welcome to the great british pinball podcast and here are your hosts scott rundell and neil mccray laugh it up fuzzballs look what's arrived yep it's here star wars uh more on that later anyway um you're probably wondering why is it two episodes well one episode's a regular episode scott's back many of you'll be happy to know that i know you love me but i know you love the fact that scott contains me uh that's why it's me and scott um it's great to have him back and quite uh quite an interesting listen uh i was just editing earlier listening back to um him holly and max they went through a they went through a moment let's see so why are you here again neil well i've got we've got a guest and this this happened literally this morning i got a phone call from from this person hey neil i need some help on something we're talking and um he's like well you know i should do a thing on your podcast and i was like so we literally set up very quickly and you you'll see that um we've got some really interesting insight to what's happening at expo um and you know the pinball community as a whole um the individual i'm speaking i'm trying not to give it away it's very difficult but he's a phenomenal guy so generous so uh friendly i've known him since 2016 um and he's been a great supporter of of pinball republic the uk open and allowing us to speak about it at the Expo and all that stuff so probably some of your guests knew who this is anyway it was great to have him I'm looking forward to catching up with him for a beer next week anyway here we go Rob Burke from Pinball Expo Past Times Arcade and a bunch of other stuff in pinball he really is Mr Pinball in my view and a phenomenal guy and I hope you enjoy this short interview where Rob's going to tell us about a bit about what's happening at Pinball Expo and what you should not miss. Thanks, everyone. Have a great one. Welcome, everybody. This is Neil McCrae from the Great British Pinball Podcast. And as you might realize, we have a special guest. And we don't do a lot of special guests, but there are certain people we make an exception for. and I want to, so you're all, some of you will know who it is because you can see who it is, some of you will be like who's this guy right because we're British, we're in Robert Englunds and Rob who's above me may not be quite as wealthy but I will start by a quick intro on how I met Rob. So I met Rob, actually I was introduced to Rob by my lovely wife Mandy. So we were at pinball expo for the first time complete noobs um at the old hotel not the hotel it's at now and we were kind of a bit lost and somehow um my wife comes over with rob and i'm like who's this crazy guy my wife's with because she's great at randomly picking up men um i probably should have said that a different way but rob came over we were a bit lost we couldn't figure out what to do and Rob you're an absolute gentleman and helping us get all signed up for Expo we didn't even know who you were my wife was like oh that guy what a great guy and that was the first time I met you when I was when I was kind of new to this pinball thing back in 2016 since then probably more recently just before Covid and after Covid Rob's been a great supporter of bringing an international flavour to Expo. So we've talked about Pinball Republic, we've talked about UK Open, we've done a lot of... Rob's given us time on what is an amazing, always amazing schedule for talks at Pinball Expo. And of course, so, you know, lo and behold, this is Rob Berk, the genius behind Pinball Expo, but also the genius behind Past Times Arcade. And I can tell you right now, in the UK, Rob, Past Times Arcade has looked at like a kind of a mecca of pinball, an amazing location, and something we're very jealous and envious of. But we also, you know, the reason for the talk today is very much about Pinball Expo, which starts in a few days' time. Rob, welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you on. Yeah, listen, it's a pleasure to be on, and I've always had a love for the British and the charm of the British. but you know after the introduction you've given me Neil I'd like to hire you as a PR guy you're the best you're the greatest no I'm not known for uh for great public relations but I look pretty good at stew Rob I kind of you know Luke I run a I run a couple of events they're nowhere near as the scale of of um of Expo and I I know how hard it is I know it takes a village I know your wife and your family are involved and a big set of helpers. Actually, we the Brits, so two of my friends, Paul and Anne, are on a plane now to Chicago. I'm flying out tomorrow. I think there's about 15 of us coming. And we've been before. All of us have been before pretty much, but we enjoyed it so much. One, you make us feel at home. Two, the stuff that you've got at the show is fantastic. The scale of it is just huge. I mean, it's massive. And since 2016, when it was in the other location, my God, has it really moved on in terms of scale. And I can only even, you know, even the old one, I thought, wow, the amount of effort to organize that versus the amount of effort. And also, correct me if I'm wrong, you've been doing this 41 years, Rob. I mean, I've lost my mind. Really, Neil, you know, because the amount of time and energy and effort. But, you know, for me, the expo is about the people, guys like yourself that, you know, bring the community together. And it just shows you that pinball is so universal and worldwide and the love of it. But for me, it's just fun to have guys like you. And I love your intros and I love your enthusiasm. Honestly, I have a contract here. I'm going to send you the email to have you come work for me. We need to discuss the rate, though. whatever you want an open uh checkbook yeah okay i like i like the sound of that so i mean rob same here i mean this is the thing that you know i've been in many i'm a car guy video games and a few other kind of wacky hobbies um but the community we have at pinball never ceases to um it never ceases to amaze me and also um almost kind of sometimes bring me a tear so we We had our UK Open here in the UK a couple of weeks ago, and it was our best event ever. The team did an amazing job. The players were awesome. And actually, I think in handing the trophy over to the winner, I kind of got a bit of that lump in your throat when you've seen it all come together, you've seen the community come together. Everyone's had a great time. The show's been amazing. Everyone's put their effort. And the thing for me, Rob, about the pinball community is everyone wants you to be successful. You know they want so there I don know how many thousands of people coming to Chicago Every single one wants you to do a great job Rob because they know you they know the event they know everything that goes on at Expo and the history of it. You know, it's a truly legendary event in pinball. And it's almost like a family reunion to some extent where, you know, lots of us that know each other get to see each other some of us we see every now and again but it's a real kind of coming together and you know in the in the renaissance hotel till the early hours we're we're drinking beer and eating hot dogs so um you know that aspect of it i'm with you rob it's it's you know very much for the for the people and and that's why i love coming i've since 2016 i only missed it because the one during covid that we weren't we weren't allowed to fly over um but that's the only one i've missed and every single one i've had a thoroughly great time and met some amazing people and and maybe going into into this year what what are the kind of highlights that that you're excited about that that you you know you you tell people to go to well you know neil what's what's interesting for me is to build this thing up from day you show one where we had 100 people show up just give me an idea how the show went wow but um you mentioned about the lump in the throat for me is when i honored um the four pinball designers it was my dream to do that that's the only reason why i did the show is recognize them yeah but uh that was the lump in my throat um event for me but um you know back then we we had i think maybe 10 000 square feet and then we went to 25 000 square feet and then our current location we have a hundred thousand square feet and what's crazy to me is i knew the 40th would be a large show because uh anytime you hit a milestone like that people are excited about it yeah i was worried about the 41st and i had no idea what to expect but um early on i saw the hotels filling up and i've never had the hotels fill up so quickly number one but number two just the vendor response all the vendors we have we actually have a few less vendors this year because uh we're not including the retro gamers as much but a lot of the vendors we have have expanded their booth sizes now marco for one yeah who normally is that i don't know 20 by 20 20 by 30 they've gone 80 by 80 80 feet by 80 feet i mean it's massive yeah and um what they're doing is they're putting all the homebrew games in their section plus they're doing something i've really had a dream of doing and they're finally doing it but they're doing the marco supermarket so what they're doing is they're clearing the shelves off well it's like a scratch and dent sale right and overrun scratch and dent um anything that's been sitting in the cupboards forever they're going to pull it out and offer it for a discount price so get ready to get some bargains good guys this is the first time they've done it so i'm very excited about that plus the homebrew we got 40 plus homebrews wow i'm bringing back uh but this time we'll be working the mothership if you remember Neil, the game that I had built, it's larger than Hercules, guys. It's a little bit larger. But I'll tell you what, you said about 15, 20 people coming from Britain. If we can get 50 people, I'll take all you guys out to dinner. Open tab. Open tab. Okay, well, there's definitely, I can think of five people who would be foaming at the mouth to sign up right away. But look, and that's the thing, Rob. I mean, you're actually, you know, going to the US, of course you've got the flight costs, nothing you can do about that, but the actual event, it's pretty reasonably priced for what you get. The food and the drink at the event is, again, reasonably priced. It's not an expensive event to go to. And that's part of the reason why I think it's rammed, is in the world of pinball, when we're spending thousands of pounds and dollars on a game, coming to an event like this, I love it for exactly the thing you just talked about, the shopping. I mean, I usually have to buy another suitcase or visit the FedEx shop to send stuff home on the way back. And for me, even in the UK, we just don't have the scale. So that weird Gottlieb part that you might need, someone might have it at Expo or the guys from PPS are there. They've got the lime and sheets kit that you can pick up there. Again, it wouldn't be that easy to find over here. And then, I mean, Europe as a whole, I see lots of friends coming from on the continent as well, where they're there kind of for the same thing. So, Luke, the Marco thing sounds super exciting. That could be dangerous for my bank manager. Very dangerous. Honestly, anyone flying to the States, I recommend automatic extra suitcase. I'm warning you guys now. There are so much new vendors here that are selling items we've never had to show before. Jeff Moorhead's coming. He's selling a lot of scratch and dent used parts. Normally, he gets two booths. He's got four. Planetary Pinball is coming. You guys know Planetary Pinball. Yeah, we know Rick. Good guy. So he's doubled the size of his booth. I mean, everyone is just, I mean, they just really get into it lock, stock, and barrel. And they're just going all out for the expo. It's interesting for me to see this because I'm excited about it because I've always hoped that one day Expo will be the mecca of the pinball community. And Rob, I think you've achieved that genuinely. You know, I mean, to me, it sometimes feels like I wish I had a duplicate because you find that there's three, four things you want to go. you just the schedule's just rammed you know you got some amazing speakers um that talk talk at every angle of pinball you know we did our thing about the club and uh you know i got loads of people contacting me both before and after that asking questions and you know there's a real interest in learning um and trying to understand what people are doing you know you get the obviously the the the top guys like jgp and stern and and those guys doing their talks as well which are always, you know, super exciting. This year you've got the Scorbic guys that are there doing a talk. You've got, you know, the folks that do restorations and, you know, you just learn little tips from them that are just amazing. And at the same time, you've got all this stuff going on in the show. You've got the tour, you know, the big tournament, the flip out tournament, which is one of my favorite tournaments of the year. You know, Debra and Trent do a great job of running that. and I know you lean in and give them a lot of support. So there's just so much to do. And then the Stern visit and, you know, lots of people are coming to head to, you know, some of the arcades and stuff around the location as well. So it's great for that part of the world. A lot of people coming in and spending money at a time where, you know, it's useful to be getting that money for the local economies there. And the location, you know, the hotel's great. It's next to the mall where Interium is, where I know you've got the bumper blast this year. It's always a favourite of mine. Great place to meet people and introduce yourselves and say hello. Just so much stuff to do. And, you know, I'll put you on the spot here because we didn't practice this, but is there a seminar right now that really excites you, or is there a part of the event that you say you've got to make sure you don't miss this? Yeah, there's three of them. So everyone get your checklist out. Checklist number one Joe Kamenkao Now Neil do you remember Joe Kamenkao Oh I know Joe yeah Joe yeah yeah So Joe was one of the founding fathers of the early Data East along with Gary Stern So he's going to talk about, they're going to have a PowerPoint reviewing all of the games that they made together, the Data East games. So we're talking about Laser Wars, RoboCop, Iron Machine, all those different games they made. So that, to me, is going to be really special. Yeah. another, because Joe Kamikaze doesn't come to every expo. No, Joe's I have to say, Joe's another one of those amazing guys in the industry I've, we're both car guys and he's been over the UK and he was going to see Jaguar and Aston Martin and actually he, I was supposed to meet up with him in Vegas, I was in Vegas but he pinged me actually because he was involved in the Back to the Future theatre show and he had a couple of tickets he couldn't make it so he phoned me and said hey Neil do you want to go to this and me and my wife went we had best seats in the house an amazing guy with an amazing background in pinball but also in the kind of coin up game industry the guy's just a walking genius with a brain the size of a planet so I will definitely be at that something else we need to tell your audience Joe Kaminkow single-handedly made everyone's dream come true when he produced that Beatles pinball machine. Yeah, yeah. And according to Joe, and this is the podcast we had during COVID, he spent a million dollars out of his own pocket to make that game happen. So, I mean, only Joe Kaminkow would do it. So I'm hoping you guys see him, get a picture with him, maybe get his autograph. But thank him for what he's offered to the community. The guy's amazing. Yeah, I mean, I remember he brought Adam West to Expo. And me and my wife got to meet Adam West, and I'm a massive Batman fan. For me, that was like, wow, you know. So, yeah, look, that's super exciting. Okay, I mean, that in itself is worth the trip. One more, Neil. Neil, two more. Go for it. Go for it. Go for it. Number two, last year, Pat Lawler came. As you know, Pat Lawler has designed some wonderful games. Yep. as family to Twilight Zone. The list goes on and on. So last year he said, Rob, that's it. You know, I'm getting a little older. It's a little harder to get around, blah, blah, blah. I said, Pat, please. I said, there's so many new people coming every year. Come out one more shot. So this year he's going to come and speak with Larry DeMar. But anyone out there in TV land, they've got to make an effort to hit this seminar. Pat Lawler's seminars since day one have always been the most popular and the room will be packed. So you want to see Pat Lawler. This guy's a living legend. These guys aren't getting any younger. You know, it's like Dave Christensen. He came to our expo for years. One day, the guy passed away. Yeah, I know. Very sad. So meet these guys when you can. Pat Lawler is one of them. I'll echo that. I met Pat a couple of years ago at expo. Him and his wife, who's also called Pat, which confused the hell out of me. but yeah I couldn't I couldn't agree with you more I was at the Dialed In seminar that he did it was phenomenal so 100% another legend of pinball and as you say you know some of these people have been in the industry you know 40 years and it's their retirement and they're getting old so time to pay your respects now and get to meet these people but But, I mean, Joe and Pat on the same schedule is just tremendous. So number three. Number three is Steve Ritchie. So Steve Ritchie, King of Flow. Steve Ritchie is going to talk, starting with his days in designing at Atari. So he's going to go over all the games he's created. So to me, that's also going to be a wonderful seminar. So there are so many seminars, like you're suggesting, Neil. You know, we have 40 hours worth of seminars. And, you know, you mentioned about promoting a show and what's involved. The putting together 40 hours worth of seminars, I have at least 40 hours just making phone calls, including, hey, Neil, how about coming to Expo this year? Well, I don't know, mate. But there's just so much time involved. And then people say it canceled and the time is not the right time and blah, blah, blah. But the time spent, the aspect of the show that I do is the seminars and putting the vendor hall together. And speaking of the vendor hall, guys, here's a couple of highlights. I'm hooked up with a guy through the internet that has produced that homebrew game called the Invaders. Right. Have you seen that, Neil? I've not seen it, no. Well, hers was crazy. Right. This guy from France is shipping his game to Expo for people to see it. Awesome. Homebrew game called the Invaders. So that, to me, is outstanding. It's amazing. So he'll be there speaking. in we got hexa hexa is the guys out of france that made the space hunt they are getting a booth this year awesome so i have another guy coming in from uh budapest hungary he is a producer of uh glass he's bringing playfield glass for sale so so we know him was all i know him was all well he's a friend of mine um yeah jordan yeah yeah so he he uh he he he um helps me with the glass getting the same glass here in the uk because we can't get it here at all but actually in the us if you're watching um this uh the glass that he makes is the best glass on the planet and it's like what's what's funny about it rob it's actually american glass that he imports to europe oh my gosh he cuts it in Europe and then sends it out from his location. I practically buy 200 sheets and then I sell them to the community here in the UK. The glass is outstanding and Zol's a great guy. So I saw him there a few years ago. We visited. But if you're looking for some amazing glass, American made, it's cut and prepared in Europe, but it comes from the US and it's this kind of what they call this display case glass where you get super low reflections I've got it on all my games in this room that I'm in actually and yeah definitely definitely go talk to him because he's got some very cool stuff so you know we're talking about some special things happening at the show another thing there's a fellow by the name of Mike Tomlinson he's coming to Expo and he's going to be introducing his book called the Pinball pinups. So he kind of highlight the women in pinball either on the playfields or back glasses. So he would be there with his book signing autographs so that's going to be a treat. Another special thing to happen, we talked about the pinball community Neil, and the one fellow that has stepped up beyond stepping up is Tommy Floyd. He's got a company called Nitro Pinball. He represents every manufacturer in the world. The guy is just amazing. And I told him, I said, Tommy, I can't get a hold of Bittronic and I just you know I'd love to have them bring their games so Tommy single-handedly ordered several games from Bittronic and one more surprise and Neil I'm glad that you're sitting down everyone that's listening to this podcast please sit down for this next statement wow what Tommy is bringing in is some games from Bittronic but also for the first time at least that I seen on American soil is some games from home pin Right Okay Yep He bringing the Brothers game Blues Brothers yeah I never seen it I mean I seen pictures but I never seen the game live So, Neil, you will be number one in line. So, I want you to have your microphone there. Broadcasting the great pinball British. Yeah, we'll visit. We'll visit for sure. We'll visit for sure, Rob. The plunger back on the Blues Brothers. That's going to be happening. another thing that's going to be really cool is I have what they call the pinball scientist Ryan Tanner Walters so he is a school teacher but he's going to have a pinball tournament for the kids I found some toys here in America like how to build a pinball machine toy and I ordered a couple dozen of them Ryan Tanner will have these at his booth for kids to come to his booth he will build a machine with them so that's going to be a lot of fun and then Satara Guitar, have you ever heard of them Neil? I don't think so okay, I'm glad that you're sitting down, you know one of my favorite rock bands of course is the Rolling Stones, I've seen them four times already but that has nothing to do with these guys there's a guy by the name of Ed Ed Robertson Barenaked Ladies God has bought a guitar from these guys listen to what these guys do Neil, write this down C-I-T-H-A-R-A. You can Google that. Ah, yes. Now you've spelled it out. I know who you mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very. These guys get pinball playfields. That's right. Yes. They made them into guitars. Yes. I remember now. Yeah, I remember. Now that you've spelled it out, yes. And actually, I totally recommend everyone go have a look at that. They do amazing, amazing craft work on taking something in Caverna into a guitar. For sure, definitely go visit that. They're going to have a booth with anywhere from six to eight guitars in that booth. This is going to be unbelievable, guys. The first time for Expo. Yeah. Another thing is I got a fellow coming in from the Netherlands. He goes by the name of Europin. He's bringing in containers of games made for the European market, which we don't typically see in America. Yeah. They will be for sale at the show. And he's also bringing a few American titles, including Eclipse that you don't see every day. Yep. And Hubert's Quest. You never see. Yep. It will be for sale at Expo. First come, first serve. Get your money ready, guys. I'm trying to give all this to you, Neil, all in a nutshell. Another thing happening is the 1930s tournament. Cliff Schoen has just gone bonkers and having a speakeasy booth where everyone dresses up in the 1930s style. He's got a bar there, an old couch. He's got a lampshade hanging down. And we're going to have a 1930s pinball tournament. Awesome. That's brilliant. I'm going to pop over there and register. There will be about 20 or 30 different games on display from that era. So that's going to be special. So, you know, there's so much happening. It's like where do you start first? I like to say, anyone coming, prepare yourself. Of course, there's the autograph session. To me, it's one of the few opportunities to meet these guys, get their autograph. Greg Ferrer is coming. And I want to ask you a question, Neil, since you're a master of all. Who was the gentleman who designed a very great game called Captain Fantastic? Captain Fantastic. Oh, now you've put me on the spot. I have no idea. I should know. He also designed the game called Wizard. Wizard. I still we have Wizard and Captain Fantastic in our club I actually do not know the answer to them I'm trying to think I'll give you the same Greg commit Greg worked for Valley for many many years those are his most famous games the last game he built was for Capcom Break Shot anyways Greg will be at the autograph session Greg does not go to any other pinball shows. He lives in Chicago. He's got an ill mom, so he spends a lot of time around home. But he said he will come to the autograph session. I highly recommend that you bring your books with you and have this guy. Bring the back glass. Get the back glass. Back glass. It's fantastic. Of course, it's a great back glass. It's amazing. He worked with Dave Christensen on that game. But he's a great guy, and I suggest that you guys make every effort to see him. I'll definitely I will definitely I mean I never miss the autograph session anyway it's one of the best sessions so again definitely recommend everyone gets down there with something to sign actually in this room at the back I've got a medieval madness poster signed by all the medieval madness guys I got done at Expo so and this is the thing Rob it's you know this is where you really you know you expo you see everyone that you want to see right you know there's the it is the place that if you're going to do business or do something you know you come to chicago and and and you come to expo so we're um super excited first of all thanks for joining us um rob on on the on the podcast and and also thank you for your hospitality when we come over from international you know when we come over from international places you've always got your eyes open helping us out um thank you for all the support and giving us time and space for uh pinball republic and the stuff we've done here in the uk it's really appreciated and um i can't wait to get i've just checked into my flight just before this um this this uh this uh session and i'm really excited about what's going to be another fantastic expo and i can't wait to see you there mate listen i'm very pleased to be here part of your podcast. Neil, thank you so much for including me. You're welcome. Anytime, Rob. You can come on anytime you like. I hope your friends from all throughout Europe and all America have the opportunity to check out at least one time the Expo. You know, I won't steer you wrong, if I can tell you. No, absolutely. I mean, I'm lucky enough I get to come every year, but if you've never been before, you know, there's lots of places in the world you can go and do pinball stuff. there's only one place maybe one or two places where if you go you're guaranteed an amazing week and Expo is definitely one of those places so if you're thinking about doing a pinball holiday go to the home of pinball Chicago you can't go wrong there you really get to see the scale of it and also the sheer passion for it which you know we're all all part of and but be careful because like me you might get addicted and end up going more than once rob thanks again um and again big shout out to everybody all the volunteers and helpers your lovely wife your family that lean in and help us everyone on the desks all the security folks the hotel um huge thanks um to all of them because it's a it's a tough week for them and their single job is to make us happy. And every year I've been, they've done a phenomenal job of that. So huge thank you. And I'll see you in a few days time. One more quick request, Neil, for your listeners. Go for it, go for it. For those that come to Uxbow, please bring dark chocolates for my wife. She loves them. Okay. I will stock up on the way out for sure. That's a new secret. That could be a useful secret to know. All right, guys. All the best to everyone. Thanks, Rob. Thank you. Thanks. Bye-bye.