players competing at Buffalo Summer Open, including Trent Ogdenstein, Steve Bowden, and Zach Sharp in three-way playoff for semis qualification

    high · Greg Pavarelli: 'Three top 15 players. That's just to get into the semis... it just goes to show you that pinball's progressing'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Geographic expansion of competitive play with players traveling from multiple regions (Canada, New York, Alabama, Pittsburgh) to major tournaments

    high · Multiple guest mentions of flying in, traveling via bus/car from distant locations; Gagnon family on 5-week road trip through Ontario and East Coast

  • $

    market_signal: Youth emergence in competitive pinball highlighted by 14-year-old Alex Kazmarchik winning major PAPA Circuit event

    high · Jeff Teolis: 'Alex Kazmarchik has won it all again, the Year of the Youth, 14 years old from Pittsburgh' and Greg Pavarelli: 'He's going to be an up-and-coming superstar in pinball for sure'

  • ?

    event_signal: Buffalo Summer Open established as major PAPA Circuit event with successful inaugural three-strikes pre-tournament format drawing 50 players with waiting list

    high · Steve Daniels: 'We just had the limit based on the number of games and space available, and didn't necessarily think the 50 spots would fill up, but they totally did'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.071

0:00
It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on iTunes. Another Papa Circuit event this weekend just south of Cleveland. It is the Cleveland Pinball Show, September 7th through 10th. Also a big event going on at Dory Hill. We'll hear more about that on our next Pinball Profile when Snow Galvin joins us. But right now, let's recap what happened at the last Papa Circuit event. It was the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open, and I had a chance to talk to many of the players.
0:40
So excited to be back at Pocketeer Billiards in Buffalo, or just outside of Buffalo, really. Cheektowaga, is that the right way to say it? Cheektowaga, yeah. We like to say that around here. Summer Lee joins me, and so does Brandi Kaiser, and you two play a lot here in the selfie leagues and at Pocketeer. It's great to see this big tournament here. Yeah, it's awesome. We're so excited. We just have been all week long waiting for this weekend to come. How about you, Brandi? Are you pretty excited? So excited. Good energy. It'll be fun. Brandi, I remember when summer first started playing pinball, and it was the selfie leagues right here. And the history of this place, you know, it started with just Star Trek, and then now 62 games here for the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open. It's insane. It's great to see such a large selection, and Packeteer is so awesome about getting the newest machines that it's fun to come in here frequently to see what's changed. And they play great, too. Not so much me, but I don't know. How about you, Brandi? So far, so good, but you never know. Yeah, and a nice little three-strike tournament to begin here on the Thursday night, which is a good way to kick off this tournament. And my goodness, the 50 players, the talent here. Hey, beat it. Go to the big tournaments. Let us losers have a chance. Oh, my gosh. It's so fun to see all the great players, though, all come together. And I have to say that I've already got through the first round without a strike. So I call it a win already. Summer, that's my only goal, absolutely. That was our goal. So we've met that once. I'm hoping to get through another round. Brandi, Summer, great to see both of you here. Yeah, wonderful. Thanks for coming.
Phil Birnbaum
person
Steve Bowdenperson
Trent Ogdensteinperson
Steve Danielsperson
Jeff Beckerperson
Maurizio Gagnonperson
Summer Leeperson
Brandi Kaiserperson
Nixon Deasperson
Chris Warrenperson
Zach Sharpperson
  • $

    market_signal: Tournament venue quality and machine selection driving tournament appeal and player attendance across regions

    medium · Brandi Kaiser: 'Pocketeer is so awesome about getting the newest machines and it's fun to come in here frequently to see what's changed. And they play great, too'

    • 2:12
    All right, I'm in one of the Canadian quarters here at Pocketeer Billiards. And there's quite a few and some great Canadians too. In fact, number one and number two, Robert Gagnon. How are you doing, Robert? Thank you very much. I'm doing good, and I'm about to have a burger. Thank you. Do you like the games? Yes, I love the condition they're in. They're fantastic. Well, we're looking forward to seeing you do very, very well. And the guy who's chasing you in the Canadian standings, Phil Birnbaum, makes it. And you've been here before. I have. I was here last year for the summer Open. And it's a pretty good tournament. Not surprised to see it's a major. It's a very nice tournament. It's got two classics, too. So, you know, it's not just standing around playing the mains all day waiting in line. There's more than one to play. Robert, you've had one heck of a trip since Pinberg, and even before that, you've been spending a lot of time in Ontario. You've had a lot of fun. Yes, because I love being out on the East Coast and getting to be with the East Coast players for the summer almost. It's been so fun getting to play with these East Coast players. There's a lot more pinball here too. I know big things in BC are coming up. The Vancouver flip out, I'm looking forward to that. I did a speech show last year, actually. In fact, I look forward for you coming to Vancouver and getting to see my town and what my town has to offer like I've seen here. Well, you've got a great town and you're a great player. Robert and Phil, Phil, you've been just tearing it up on classics. And I have a few people bugging. You see a lot of those people from New York. And there was a little tournament you had not too long ago where you might have come in second. But really, you've been playing on fire this year. Well, I mean, I've been playing pretty well. I've been making lots of playoffs, but I haven't won anything. So it's really hard for me to say that I've been doing that well. I'm recording this on Thursday. We'll see where you guys wind up on Sunday. Phil, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Robert. I'm going to say something. Yeah, go ahead. I'm excited to see the X-Files in a main tournament for the first time. Seven years I've been playing, I have never seen the X-Files yet in a main tournament. And Domino's, too. We've got another one. You know what? I've never even heard of dominoes, actually.
    4:19
    Well, we'll see how you do. Thanks very much, Robert. Thank you. One new thing added to the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open this year was the three strikes pre-tourney, and thanks to Steve Daniels from Vermont, it was a huge success. In fact, it sold out 50 players, and you had people on the waiting list. Exactly right. I was very surprised. We just had the limit based on the number of games and space available, and didn't necessarily think the 50 spots would fill up, but they totally did. Well, I thought it would be a lot of local players because Buffalo Pinball has a huge pinball scene and a lot of great leagues and team leagues. No, no, people from all over came in early for this, and look at who won the finals too. You had Trent Ogensee versus Steve Bowden, some heavyweights right there. Yeah, I think part of the appeal, and this was intentional for the out-of-state players, the non-local players, was the fact that it was actually $20. If it had been a little bit less, there would have been less on the line. And I think, from my experience, they're not as interested when the stakes are a little bit lower. So apologies to the local players who didn't like putting up the 20. I didn't hear any complaints about it, but I do know that that was a little bit of extra money that you would expect for a tournament like that. But it worked out, and it turns out I'm smart. Nobody plays for the money. It's all about Whoppers. You know that, Steve. Wait, there's Whoppers? You got a few because you won the Vermont State Championship, which I can't believe. I've talked to over 100 people on InBallProfile. I don't think I've ever talked to anybody from Vermont or had them on the podcast so you might be the first and I got the champ Yeah you know you got to start at the top at least for now Doesn mean I going to be the champion after another five months from now I think we have a bunch of up-and-coming players, and it's just a matter of time before someone knocks me off. Well, no longer being off the grid now, so let's highlight some of the great players from Vermont. Okay, we got some up-and-comers who may or may not be listening to this podcast. Nick Pizzuti, Eric Mars, Todd Baumeister is the only other player who's won the Vermont State Championship out of the three years that we've run it, so you've got to give him credit, even though I don't like to. Friend of mine. Well, Steve, thanks very much for putting that three-strikes tournament. It was a lot of fun, and good luck for the rest of the weekend. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
    6:36
    Part of the reason things going so smoothly here at Pocketeer Billiards for the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open, one of the fine techs and the guy you see here all the time, Jeff Becker. Great job, buddy. Thank you. I appreciate that. A lot of work, too. I know you and yourself, David Fix, and very, really busy this week. Yeah, a lot of preparation. We cleaned every game, waxed every game, checked for any repairs that needed to be done, really extra focus on the tournament games, of course, just trying to prepare for as much as we can. In your experience, do you find that the classics games or the mains usually have the more problems? Definitely the classics. A lot older, a lot more wear and tear on them. So we had a lot of problems the first day just getting them up and running. But once you iron out a lot of the problems, it went a lot more smoothly. Well, I think it went smoothly as a player who participated in both. They might have went down, but such a short time, you know. More than one person working on it. A quick assessment what the problem was, and certainly all the tools were here, and definitely even the parts. So very quick, and kudos to you. Great job. Thank you. Yeah, I tried to make a little kit up of tools I thought would come in handy and just able to get them real quick to work on repairs. Dave and Barry both have a lot of experience.
    7:53
    I don't have as much, obviously, but I'm learning from them and just trying to get things fixed as quickly as we can. For those that don't know, Jeff Becker, he's a Buffalo pinball player and also a part-time bassist, a big fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Why Not with Flea. I know that Guns N' Roses just played here a few days ago. In fact, right before this tournament started, it would have been nice to be able to somehow, someway get a hold of Slash. He's a huge pinhead to get him here. Yeah, I did. I sent an email to his management like last minute saying, hey, tell them about Buccateer. But obviously they're pretty busy, so maybe next year. It was neat to see him and Duff playing dial-in. That was really cool, yeah. I think they delivered a game to the arena they were playing at. And I guess there is a quote that said, Slash, all he could think about when he was on stage was that he got to play pinball after the show. So that's pretty cool. Very cool. Jeff, great job. Thank you. Appreciate it.
    8:46
    Yeah, we're in Buffalo, New York, but that doesn't mean you can't come up here from anywhere, including Birmingham, Alabama. Chris Warren joins us, you know him, on Tilt Forums as Lord of the Rings breath. Hey, Chris, how are you? Doing great. How are you doing, Jeff? Good. How are the Crimson Tide going to do this year? Well, how do they always do?
    9:03
    Hey, don't make me bring up Auburn. I won't. Please don't. So your buddy Tim Street had a hell of a time and did fantastic. And another young guy who was really on the ball at Pinberg. You must have been proud. Yes, we were following him, and I was amazed that he did so well. And when it was all over and they got the results submitted, he got a huge jump in the points. He jumped from like mid-200s to like 142 from that one event. So it was great. Yeah, and you know the future is going to be amazing for him, the way he played. He just has fun. I love talking to him at that Pinbird broadcast. Yeah, he loves pinball. He just turned 18, and I keep waiting for the day when he seems to get tired of it and go on to other things, but he's really into pinball, and I think he's going to stick with it. So, Chris, I don't know what it's like in Alabama for leagues and stuff, but if he's that good, you've got to start moving leagues to bars where he can't get in.
    10:01
    Well, we play in a mall where there's no alcohol served, so he's safe. So, yeah, we don't have to worry about that where we play league at. You sent me some nice comments on Tilt Forums. I really appreciate that. You made a comment when I had Ted Nugent on. Oh, yeah, I loved it. I made a comment to you that we saw him live just a few weeks ago. And at age 69, the guy still has it. I mean, he's amazing on stage. He's just amazing. The Motor City Madman. A little great white buffalo here in Buffalo, New York, too. That's right. We saw some great brown buffalo as we drove over here, and we commented about Ted and the great white buffalo. We sure did. Very nice. Well, Chris, have a great time and enjoy Pocketeer Billiards and the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open. Thank you, Jeff.
    10:44
    Here's a guy we've talked about a few times on Pinball Profile, Nixon Deas, Zen, the Zen Master, who kicked butt at IFPA 14 in Denmark. Howdy. How you doing? Doing all right, you? Good, good, good, yeah. So you've been on a roll this year. Doing not too bad. Yeah, I can't complain. Pinburgo was a little, like, misstep, but... You had fun, though? I played good. Just couldn't get a break on the EMs. Stupid EMs, right? Sixes every round. Oh, really? It was the EMs that killed you. I kept getting zero every time. Yet, as we're recording this, you're going on in the semifinals right now. On the classics. On the classics, so yeah. Well, no EMs, though, so. All right. Although I love EMs, so I don't know what happened. Hot tips like an EM. It's kind of like an EM, right? True, true, true. I mean, it plays like one. Very, very, very. Now, you made it here on time, so you got here early on Friday, and you came from the New York area. So LaGuardia's got a lot of flights and stuff. Oh, yeah. I love flying out of LaGuardia. I see Alberto. I see Francesco. And I see so many other New York players. There one guy Tim Sexton here Yep Levy Naaman everybody That right Where Greg I think he had a little misfortune with his flight due to weather Poor bugger Something Greg Camarelli's been texting all day and putting things on Facebook. Yeah, flight was canceled, so this must be eating him alive. I got an early 7 o'clock flight this morning, and we just missed the storm. The pilot was like, okay, we're going to have to sit on the runway, and we might have to wait for the storm to pass. And we took off and made it out of it. A little turbulence. Yeah, now the only storm is Greg right now. He's on his bus on his way here. Overnight bus ride. He's going to be tired tomorrow. Oh, yeah. But you know what? Think about this, though. And he won't be listening to this. If ever. Not yet.
    12:23
    He'll never hear this. You know what? If you're ever playing him at Sunshine or some of the other things, just remind him about, hey, did you make that Buffalo trip? How was your flight there? It'll get in his head. Do it, then. Oh, yeah. That's the best way to get in someone's head like that. All right. Good luck this weekend and the rest of the year. Yeah, you too. Thank you. Okay, bud.
    12:40
    Getting ready for the semifinals right now with the tiebreaker boys, a couple of New York State boys, Levy Naiman and Tim Balls. Tim Sexton here. Now, first, Levy, you had that tiebreaker today. Three of you tied for seventh place, so two of you are going to get that bye, which was a big one, and you and Alberto advanced. Interesting way to start the day. You know, I lost at the last second. Somebody trimmed a point off me. I was sitting in the parking lot getting ready to eat some pizza and chicken wings, and suddenly I find out from Alberta that we have a tiebreaker tomorrow.
    13:11
    It crushed me. I saw my life flash before my eyes. And I said, you know what? You can deal with it. It's not bad. Get a little rust off in the morning. And fortunately I got through. And fortunately I made it through to the semis. And I have a semi. I'm really excited about this. Very, very good. Now, Tim, you've been playing very well. And it came down to really the last two games for you. You had to kick butt at ACDC to get to the tiebreaker, to get to the semis. You won the semis tiebreaker on dialed in against DJ, and that was a great game. Yeah, that was a bit of a throwback to last year. DJ and I were both in a tiebreaker for ninth place to resolve the standings. And at that game, I got $3 billion on World Cup soccer. So I decided to make sure he remembered that and try to put my huge score up early on dialed in. It didn't quite work out as well as I had hoped. But I got it on ball three, got it pretty much done, and he said good game before he even started his ball. Wow, you got it in his head. Yeah, I think so. And every time you score a goal, did Levy yell? Goal!
    14:16
    Last year, yeah, I did that. Just like at IFBA 14. I heard it in Canada. I pretty much do it all the time now, just whenever anything cool happens. I heard it. I wasn't even watching the broadcast. Just joking, Levy. Tim, Levy, good luck in the semis. Thanks, Jeff. Buffalo marks the end of this long road trip for the Gagnon family. Maurizio and Kathy join us right now, and it has been a huge trip, kind of actually even before Pinberg, too, being in Ontario and then right now in western New York at Buffalo. What a trip. Yeah, we've been on the road for five weeks, incredible. And we're winding it down with a great pinball tournament here in Buffalo, Buffalo Summer Pinball Open, and we fly back tomorrow. And Kathy, you get a new kitchen when you come home. We do. I'm really looking forward to that because we've been without a kitchen a month before we left. And then we haven't had a kitchen for the whole five weeks we've been away. So I'm looking forward to making bacon and eggs and pancakes. And getting some clean clothing and laundry and different change of clothes. Yeah, I notice you're kind of staying away from us.
    15:19
    Sorry, we're a little stinky. Not at all. That's not true at all. But what a good way to end this so far. And, you know, this is right before the finals happened where Robert Gagneau was seated number one. He's driving the bus for the main finals, but already a successful Classics third on the first night. And he won last night in Classics 2. He was right on the bubble to qualify. Yeah. Because his priority was to qualify in the open. So he only put my timer on for 3 o'clock. The alarm came on and said, Robert, you've got like three hours to qualify for Classics. Of course, with big lineups, 10 deep. 45-minute waits almost. 45-minute waits. He had one chance at each game and two redos, but he did it on his first try. Well, that Black Knight game he had was fantastic. Black Knight was awesome. It's one of his favorite games, very long playing games when he's in the flow. It has been a long trip for you, three weeks now, but I think Robert's having a great time. He's had a wonderful time, and we've met so many nice players that we knew previously either through Facebook or just met on this trip. So we've had a chance to go to small league tournaments in the Detroit area at Embrew. We visited several of the Ontario pinball players. We joined Bluffs Pinball for one night. I think, actually, you beat Robert, if I recall. You know, I wasn't going to say it, but so Robert and I were in a bracket, and we had to play head-to-head. and it was a two out of three. And for whatever reason, the gods were nice to me that day. I beat Robert. The only time in my life ever, two games to none. And then went on to the final, and I said, I already won the final. I just got lucky against Robert. I don't care what happens. Yeah, you're a good player. That's for sure. He's having a good time. And it's fun watching him play because if you ever see him play and he's sitting on a stool, you know he's doing good because that game is lasting a while. And that's what happened. He was a centaur too. He had like six and a half million on that game. Six ball, multi-ball. I haven't seen that before. He's a guy I root for always because he is such a sweet guy. Being a Canadian, too, he's a great representative for us up north. And my favorite part about all of this is, and Bluffs was a good example, it just the time not playing pinball talking to Robert and talking about some of the interesting things He knows I like poker so he gives me a lot of poker scenarios too and it great going back and forth So the scenario I gave to him in Classics too is he was excited that he got in just right at 24 just made the cut line. I said, that's called a chip in the chair in poker, right? Just get me to the dance, give me a little bit of life, I'll go from there, and he did it. Wow. Yeah, Maritza and I were watching the standings, and we knew Zach was having a really, really hot game on fireball. But, yeah, Robert just hung in on it. That was pretty fun to watch. It's nerve-wracking, though, but it's also got adrenaline. It's not a common place for him to be right on the bubble there.
    18:16
    287, and the cutoff was 285. And then the cutoff was 286. And Zach's score on fireball knocked Robert down. But the weird thing is, they moved him up a couple of positions from the bottom instead of going down. Just the way the numbers worked. It is very funny. Well, by the time this airs, we will know who won the main. It could be Robert. We'll see. Thanks very much, Kathy. Thanks, Marie, too. Yeah, thanks, Jeff. Jeff, thank you. It's always nice to talk to you.
    18:45
    He made it after a flight delay. Forget that. A cancellation, an overnight bus ride, and now making a new documentary. They're remaking planes, trains, and automobiles. Greg Pavarelli here at the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open. Greg, you made it. Hey, thanks, Jeff. You know, it was a long travel. I didn't expect to get here, but after eight solid hours of sleep on the bus on the way here, I woke up nice and fresh and came out here and drank a bunch of booze while I played pinball with all of you guys. And I couldn't have asked for anything better in the whole world. It was a great run tournament. Big cheers to Buffalo Pinball and Papa, as always. And I know you and I finished 31st and 30th, respectively, or something along those lines. So we get some Papa Wap. Yeah, we get some circuit points. And they really did a stand-up job. Pocketeers Billiards is an amazing place. And glad to be here in Buffalo. And, man, the last two days have been riddled with a lot of good pinball. And we're seeing some of the best out there right now. Levy, I think, made it onto the top four. I'm happy for him. He's my good buddy. Roberts advanced. And I think they're in a tiebreaker situation again. They've got Alexander in as well. And also some guy named Zach Sharp. Oh, yeah. Shocking. And Alexander played great. I'm really happy for him. He's going to be an up-and-coming superstar in pinball for sure. Something like $150 million on ACDC to get in there. To close it out. In the clutch, under pressure, his age and everything else, all the adversity here. I'm hoping to come back to the Pocketeers, Williards. I hope that they have another tournament other than this in between the annual summer pinball open. Yeah, it's been fantastic and no surprise that it is a major event for the PAPA circuit and I'm sure next year too also for the Stern Pro Circuit. But here's the thing. There's a lot of people that are here this year that weren't from last year. I thought this was just going to be a few Canadians, some New Yorkers. No, no, no. Easy New York points. Not going to happen anymore, Jeff. My goodness. All these great players. But this tournament was crazy. I mean, you had a three-way playoff where one of these three players are going to go. And maybe you've heard these names. Zach Sharp, who we know won. Trent Ogdenstein, who won it last year. Steve Bowden. My goodness. Yeah. Three top 15 players. That's just to get into the semis. Yeah, just to even advance. and it just goes to show you that pinball's progressing. Things are going in the right direction and hats off to everybody involved and I really had a great time here this weekend and I can't wait for the next one. You know what, Greg? The whole reason I brought you in right now, it's really that I have zero interest in what you're saying. The truth is I see a bunch of cops outside. The gas station on the corner got robbed. Don't tell anybody, but I might be in on it. Well, if not that, another crime too, so just lay low, will you, all right? Yeah, I'll try my best. And flight-wise, I've learned my lesson. You've got to take your vacation days well in advance if you want to qualify for these kind of things. But I am proud of myself for coming close after one day. Well, what's my excuse? I was here Thursday. Well, you were crushing classics, as you usually do. Yeah, thanks. Take care, Greg. Hey, thanks for having me, Jeff.
    21:36
    As the Buffalo Pinball Summer Open comes to a close, we have a new champion. Alex Kazmarchik has won it all again, the Year of the Youth, 14 years old from Pittsburgh. you must be feeling fantastic right now. Tell us what's going through your head. Just happy to finally win a circuit event. When they picked ACDC, how did you feel about that? I was happy going through. I like ACDC. I know it can screw me sometimes.
    22:03
    Any other game, there are go-ups. Earlier in the day, didn't you blow that up at like $150 million? Yes. It's nice to do that the same day you've got to go back to it for the finals. Yes. Out of this bank, did you have some favorites? Yes. X-Files. That was my favorite.
    22:19
    ACDC and Demolition Man is my three favorite bank. And look, you get to play in the last two games to win yourself this championship. You're a Papa Circuit champ now. My goodness. So I know you got a school this week. Is this going to be part of show and tell? I'm just kidding.
    22:34
    And your parents are here too. They must be very, very excited. Yeah. So now what are you thinking? I'm going to try to get to more circuit events. I know you've got a few events near the Pittsburgh area. You've got the Pittsburgh Open coming up. You've got Cleveland not too far away. So maybe. You're going to go with that, too? Yeah, I'll be a Cleveland. All right, there you go. So we're all playing for second because Alex is going to win those, too. Alex, congratulations. Thank you. There you have it from Buffalo. This has been your Pinball Profile. Find our group on Facebook. You can also find us on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on iTunes. Again, congratulations to Nick Lane, to Kevin Manning, to the people at Papa that put together this wonderful pro circuit event. And Pocketeer Billiards, a great host. I'm Jeff Teolas.