it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teels you can find everything on pinballprofile.com all your subscriptions past episodes and more we're on twitter and instagram at pinball profile you can join our facebook group email pinballprofile at gmail.com and if you'd like to show your support, we're on patreon.com slash pinball profile. Thanks to recent supporters like Sean C, GME Law, and Rodney C. Today I'm going to learn a little geography. I've been to the state several times. The state is Ohio. A lot of pinball action, but there's this one place I had no idea was so huge for pinball, and is it ever growing? Here to tell us about what's going on in Dayton, Ohio and Gem City pinball, it's Nancy Marsh. Nancy, how you doing? I'm doing Well, how are you? Thanks very much for talking to me today because you have a fan in Tony Becker who sent me an email at pinballprofile at gmail.com and said, you know, this person would make a great guest. And I couldn't agree more once I found out about what you were doing in Dayton, Ohio, because let me just say, when I think of Ohio, I obviously think of Cleveland. I think of Cleepin, which I've been going to for years. They're super electric and 16-bit bar and not too far away kid force, but there's also Columbus, Ohio level one arcade super awesome I definitely know about Cincinnati with Pinson Addie 16-bit bar, but I don't know much about Dayton, Ohio So I got to figure out okay. What's going on in Dayton? Okay, they got a National Museum of the US Air Force Oh and they've got this great league that has exploded called gem city pinball And that's because of what you and your husband Chad have been doing This is something that's been pretty big and only for a short time. Yes. So we just started in 2021. A lot of people were kind of wiped out with the pandemic. And we saw some leagues and some, sadly, arcades go by the wayside. But you said, you know what, let's get back into this. And you've been doing it there at Canal Street and Arcade and Deli in Dayton. And not only have you been doing this on Monday nights, it's at full capacity, isn't it? Yes, we just reached full capacity this past season and we've officially had to start a waiting list. So there are 15 machines there, from what I understand. You have 44 players in the league and some 20 on the wait list. What makes this so popular, Nancy? What have you done? What's the secret sauce? You know, that's a good question. This is something that I'm very passionate about. My husband used to be a part of a previous league that was taken out by the pandemic, like you mentioned. And I never really got involved in that one. My anxiety kind of pushed me away from everything. when Rob from Canal reached out looking to start a league back up again. I was in a position in my life where I'm trying to change who I am and become a better me. So I said, why not? And it was the best decision I've ever made. We've actually become more like a family than a community. Everybody's got everybody's back. And they've been able to help me get past a big chunk of my anxiety and step out and do things that I never would have done before. You're not alone, Nancy, with people with the same kind of feelings and anxieties. What was it that made you say, okay, I'm trying to either better myself, see if I can do this, see if I can start this with the community? What was the trigger for you to say, I can do this after so many years of fears? I can't say 100% what it was like. I do know that I had been around a little bit with the previous league, so I had got to know some of the people, and I knew how much they enjoyed pinball. And with not having a league in place, it was just kind of hit or miss if you got to see any of these. So why not? Bring this league back in and get everybody back together, and they love it. They've been bringing friends in, and that's how we have reached the numbers that we have. I love that you say it's been almost therapeutic and you've overcome some of these anxieties. That's a big thing for a lot of people. I know many people that really like pinball, but when they hear things like leagues they like I not that good or I don really know a lot of people What I find in leagues are they very inviting for the most part and it really doesn matter how well you play It's just you've got a lot of people there to hold your hand and help you if you need assistance or if you have any questions you can ask and get those kind of answers. But your league actually started up as a non-IFPA league. It really was for fun, which really is a good way to introduce people to pinball. Yeah, it's a blast. Everybody gets along. There's no fights or anything like that that takes place. And sometimes based on skill level, you get to fluctuate. You get to play with people, get to meet new people. Even when I started this, I wasn't the best at pinball, and I'm not going to say I'm the best either. I know there's still people way better than me, but it's just one of those things that, like any sport, the more you play, the better you get. And our season this year, a good chunk of our top players are people that were towards the bottom last season just because they've been practicing and getting out there and doing a lot better. It's so funny in dealing with my children when they were younger and they would tackle something new or have anxieties even about any kind of challenges. I would give them an example. I said, well, you know, think of when you first started school and math, you didn't know what addition and subtraction and multiplication division was. And you learned it. And now you know it like the back of your hand. Well, that's kind of like anything. And in this case, pinball. And if you know how to flip, you're ready to go. If you know how to plunge a ball, you're ready to go. The rest is all gradual learning, so to speak. What the rules are, where the shots are, how it feels, what happens with certain bounces. It all comes almost naturally, and certainly there's a lot of tips out there, there's videos, and there's people like In Gem City Pinball that can help others with these if you want to advance. But as long as everyone's having fun, it just kind of happens naturally. It does. And since we are in a public place, when we have our league, sometimes when we get there, there's people playing, or there's people that come in while we're in the middle of the league. And we just explain to them, you know, we've got this league going on. They've got specific tables they're going to be playing. Once we start around, if there's an open table, you guys are more than welcome to play on it. Like, we don't try to take over the place. And if anybody ever sees any of those people struggling on anything or if they hear them talking amongst each other and hear some question pop up and everybody's like, oh, I don't know. most of the time somebody from our group will pop over and help them and let them know what they're doing wrong or give them tips on scoring better and it's great. Did you ever think that this would be such a big part of your life because you're doing this every Monday you've got monthlies on the last Sunday of every month and those are open to everyone whether you're in the league or not and got people like Tony Becker reaching out saying you know you should see what Nancy and Chad are doing this is pretty incredible here in Dayton. Yeah I never dreamt that it was going to be this big. Obviously, I knew it was going to be every Monday because that's how the previous league works. And we just kind of kept with that. So I knew I was getting into an every Monday kind of thing. But then to now bring in these Sunday tournaments, we have now teamed up with a group in Columbus and we are holding women's tournaments. We're doing a series. This is our first time doing it. So it's kind of iffy on how it's all going to turn out. But we play one week up in Columbus and then one week down the next month is down at Canal. It's getting busy. I wasn't expecting it at all. Well, I saw a nice picture of yourself and some winners too. It was Holly, it was Jen, it was Bree, it was Anna from Chicago and all holding nice trophies and a little bit of cash too. So it looks like this has taken off as well and expanded beyond just Ohio. So that actually was Cincinnati this last year. That was another moment of me stepping out of my box and conquering my anxiety. It was the women's tournament. We started out with like 40 people and I ended up placing fifth overall. That's incredible. And Pinsonati with Eric Duz and the whole staff there. You know, recently we just talked to Elizabeth Gieske and heard good things about that, but Ohio just seems to be exploding. Like I mentioned I knew about Cleveland Columbus Cincinnati and Dayton and there Akron and all these great places Of course you got Pennsylvania nearby Kentucky got a lot of action It a real hotbed and I not surprised your league is sold out But people listening to this program might think oh there not a league where I live I mean, there's some pinball locations. Maybe there's some private collections. How hard is it to set up a league? And I keep in mind that you started out as a fun league, and now you're IFPA endorsed. Is it difficult to start this up? Is it something that you could recommend to somebody? What are some good tips? Oh, it was super easy. So basically, I just reached out to the people at Papa to get our website going. And they explained everything to me and how it all works. And they give you like a specific rule set. And it was just kind of hit or miss, basically, as you go. You know, you try one thing, and if it doesn't work out, you try another. And we've just gotten to where we are now. And things run very smooth. So if If there's not a pinball league in your area and it's something you're interested in, just jump out and do it. That's the best decision I've ever made. Well, what you just described was one of the hurdles, too, is how do you score? How do you keep track in a league? And you mentioned Papa.org. I know Joe Schober years ago set up a wonderful thing. In fact, our leagues use that software. Matchplay also has that kind of software where you can do leagues. It's pretty easy, and you just kind of pick a format you like and you go with it. But again, it didn't have to be IFPA endorsed. Was there a reason to switch to becoming now part of the International Flipper Pinball Association? So we have kept our league itself out of IFPA. It's just our tournaments that are IFPA. And it honestly was just a factor of expanding. I mean, you know, our league has gotten so big that we can't hold everybody. If we have these tournaments, you know, we can bring more people in. And if we make it IFPA, then we're trying to expand out, like I said, into Addy and Columbus. And it's working. I mean, people are coming. People are checking us out. You mentioned the women's event at Pinson Addy. And since Gem City Pinball started out as a fun league and not IFPA endorsed, was that part of the anxiety going to a really big tournament in Pinson Addy and seeing how you can compete against some top-notch players? Oh, yeah. That was definitely a big part of it. like I said I don't feel like I play very well if you look at my points for this last season you know I didn't play well this season but I was like you know two of the girls actually that played in that tournament are a part of my league so I know how good they are and they both travel all over the place and knew a bunch of the girls that were in so you know they had told me how good they were and it was just like okay I didn't even expect to make it past thing one let alone get fifth overall. So where do you see yourself with self-improvement in pinball skills? What made you step up and help you secure that top five finish? Luck. It's more than luck.