Happy Sunday, pinfolk, or whatever day you're listening. This is NYC Pin Pod, in which a panel talks location pinball in New York City. My name is Benjamin Furiga. My initials are BCF. And as predicted at the beginning of this SSPL season, I'm too busy at work to enjoy much competitive pinball lately. My name is Eric Sweetland. My initials are HIP. And my pronouns are he, him, or they, them. On this week's podcast, as usual in Ball 1, we will run down local competition results, including some real drama in Pinball NYC. In Ball 2, we will, as usual, have updates with Eric from Pinball Map and its users. and also our bullet journals. We'll talk about the pinball we played this past week. And in ball three, we'll talk about the first plank of the pinball party platform and how just in this past week, we've seen some violations. We've seen the reason that we need the pinball party. Pinballs for everyone. Let's get started. On Saturday, November 6th, finals for the Harvest Classic Edition were the first of the weekend's finals to kick off at Gebhardt's Beer Culture on the Upper West Side. Gabe C. was the tournament director of record over the whole weekend. 68 players competed in the classics. 24 players advanced to the finals. A group elimination bracket with IFPA scoring. Top seed Levy Naiman won the day. Levy earned 86.29 big whoppers. Alex Kelly came in second place, Alberto Santana in third, and Ian Leone in fourth. On Sunday, the non-binary and femme edition finals of The Harvest were held at Gebhard's. There was a big, long weekend full of qualifying. Best game format. The top seven games counted, and there were 10 arenas. 15 players played in qualifying. Six players were moved on to the finals because at 15, eight players would have been more than half You cannot have IFPA Whopper certification if more than half of the players in your tournament move on to the finals. And so if there had been a 16th, I presume that eight players would have moved on to the finals. But six did because there were 15 qualifiers. And at the end of it, with IFPA scoring after two rounds of group match play, Anna Wolk bested the field, earning 10.69, nice, whoppers in the women's division. Amelia Connolly came in second, Morgan Levinson third, and Monica Weidekamp fourth. I will point out that that is to say, first place pin babe, third place troll, fourth place troll. I don't know if Amelia plays in Pinball NYC. I think there's Amelia from out of town. I believe Amelia's from Syracuse or Rochester. Seems right to me. Somewhere in the capital area, maybe, or way up north. Further up, yeah. Also on Sunday, the 73 players who played in the qualifying of the Harvest main division were cut to 24 for the A finals. After a group elimination bracket with IFPA scoring, Alex Kelly took home the top prize and 73.29 whoppers. following a tie break game CJ Smith got second and Greg Pavarelli third and Zach Till got fourth place there was some contention after that tie break game I was watching on the stream it was on Star Trek The Next Generation they were both having big games but it was getting a little weird with the ball saves in the B finals Zen Zokniak always fucking qualifies at the top of B in big New York City tournament. I don't know how he does it. I mean, not like a league. In a league, Zen is going to be in the A division most likely. But in the big tournaments where there are at least a few people sprinkled in from out of town, Zen is always the top qualifier and in the top four of B somehow. I don't know how it happens that Zen is always B, but right at the fucking top. This is what you and he, you told me, you and he were talking about this a couple of weeks ago, that I'm getting better, but everyone else is getting better faster than I am. That this is endemic of it. And he was at the top of B at the Harvest. And do you know what happened after the finals? What's that? Zen won B. zen was first anna walk was second alex weisenberger was third and sam hall fourth on monday november 10th 12 players came out to barcade brooklyn pinball league's fifth qualifying week of their seventh season kate martin the td of record they played five rounds of group match play with ifpa scoring with the goal of garnering the most points toward their series total Matthew Grady got the most this week, 29 points Both Jose Garcia and Wesley Michalski got 25 While Jonah Shlaes and Sean Grant got 23 Also, on Monday, November 10th Round 10 of Pinball NYC's Left Flipper Division Was contested at bars all across the city The Deluxe Horses went to Deep Queens to find the Mutants at solid state. The Mutants got an 11-5 home win. They needed a win to keep up with the Ballses. The two-for-oners hosted the Colliders at Scruffy Duffy's Tap Room. It went to 8-8 and a tiebreak. What can you tell us about it, Benjamin? Well, Junkyard is not a classic, but Harvest Classics winner Levy Naiman on Ball 3 bested Harvest Classics non-participant Benjamin Furiga on Junkyard. And that was largely the difference at Scruffy Duffy's Taproom. Intermission Dolores had their bye week. The Pinbots faced off against Parliament at Owl Farm. Parliament with a big 14-2 home win. Parliament's big win in their last game of the season, remember, there are a bunch of teams with fives next week and a bunch of teams who are going to play next week. That puts them in position to wait expectantly. One of two teams losing probably means they're in. Special when lit, trooped up Fifth Avenue to see the Pin Pals at Skylark. Pin Pals got the 9-7 home win. I might have called it down Fifth Avenue. The Pin Pals keep their orbit hopes alive. And they compromise special when lit orbit hopes with this win. Rolos to Skylark is down, you think? I went from 15 to 11. Ah, okay. I went north. Right, I understand. I also went from higher up the hill to farther down the hill. To be fair, neither of us did this because those aren't our teams. That's right. it's just a different way that we're measuring up and down this is the problem with number the lesser players traveled to Bar Great Harry to meet Harry's hand grenades the lesser players take it 8 to 8 after a tie break it's completely fitting that the two O-Land teams faced off and it had to come down to a tie breaker it's super cool it happen that way. Lion Persons hosted the Aristocrats at Barcade Fidei. Lion Persons win 10-6 in the battle of the teams with exclamation points. That is their second home win despite their very good record on the road and it puts them in the orbit playoffs for sure. Our New York City Flipper Sport Association went to midway to face off against Balls of Steel. The Balls of Steel got a 9-7 home win. Y'all clinched a bye, but they stayed in second place. 9-7 win was a good way. I think you told us last week that you needed six points to be sure that you would be in the top position, right, at the end of the season? Yeah, just so. That was exactly the case, and getting that seven clinched it. Got one more. the Orbit playoffs so far, so far, look like this. NYC FSA, look, y'all are at the top. It's going to happen. It's y'all are 8-2. You have 115 points. That's just, you have 115 points. Jose and I were talking last week when we were at 108, wondering what possibly would be the highest points total that a team has gone into the playoffs with since we'll have a bye this coming week. This will be our points total. I went through every season looking at the records both on the new website and the old website for some of the older seasons. 119 has been done three times. No Quarters for Laundry and Danger Danger both did it in spring 2023 during season 24. Two Tuesday night teams. and in season 15 back in fall of 2017 that would be my first season in the league right the cartel had 119 and where did they play out of the cartel was that a jack bar team no they were at a kettle of fish oh that's right okay oh that was chris's team yeah right okay chris and philippe yeah okay But way back in spring of 2011, in the second ever season, a team called Sofa King Suite, who played in the Brooklyn division, I think out of Mission Dolores. Right. It says Mission Dolores, but then in parentheses, the short code for their venue was BGH. They got 121 points that season. Wow. I think they might have gone on to change their name to Pinfidels. Pinfidels, I recognize that name. But you're way before my time when you start talking about what was the name of that team. Sofa King Suite. Balls of Steel. They're looking really good. They still need a win. They have enough points that as long as they win, they will be the second seed. They are 7-2 with 95 points. They still have a game to play. The Mutants still have a game to play at 82 points in 7-2. The Lion Persons have no games to play. But they're 7-3, and that's good enough to make them qualify for the playoffs, the Orbit playoffs. They have 88 points in total. I would like to point out that the Lion Persons switched venues this season. And they're 2-3 at home and 5-0 away. If you didn't notice that I said there's seven and three, and I said there are two and three at home. Trolls and lion persons both having struggles at their new home bar. Yeah. And then the teams that are 5-0 at home mostly are teams where you're like, oh, yeah, that's a home bar that has a particular home field advantage. NYCFSA and Harlem Globe Flippers both out of At the Wallace, both with a 5-0 home record. Parliament. Parliament's a 5-0 home team. Parliament is 5-0, Special Wendland is 4-0 at home Mutants are 4-0 at home Balls of Steel are 4-0 at home all of the teams that are 4-0 at home could become 5-0 at home teams in this next week those three teams Danger Danger I believe has a 5-0 home record, that one is the exception because a lot of people play out of buttermilk all the time yeah but some of us know how to move the machines 4 inches to the left or right and some of us Don't. And that might be the difference even between Danger Danger and Butterballers, if you'll excuse my presumption. The two-for-oners and Special When Lit are both six and three. The two-for-oners have 80 points after an 8-8 tiebreak, and Special When Lit has 78. The two-for-oners could shake up the middle of the pack. They could get up to the third seed. they'd have to beat the mutants with at least 10 points and they'd need the lion persons to lose. Also, two for oners could fall right out of the orbit picture with a bad loss. Parliament, as of this moment, is just on the outside looking in at 6-4 with 97 points. 97 points. and the pin pals are six and four with 85. If the pin pals want to get up into the orbit, they need both special one lit and a two for oneers to lose. And special one lit with less than six points and the two for oneers with fewer than five points. Parliament could be in if either the two for oneers or special one lit lose. They're 17 points ahead of the two for oneers and 19 in front of special and lit. So both of those teams would need to get to seven and three to keep Parliament behind them. In the in lane playoffs as Eric just said like there four teams and two of the four of them are going to occupy the bottom spots of the orbit playoffs and two of the four of them will occupy the top spots and have a bye next week in the in playoffs those will be determined by the special winlet and two for oneers results effectively because parliament and pin pals have buys the aristocrats and intermission dolores are both 4-5. The Aristocrats have 73 points accumulated on the season, and Intermission Dolores, 70. Those teams both definitely in the in-lane playoffs, but they haven't locked up a top seed or anything. The Deluxe Horses and the Pinbots are, well, they both have three wins, but the Deluxe Horses are 3-6 with 59 points. The Pinbots are 3-7 with 59 points. We, Colliders, are at 2-7 in 13th place with 61 points. The Colliders definitely have to win to have a shot at the in-lane playoffs. Colliders have more points than the Pinbots, but the Pinbots have that one more win. And we go to midway. You go to midway. It's going to be hard. One of our best matches in the last several seasons was at Midway, so I'm here for it. We're ready. We're ready. We're cute. We're cute. Whatever we are, we're cute. On Tuesday, November 11th, Danger Danger hosted Pinister Six at Buttermilk Bar, and the home team bested the visitors 11-5. Danger Danger needed a big win to have a shot at a bye, and they got it. Everybody Loves the Sunshine went to Milo's yard, which incidentally also everybody loves, and visited Neptune's Treasure. And the home team got a 9-7 win. Neptune's Treasure wanted that win, but Everybody Loves the Sunshine needed it. Rest in pinball. Parenthetically, R.I.P. Hosted the Butterballers at Barcade Brooklyn. and the Butterballers bested the Barcade Brooklyn home team 10-6. It was likely that the losers of this match would fall out of the playoffs. Harlem Globe Flippers hosted the hottest team in the league in Scrapple Squad at the Wallace. They got a 12-4 win at home. Scrapple Squad finally ran into the immovable object that their irresistible force couldn't overtake, ending their win streak at three. Rulos was the place. The replays were the host. And they bested the visitors, the schlubs, 11 to 5. The replay's big win gets them a bye in the in-lane playoffs and knocks the schlubs down to the last seed in the orbit playoffs. No quarters for Laundrie. went to Barcade Fidei, where the Trolls hosted them and handed them a 4-12 win. No Quarters finished their season with the third best composite score, 102 points, but still with three losses. The Pin Babes went to Jack Bar, where the Ball Drainers just beat them up 14-2. The pin babes would have needed a big win plus help to get in. The ball drainers needed a big win to ensure a buy. And the ball drainers did their thing. So, look, this one's over. It's Tuesday night. The standings are in. I'm just going to say the numbers here. Harlem Globe Flippers killed them. Nine and one. Killed. K-I-L-T. Nine and one. 103 points. ball drainers danger danger and neptune's treasure whom just like a week ago we were saying if they lose they might be out of the playoffs had eight and two or out of the orbit playoffs i guess but still had eight and two records with 106 194 points respectively no quarters for laundry and the schlubs will be the visiting teams at least ceremonially at seven and three with 102 and 93 points respectively the in-lane playoffs on tuesday night will feature everybody loves the sunshine on top the whole story of this season right i mean the whole story of this season has been who's going to be number six and who's going to be number seven and can this new team everybody loves the sunshine because like schlubs, no quarters for laundry, Neptune's treasure, danger, danger, ball drainers, Harlem Globe flippers. We've heard of them. We've heard of them. We've heard of Pinister Six. We've heard of the Butterballers. We've heard of trolls. But everybody loves the sunshine. Who are you? And they've been right there. And just, you know what? They're going to get a bye in the in-lane playoffs, this new team. And so For the replace, one's 6-4 with 87 points. The other's 4-6 with 73 at 3-7 Scrapple Squad, who just had a magical run in the middle of the season and have a magical number of points at 69. Nice. And the Butterballers, who are 3-7 with 67, they will be in the mid-seeds in these here playoffs. And Pennister 6, they had a rough season at 2-8. This is a team that has often been in the Orbit playoffs. They had a rough season at 2-8, and they and the Trolls at 2-8, 64 and 60 points respectively, will be in Reston Pinball, parenthetically, RIP. RIP. Our 2-8 with 58 points. They're just two points behind the Trolls. They're just like two points from being in, but the Trolls are going to play in the playoffs, and RIP is not this season. And the Pin Babes were 1-9 with 44. Those two teams are going to enjoy their first Tuesday off in 10 weeks. On Wednesday, November 12th, 28 players came out to Scrapple Land in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for the second qualifying week of Scrapple League's fifth season under the direction of Greg Pavarelli with the assistance of Woody Richman this week. Everyone played five rounds of match play with IFPA scoring in the hopes of garnering the most points toward their series total. Sean the Storm Grant picked up 31 on the night. Both Greg Pavarelli and Adam Kane got 29, and Luis Fares got 27. Seven players participated in the optional side pot. presumably Sean and Greg got paid out and possibly Dan Merrill who had finished with 25 points on the night on Thursday November 13th at Jack Bar in Williamsburg Brooklyn 10 players gathered Ian Leone got revenge for all the near misses I watched it seems like every time I tuned into the Harvest on Twitch Ian Leone was playing in the finals. Ian Leon won with only one strike to his name, besting Alex Weisenberger, Jason Wilson AL, which I presume means Alabama? And Gabriel Chazanov, the tournament director, and Peter Larson, who was there for the night. Gabe directed the evening. Also on Thursday, the fourth qualifying meeting of South Slope Pinball's fifth season was held at Buttermilk. In South Slope, Brooklyn, Kate Martin directed the night. It was another five rounds of group match play with IFPA scoring. John Chase topped the night with 29 points. Both Taylor Connolly and Matthew Carlson got 27, and Kate Martin picked up 25. 18 players. That was a good night at SSPL. On Monday, November 17th, we Colliders will go to Midway. To visit Balls of Steel. Balls of Steel want to win to make sure they get that second buy. And Colliders need the win if they want to get into the in-lane playoffs. The Deluxe Horses will go visit Harry's Hand Grenades at Bar Great Harry. Once those horsies score their first point, they're guaranteed in to the in-lane playoffs. and the hand grenades are hoping to get a win here at their last chance to get one. The aristocrats will go to Gebhard's Beer Culture to visit the lesser players. The aristocrats are playing for seeding. The lesser players are looking for their second win. If they got a big one and your colliders lost, they could just get past the colliders at the end of this race. Two for Oners will visit the Mutants at Solid State. This match could really shake up the standings, particularly if it's a big swing in points. Rulos will see Intermission Dolores visiting Special When Lit. Special When Lit's got a lot invested in this match, but the visitors not so much. These teams will have a bye on Monday night. lion persons nyc fsa parliament the pin bots and the pin pals also with the buy on monday arcade brooklyn pinball league they're off this week even though the deluxe horses are away how about that sometimes the thing that we say is a rule is just a guideline On Tuesday, November 18th, Pinball NYC's left flipper division is done. It's time for the right orbit playoffs and the right in-lane playoffs. In round one of the orbit playoffs, the top seed Harlem Globe flippers have a bye. So does second seed ball drainers. Seed number five, no quarters for laundry. will visit seed number four, Neptune's Treasure, at their virtual home for this week, Skylark. The winner will face Harlem Globe Flippers next week. And sixth seed, Schlubbs, will face third seed, Danger Danger, at Milo's Yard. The winner of this match, on to face the Baldrainers next week. And in the right in-lane playoffs, top seed, Everybody Loves the Sunshine, has a bye. And so does second seed The Replays. Fifth seed Pinister Six will face fourth seed Butterballers at Commonwealth. And sixth seed Trolls face third seed Scrapple Squad at Buttermilk Bar. The winner of that match will play The Replays. The winner of Pinister Six and Butterballers will be playing Everybody Loves the Sunshine next week. I will say also there's no strikes on the calendar on Thursday but it's the third week of the month that's not surprising here's what is surprising the fourth week of the month will be Thanksgiving and I bet you those crazy motherfuckers will be out there playing pinball because they always do on Thanksgiving I think I do believe Ida has volunteered to TD that night also on Thursday November 20th the fifth qualifying meeting of South Slope Pinball League will be held at Buttermilk at pinball 8 o'clock it's a really quiet weekend yeah I looked at match play, I looked at IFPA there's nothing I mean I expected that the weekend of Thanksgiving except for the fact that there's going to be some people playing actually on Thanksgiving I expected that that week but here we are the week before Thanksgiving, it be quiet as of November 14th 2025 there are 356 pinball machines in New York City at 79 public locations. Thanks to the creators and users of Pinball Map for this data, here are machine updates from the past week. On Friday, November 7th, user JNS went by the gutter bar LIC. They said of their Deadpool, played well, and of the Shadow, played great. Color DMD. AIDS is real. Protect yourself. That's right. and user MoriahC107 played the junkyard at Scruffy Duffy's tap room. They said tilt sensitivity is a little on the more sensitive side. I heard there's league meetups here now, so that's likely why. Otherwise, both machines play impeccably since they've been on location. also on friday a sagasa spanish eyes from 1973 was added to the red hook pinball museum shut the fuck up they're playing it right now they're playing it it's 8 20 on friday night they're playing it right now at the red match max match play mali whatever the hell it's called User Red Hook Pinball Museum said, just restored. DC bumpers, this thing plays fast. Come on down. Nothing like some center bumper Spanish eyes action. Rare Spanish made version under license from Williams. I mean, Sagasa. Yeah, Sagasa is to say that it is the Spanish version, I think. Yeah. I don't know if you've seen it. It's got a different back glass. The Williams back glass is one of my absolute favorite pieces of pinball art. It's so good. It's of a similar style. It's just not the greatness of the Williamses. Interesting. Shortly after, how the fuck have we not had a Dolly Parton on site in New York City? Is the question, how the fuck have we not had a Spanish Eyes on location in New York City? On Saturday, Scrapple Land increased their lineup to 60. with these four titles either rejoining the lineup or new rejoining dungeons and dragons lost in space and the getaway okay newly added dirty harry that is that is two good games and two bad games and as long as the two good games play well i'll take that trade-off. On Saturday, user SickHands added a game to the Chase Sapphire Lounge at LaGuardia. This machine's been there for a while. I'm not sure it's always working. It is a Pabst can crusher that has been rethemed to New York City User Sickhand says custom reskin with new playfield and back glass artwork Set to free play and five ball mode. When I have the misfortune to be at LaGuardia, I can also play a pinball machine. from a poetic justice standpoint, LaGuardia is the airport in New York City where you can play pinball. Let's go put a pinball machine on his grave. I will also say that I found it inspiring that a Democratic Socialist invoked a Republican mayor when he gave his acceptance speech. I also just to be fair I actually think LaGuardia was a good mayor I just think that this is a flashpoint in my subculture did you notice that when he did reference that quote he didn't say the name again he also referenced good government organizations which were all the rage at exactly the time and everything that that movement was what got LaGuardia up in office. Also on Sunday, user Pinball Lizard commented on the Simpsons pinball party at Rulo's, in great shape plays beautifully. On Monday, the exodus from Gebhard's beer culture began as some of the machines brought in for the harvest were on the way out. Judge Dredd, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Big House, and their Godzilla were removed from the lineup. On Tuesday, user Toneuf let us know about the Addams Family at Barcade Fidei. Sound is currently out. They said replacement part on the way. Toneuf got some insight. And then on Wednesday, user Banzai let us know about the Addams Family at Barcade Fidei. Sound was repaired later in the day yesterday, actually. The cabinet woofer opened up and the speakers are all in series in pre-DCS soundboard games, so it takes everything if any one speaker fails. Hashtag pinball repair lesson of the day. Anyone who has ever wired speakers in series has failed at wiring speakers unless they're using 70-volt speakers. on Thursday Cyclone was taken out of Sunshine Laundromat and a Jaws LE was added user Dantastic said just when you thought it was safe and on Friday November 14th user Sick Hands stopped by Barcade Chelsea and said of their future spa turned on again and all previous outstanding issues appear to be addressed playing great Only noticeable thing is that the E rollover lane's light appears to be out. Really minor and doesn't affect gameplay. It's really strange that if you spell out the whole words future spa, that there are so many vowels and so many of them are used, but only one of them is an E. Such that when you say the E rollover, like what... I did an inventory in my head. When you said that note, I was like, there has to be more than one. But there isn't. There are many U's, or numerous U's at least, and 1A and 1E. Sick Hands also went by Gebhard's Beer Culture. Got a chance at a couple of the games still there from the harvest. They said a Farfalla plays beautifully. Three balls, no game time bonus. And of Atlantis, on the ground floor. Was it on the ground floor in the back like a few of the games were at the previous harvest? Yes, yeah. So, I mean, that's a really helpful tip. They had two back there, yeah. Shall we discuss our pinball bullet journals from the past week? Mine starts on Monday. You went on Friday. Yeah, well, last Friday, right after we recorded, I headed back up to Gebhardt's Beer Culture for more of the harvest qualifying. You got to see my outfit before I headed out. Yeah. I got all gussied up. Good boots, good mohawk? Yeah, I had a mohawk and a miniskirt and my new tall Converse boots. I was feeling pretty good about that and excited to go up to the harvest. I had a fun conversation with Gabriel, who was running the tournament, shortly after I had come in. And he asked me, it was a little later because we had recorded the podcast, and so I didn't get up there, I think, until 10 or something. Right. I mean, I was standing right here talking to you on a microphone at 8.45, if not 9 o'clock. Yeah. Gabe asked me, oh, did you happen to go to some other event before coming here tonight? Or did you wear that mohawk just for the harvest? Because that would be really cool. And I said, yeah, I wore the mohawk just for the harvest. I was so excited about it and really amped up to go and play. It was a good night. I wound up staying out pretty late, I think, maybe 1.30. But I was planning on working the closing shift at Barcade Brooklyn the next day, so I was trying to stay out late so I could sleep in in anticipation of the late night. I think we even talked about this a little bit last Friday. When I did get up on Saturday, I was not feeling great had a real bad sore throat and the beginnings of a cold that is still lingering now and I wound up calling in to work I didn't go to Barcade Brooklyn I did not go back to the Harvest for any more qualifying and I made do with watching all of the finals action on the stream on Sunday Gotcha I looked at you know Hints here and there of the stream. Not more than a hint here and there. A big floofy man cat moved in here last year. And so I've been a little bit focused on the fact that I'm acclimating a new member of my household. in particular when there's another four-legged member of my household who is really fussed about what everybody smells like. And when cats are like, I'm somewhere new, they also want to make sure that everybody can smell them now. So we had some stuff last weekend. But on Monday, I finally ventured out. I found myself at Scruffy Duffy's tap room. I found myself, in fact, I walked down because I had a rough day on a Monday. Also knowing that I was going to be working the following day when a lot of people wouldn't be. I had a bit of a rough day for whatever psychological reasons the rest of that might have built in. and I decided to walk from the Upper West Side down to Scruffy Duffy's Taproom, which is, you know, I wasn't, I'm not far. Where is it? The 40s? Scruffy Duffy's is in the very high 40s and I am my employer exists somewhere not north of 72nd Street. Yeah. And so it was a therapeutic walk. It was the first night that it was kind of chilly in New York. It was the first November night. If you will excuse my putting a month making a month an adjective, it was the first November night. And I walked downtown in that by dozens of blocks. And I loved the walk. I believe Scruffy Duffy's is between 46th and 47th. And when I was between 47th and 48th, I saw Ed, the operator, about to get in the car with Rich, his Monday night teammate, on 10th Avenue in the 40s in Manhattan. Just like a pinball dude saw me walking under a construction awning and was like, hey, you. and told me that I was about to walk to a place where the pinball venue, and if you can't hear the air quotes there, they were there. The pinball venue wasn't open, but the other part of Scruffy Duffy's was. I rolled up at 7.15, 7.20 and stood there waiting. Not outside. I went into the bar. Some of my team and one member of the other team were in the bar hanging out at the sports bar section of Scruffy Duffy's, which is, it just has a different entrance. and because apparently because there's not like some kitchen connection between them or what the fuck ever you can't just have both of them open I wish that when I walked into the pinball venue that I was supposed to play in that I would have immediately been able to ask someone hey can I join you on that pinball game and start playing pinball but I will also say that we had a delay to get in and what ultimately happened was, effectively, we had a private pinball party in the other place because there wasn't a bartender watching us. We just had the key and a vague amount of permission. And they were cool about everything that you could be cool about, if it's okay that I say that without going into specifics. And we played pinball in the place that had two pinball games, and it was okay. What are the two games they got there? Junkyard. Oh, yeah. And John Wick. And actually, I'm glad you asked because I wasn't going to remember this. John Wick is sort of tucked into this corner where this little bit of service bar juts out kind of needlessly in the way that I have often in this space railed against needlessly gendered restrooms there's just like this little needless piece of wood where you could put your elbow and I walked in and I immediately went to WIC and put in a dollar and played a practice game by myself and midway through it I purposely slid it four inches to the left so that my elbow didn't have to be in the middle of the bar. There is just like this thing that juts out on the bar that if the machines are in the wrong place, you can't have your hands in the right place. I'm not a big dude. I'm like low end of average sized dude. I'm 5'7". My elbow was hitting off the bar. I did not intentionally at any point in time slide the machine four inches back to the right as my ball was about to end and Levy's was about to start. But I definitely did it at least for three balls of games that Levy and I played on John Wick. I didn't do it on purpose, but I definitely like, there's more than once that he walked up to the machine and was like, this fucking asshole put this here. And I did it on purpose, but there it was. That was my Monday night. It was really cool in that the only people in the bar were the two pinball teams. It was really cool. But it also just like, you know, it had that level of stress of just like, I walk in, I had a plan, and my plan is disrupted. And what do I do? I'm not, I wasn't, I had a plan. I was supposed to be able to play pinball at 7.15 when I walked in the door. What am I going to do for the next half hour? Everything's fine. It's all fine. But ultimately, you know, I was slightly uncomfortable for a little bit. Did you play on Tuesday? I played on Monday. I was feeling a bit better. I thought the cold had passed. and so I headed up to Midway Bar where our association played Balls of Steel. Yeah. I got there, I think we already had the sheets. I was walking in just as we were starting. I didn't have any warm up. I think it was eight or a couple minutes after when I walked in. I wound up playing Iron Maiden three times in a row. Got better and better. It was good. We had a nice time. We tried to follow the bar's posted rule. There's a chalkboard drawing of Tweety Bird flipping a finger, hanging framed on the wall. It says be cute or leave. Yeah. Also, often on the sandwich chalkboard outside a sailor moon saying a really artfully drawn chalk drawing of sailor moon on a sandwich chalkboard that says the same. Quite so. Yeah, I really like that drawing of sailor moon. I took a picture of that. I took a picture of the Tweety Bird this week to throw in with this great picture that Philippe took of the match mid-action. You can see Adam Robinson and Greg Fertel playing two games next to each other and the two assembled teams standing in the background with their arms crossed looking very seriously at the games. And this is going from left to right in the photograph. At the far right, there's me who's just realized that Philippe is taking a picture of this and I turned to him and I just macked real cute for the camera. And it turned out to be a great photo. We looked cute. We didn't have to leave. But when the match was done, a number of us hopped over to Jack Bar just to play some fun games late into the evening And then Tuesday I was like oh no this cold is not gone and that was far too late to have stayed out the night before Oh, I had a cold. Right. So I've been home since then. That was my pinball week. Gotcha. Yesterday, Thursday, I went to Skylark and had one beer's worth of pinball, which was, I think, four games of Paragon and one of Foo Fighters. It was a little sad that Foo Fighters was the last one. In hindsight, I wish I had done it a different way. The story would have been way better if I walked in and was like, I fucking hate Foo Fighters. I'll play one game of that. and then well I still have a lot of beer here I'll play more I'll play more pinball but it will be paragon that would have been a better choice but that's not what I did and then you know I went to a diner which is not terribly far and in fact you wouldn't have to cross the street to go to it from owl farm to have a sandwich on my way home and that was actually kind of what I needed out of pinball on my day off from work was to walk through Prospect Park to go play pinball and then to have the agency to go get a sandwich and decide if I wanted to walk back around the corner to Owl Farm or for that matter, I walked despite the fact that it would have been an easier walk if I had gone straight up the hill right there at 9th Avenue and 4th or 9th Street and 5th Avenue rather than, you know, going, continuing down the hill so that I could go up a steeper hill later. I continued down the hill so that I could go up a steeper hill later in case I decided on the way that the high dive was a place that I wanted to duck into and play a little bit more pinball on my way home. The importance of the day off was that it was unscheduled time. It was unstructured. There was that I had the option to say, you know what? I will leave this pinball venue now and go have lunch at a diner. And then when I've had lunch at a diner, I might go play more pinball. I might even go get on public transit to go play pinball. If that's what I want to do, I might go to Fidei or Barcade Brooklyn if that's what I want to do from where I am. But I will go sit down and eat a sandwich and decide what's next. And what I decided was next was to walk past High Dive and not play pinball and go home. And having all of the agency of the decision tree to that was everything I needed out of both pinball and a day off from work. Two weeks ago on this podcast, Benjamin and I proposed a platform for a pinball political party. the central plank of that platform was pinball is for everyone. Last week, I was playing at The Harvest in non-binary and fems edition. There were other big pinball tournaments going on around the country last weekend too. And then On Thursday, November 13th, yesterday, as we record this, the IFPA put out an official statement, first in their Discord and then on their website. If you happen to have the IFPA companion app on your phone and get notifications, it would have been pushed through there and on social media. The IFP official statement started with this sentence. On Friday, November 7th, transgender members of our pinball community were subjected to an act of discrimination while attempting to participate in the OBX Flipper Arcade Fall Pinball Bash. The statement in whole is on the website if you want to go read it. were subjected to. There's a problem with passive verbs in an apology. Yeah. I don't want to go too deep into a lot of the details here or in particular all of the milquetoast language in this official statement and debate the finer points right now. That's how it started. In the middle, it says, we have thoroughly reviewed the events at OBX and considered various options. The IFBA takes full responsibility for our failure to create the conditions in which every player and especially our transgender community members can feel safe, respected and supported. we deeply regret that our actions did not meet that standard and we are truly sorry. This is at the end of the statement. Additionally, the venue, whose name I will not mention, is prohibited from hosting IFPA-sanctioned events for a minimum of one year. After that period, we will reassess on an annual basis Whether meaningful and verifiable steps have been taken to ensure the venue provides a safe, inclusive environment for all players, including compliance with the IFPA gender inclusion Ryan Policky. If those standards are not met, the prohibition will remain in place. In the 30-some hours since the statement was released, the IFPA Discord has been blowing up. Might I suggest that the IFPA discord is populated in large part by at least the mouthpieces of the pinball community? An apology means that there was at least a transgression, if not a crime, right, committed. And we have to try to make up for the transgression and or the crime. do you know can you help me understand what the genesis what the situation was that caused an apology people didn't play in the tournament left they were specifically yeah went there left harassment for their own safety for whatever reason but because of gender did not play. That's just against what the IFPA says on their website about recognizing open divisions of play. And personally, I don't think the tournament should continue to have its sanctioning. On their website, the IFPA says the IFPA only recognizes open divisions of play to be included in the world pinball player rankings. If certain players are prohibited from playing based on age, gender, skill, or personal reasons, those results will not be counted. So with their statement where they're prohibiting the location from having IFPA-sanctioned tournaments for the next year, a lot of people have been expressing their opinions in the discord and on social media that's not enough it clearly doesn't meet the criteria that they set for sanctioning and it should be unsanctioned so far as I know this has always been part of the sanctioning requirements there's other requirements you can't have the tournament with two people I think you need three stuff like that But definitely not about venues, generally speaking. Right. Only that this specific requirement that I was talking about is amended for the case that if your venue's a bar, you can prohibit people who are not legally allowed to enter that bar from joining your term. there are probably some pretty narrow like if you had a restraining order against someone and you're hosting a pinball tournament at your home you could probably say to the IFPA like I'm allowed to have this as an IFPA. I imagine that there are some carve outs for just like it's my private location I can invite who I want. But this is not a private location situation. That same night last week I was headed up to the harvest and I said before I was all decked out. I had on I had a mohawk. I was wearing a miniskirt and my slutty knee high boots and it was a delightful night playing with my friends here in the New York City Pinball and I played in the Harvest non-binary and femme edition and I was excited and happy to be doing it. Specifically it was in the name, non-binary and femme and in the description of the tournament they said if it's not clear from the name, anyone identifying as non-binary or female is more than welcome to participate and it felt particularly welcoming to me. Good. And it's heartbreaking that at the same time people are getting shooed out of bathrooms and harassed and not playing pinball with their friends. What I wanted to do was to play in it, to go through and at least submit a full card. I played 10 games. Seven would have sufficed, but I wanted to play each of the ones in the qualifying. And then my plan was to really focus on Maine and try to do great there. I wasn't trying to win the non-binary and feminine edition. I just wanted to play in it. Sure. And then I wound up getting a call and I didn't have any extra more time for qualifying. Friday in the miniskirt I was also making sure my stance was not causing it to ride up too much. It was modest. But what did happen is the results got submitted to the IFPA. The non-binary Femme Edition was pretty small whoppers even for the winner. There were 15 participants? 15? Yeah. And it looks like something like 12 or 13 submitted qualified on enough games to get submitted. Right. Making the 50% anyway and I think I came in last. And so that's tiny women's whoppers that I just earned. Sure. The first time I earned them. Yeah. But they were secondary to the point of going and playing in it. And I was like, oh, that's you know, that won't affect anything. It's so small. I forgot that women's state finals draws half their field with women's whoppers and half their field from open whoppers. Yeah. And I'm now qualified. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be declining that. Yeah, I understand. I understand. I also, you know, if it's appropriate, you should do it. I can report that Kevin Stone's apology was widely accepted and taken positively. And shortly after the statement, he was completely left out of the rest of the discussion. Except that he was part of the situation. his his statement was entered into the record of the ifba's original statement this is this is what we can say about kevin stone who also was the tournament director here and and that statement is what you're talking about when you say his his statement his apology was widely accepted as genuine, as appropriate, as some kind of psychic restitution. The discussion in the Discord has been shut down. There was a good summary article at kineticist.com yesterday on the situation, and they've just released another one this evening talking with some people from the IFPA. It looks like I haven't had a chance to fully digest it, but I'll read up on that. What's his name? Colin? Alshimer? Colin Alshimer. Really, if you want to know what happened in pinball in the last 24 hours, Colin fucking knows. Kineticist is this week in pinball. I highly recommend Kineticist as a source for pinball news and real good reporting from Colin. This week in pinball is Kineticist. I don't think it's a closed discussion. I think it's an important discussion and ongoing and all the time we have to be more welcoming. That's all for this week's pod. Join us next week when, as usual, in Ball 1, we'll run down local competition results, including pinball nyc's right orbit and in lane playoff results and we'll have the final standings for the left flipper division in ball two we'll have venue updates as usual and we'll do our bullet journal and i'm not too sure what's going to happen in ball three just yet but we'll figure that out then between now and then whatever you want to do go get it Also, by the way, if you have the IFPA app on your phone and you get push notifications from it, nerd. I don't. I host a fucking pinball podcast and I don't. Nerd. Sorry.