Scott Danesi on the sexy history of the Sexy Men of Pinball Calendar

Nudge Magazine (website feed)·article·analyzed·Sep 16, 2025

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

Pinball Life's Sexy Men of Pinball Calendar: accidental parody turned community staple.

Summary

Scott Danesi discusses the origins and creation of the Sexy Men of Pinball Calendar, a humorous parody project started accidentally by Pinball Life (owned by Margaret and Terry Dezwarte) that playfully objectifies male pinball enthusiasts in response to decades of sexualized imagery of women in pinball art. The calendar has become a functional community resource, now in its fourth year, featuring dozens of submissions and important pinball event dates throughout each month.

Key Claims

The Sexy Men of Pinball Calendar started as an accident at Pinball Life when Margaret Dezwarte saw a funny picture of an employee named Robot and joked about making a calendar
high confidence · Scott Danesi quoted directly about the origin story
The calendar is now in its fourth year of production
high confidence · Scott Danesi states 'Since they're now going into their fourth year'
Pinball Life only prints 100 calendars per year
high confidence · Author states 'Pinball Life only prints a hundred of these every year'
The 2025 calendar is completely sold out
high confidence · Author states 'While the 2025 calendar is all sold out'
Submissions for the 2026 calendar are due October 27th
high confidence · Author provides deadline: 'Submit to Pinball Life by October 27th'
The calendar includes pinball-related event dates nearly every weekend
high confidence · Author observes 'this calendar has pinball related dates damn near every weekend'
Pinball Life is a 'notoriously awesome pinball parts supplier with heavy ties to the Pinball Olympics community'
medium confidence · Author characterization; mentions Jay Brand connection

Notable Quotes

“We don't wanna see actual penisis. If they're wearing tight Umbro shorts and you can see the whole thing, and I mean everything, then sure, that's fine. But we don't wanna see actual penisis.”
Scott Danesi — Clarifies submission guidelines for calendar entries; humorous tone reflects the parody spirit of the project
“We have a huge whiteboard. And Margaret puts all the pictures on it and we just look at them for a long time, and everyone debates about which ones are best… but the cover is always the biggest argument. That's when people stand up and really argue.”
Scott Danesi — Describes the selection process for calendar images; shows the community's genuine investment in the project
“It's like he still sees the world pretty fresh.”
Author (about Scott Danesi) — Characterizes Danesi's personality and approach to community engagement; establishes his role as a connector
“These guys were like, fine, if we ARE going to objectify women, the least we could do is objectify men too.”
Scott Danesi — Articulates the underlying philosophy of the calendar as a parody response to pinball's historical sexualization of women

Entities

Scott DanesipersonMargaret DezwartepersonTerry Dezwarteperson Pinball Lifecompany Nudge MagazineorganizationJay BrandpersonRobotpersonPinball OlympicseventMGCevent

Signals

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community_signal: The Sexy Men of Pinball Calendar represents community-driven humor and creative boundary-pushing within pinball culture; demonstrates how the community uses parody to address long-standing gendered imagery issues while maintaining fun and inclusivity
high · Calendar described as accidental parody that 'made fun of the sexy ladies in pinball trope that was decades-long cliche' while getting 'his friends taking funny, horny pictures of each other'
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community_signal: Pinball Life has become a de facto community hub, hosting calendar selection debates and maintaining comprehensive knowledge of regional and national pinball events
high · Calendar includes event dates 'damn near every weekend' from major events like MGC/TPF to smaller gatherings like Pinball at the Zoo; Pinball Life has 'heavy ties to the Pinball Olympics community'
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personnel_signal: Scott Danesi identified as key community connector and motivator; described as helping introduce people to the broader pinball community and supporting creative initiatives
high · Author notes 'Scott has become a good friend in a short amount of time' and credits him with introducing her 'to a lot of people in the pinball community' and doing 'fun, nonsense that pokes fun at the pinball establishment'
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business_signal: Pinball Life's limited production model (100 calendars annually) combined with immediate sell-out of 2025 edition demonstrates strong demand and FOMO dynamics in specialty pinball merchandise
high · 2025 calendar 'all sold out'; only '100 of these every year'; 2026 submissions already being solicited
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Topics

Sexy Men of Pinball Calendar project history and creationprimaryPinball art and gendered imagery in the industryprimaryPinball community events and calendar functionalitysecondaryScott Danesi's role in the communitysecondaryPinball Life as a business and community hubsecondaryCommunity-driven humor and parody in pinball culturesecondaryLimited edition production and FOMO dynamicsmentionedPinball Olympics and community gatheringsmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— The article is celebratory and affectionate toward the calendar project, Scott Danesi, and Pinball Life. The tone is humorous and playful rather than critical. Author clearly enjoys the project's blend of irreverence and functional community utility. No negative sentiment detected; the article frames the calendar as a successful parody that serves the community well.

Transcript

raw_text · $0.000

Scott Danesi on the sexy history of the Sexy Men of Pinball Calendar It’s no secret that pinball art notoriously caters to horny guys. Some people have even said we do it sometimes! (Gasp!) But when you look at Big Juicy Melons, Big Guns, and literally any of those horny games that were made in Spain, you start to notice a pattern: it’s like 99.9999% about the boyz. And look, I get it! I love boobs, guys. Frickin’ love ‘em. On record. And yet! I don’t want this article to be about the “discourse” at all or about gendered views in pinball, because yes we know. But ALSO that IS part of the joke here, right? These guys were like, fine, if we ARE going to objectify women, the least we could do is objectify men too. Objectify their sexy lil’ asses all up and down this joint. And the results – well, to me they are undeniably a mix of hilarious, and sometimes strangely arousing, expressions of male sexuality. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it horny? Well, I’d imagine there’s some market for SOME of this, but taken as a whole this thing is a parody – which means in big dumb pinball guy terms it is JUST SOME FRICKIN FUN. So let’s get into it. Oopsies! It started as an accident! Like all great endeavors – penicillin, LSD, etc – The Men of Pinball Calendar started on accident. Some of the folks at Pinball Life, the notoriously awesome pinball parts supplier with heavy ties to the Pinball Olympics community (Jay Brand), thought it would be fun to do a calendar. They needed a theme – and obviously the idea which came from an unlikely person, Margaret Dezwrte. Margaret and her husband, Terry Dezwarte, own Pinball Life, a successful online pinball parts supplier. Margaret was at the office and saw a funny picture of one of their employees, a man named Robot, using a vice grip on a pinball leg (which you’d never actually do) and generally looking pretty overall beefy. “Margaret was like, ‘we should do a calendar’ as a joke in the moment, then we just ran with it,” says Scott Danesi, his voice impish over the phone. Scott has become a good friend in a short amount of time. On top of being a pinball designer, sound designer, and DJ, he’s found time to personally introduce me to a lot of people in the pinball community, including the dudes at Pinball Olympics. Those connections have meant a lot both because it’s helped me with Nudge, but also because Scott just does it because he loves connecting new friends, especially ones that do weird fun stuff just because they can. It is impish enthusiasm that reminds me of my best friendships in middle school. It’s like he still sees the world pretty fresh. And so I know two things about Scott: he’s great at motivating people, and he loves doing fun, nonsense that pokes fun at the pinball “establishment”. This definitely checked both boxes. It got his friends taking funny, horny pictures of each other, AND it made fun of the sexy ladies in pinball trope that was decades-long cliche. Win-win! Are the pictures sexy? I’ll include several that are social media appropriate, but it’s fair to say that these pics run the gamut of “hunky guy” to “straight up basically porno”. That being said, it’s probably not something you want to hang in your office, unless your company has no HR department and you like to live fast and loose with the social mores of modern society. Scott explains that creativity is the most important part of any prospective Pinball Man’s calendar submission, not how much dong you’re hanging. “We don’t wanna see actual penisis,” Danesi tells me. “If they’re wearing tight Umbro shorts and you can see the whole thing, and I mean everything, then sure, that’s fine. But we don’t wanna see actual penisis.” How these hunks get their shot at the big time These days, Pinball Life gets dozens of submissions from hopeful models. Since they’re now going into their fourth year, they have the process down to a science. “We have a huge whiteboard,” Danesi says. “And Margaret puts all the pictures on it and we just look at them for a long time, and everyone debates about which ones are best… but the cover is always the biggest argument. That’s when people stand up and really argue.” Things can get rowdy as folks jockey for their favorites, Scott says, but it’s ultimately a consensus for the group. When I ask if there’s any consideration about who goes with what month – he laughs in my face. Like, no of course not. I’m like, Damn scott. Well, I’d want my birthday month, for one. Maybe someone else is in charge of that. It’s actually extremely functional as a pinball calendar The most surprising part about the calendar for me was not the amount of ass crack, but the amount of important pinball dates that are included in the calendar itself. I assume since Pinball Life is run by folks who are so attached to the community, but this calendar has pinball related dates damn near every weekend. From big stuff like MGC and TPF to more fun and small events like Pinball at the Zoo in Michigan, damn near every month is chocked full of stuff you COULD go to. That’s extremely useful for folks who are new to the hobby. Sure, you’re going to get the jolt of your life when turning the page and being assaulted with a randy pinball firefighter (I’m looking at you October 2024), but it’s a small price to pay for knowing about the White Rose Gameroom show on October 10th. You know? Life is complicated. Wanna be a Pinball Hottie? Submit to Pinball Life by October 27th While the 2025 calendar is all sold out, Pinball Life is currently taking submissions for its 2026 calendar. You don’t have much time before the October 27th due date, so get it together, do a couple of quick crunches, and find an old EM to get weird with. And as for the new calendar? Expect it to go on the website in time for the holiday season. Pinball Life only prints a hundred of these every year, so get them while they’re, uh, hot.