It's time now for another Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com and please subscribe on either iTunes Stitcher or Google Play. Time to head to Hell's Kitchen in New York City because the New York City Pinball Championship is getting ready for another great tournament. It comes our Canadian long weekend, May 17th to 19th, and joining us from the Never Beef Productions headquarters, let me just grab a glass of G Fuel, Levy Naiman joins us. Hey, Levy, how are you? Good, Jeff Teolis. How are you doing this morning? Good. I got the dates right, correct? Correct. It's going to be May 17th through 19th, 2019. That's the same weekend we did it last year, and it seems like a nice spot to do the tournament. It's in between some other major tournaments, and it'll give everybody a chance to come out to this thing, So we're pretty excited. A great trailer once again. I like last year's. This one's even better too. And you've got some of the participants from last year's event. You have to be happy the way the 2018 tournament went. Yeah, we were thrilled. It was a great way to start. You know, we weren't really sure what we were getting ourselves into. But we knew that there was a big apple-shaped void in tournament pinball that we needed to fill. And I think we stuffed that void pretty snugly. It was a fun tournament. We had a lot of great competitors come out. It was a fantastic final in both the women's and the main open. And we're looking to build on it. Last year, you were around 120 players. You're looking to grow big time in 2019, correct? Correct. I think we're going to have 200 spots open on Saturday. We're doing a ticket drop on Saturday at 10 a.m. Eastern time. You can find that through our website, nycpinballchamps.com. And a ticket drop happens at 10 a.m., and we're looking to fill out all these spots. It's going to be about 200 at first. We're going to try to expand it beyond that a little bit. but that remains to be seen. So grab your spot while you can get it. We think it's going to sell out quick. So you're back at Skyline Hotel, but you must be in a different room too for the expansion. I know the manager last year was quite excited by the tournament. So you've obviously got a new place inside Skyline, correct? Correct. We're unfortunately going to lose our beautiful view, but we're going to gain about 1,000 square feet. It was a little tight up there last year. We really did love the view, and we liked having a nice packed room, But we expect to have more people, more games, more spectators. There's going to be a free play, a sizable bank of games that people can play, whether they're in the tournament or not. So we're expecting not just competitors and spectators, but also people in New York who want to just come by and play pinball and take in the whole scene. So that's one of the many improvements, expansions, and upgrades that we're planning this time around. Well, you've always been an expert when it comes to putting on tournaments, and now you've got the show aspect. You've certainly got the city for it and a great venue at Skyline as well, too. So look at you, Levy. You've gone full circle. You and Paul and Tim at Never Beef have really done a great job in just a short time. True. And you might want to mention Austin is on board also. He was our production manager last year, and he's kind of a full partner now. Austin Smith, a great player as well, too. Didn't he win the Classics? He did. It was nice to have a Never Beaver win Classics, although I would have preferred it was me. I came in fourth. But Austin Smith did take home that amazing trophy that Paul commissioned. You know, hopefully one of us will manage to pull that off again. Once again, I don't think any of us are going to be playing in the main tournament. It's just too much work. And, you know, what can I say? We're sacrificing for the community here. You know, to think of those big, dripping, juicy Whoppers just out there. They were something like 65 to Bowen last year for the winner. But you have to resist. You have to resist the urge for Whoppers To truly achieve greatness you must pass on the whoppers Sometimes So while I will dip my foot into the classics pool and test the waters I'm going to resist and focus on putting on a kick-ass pinball tournament that you'll never forget, Jeff Teolas. You don't have to sell me on it. I'm going to be there for sure. I'm looking forward to getting up early and making sure I get my ticket again this Saturday, 10 a.m. Eastern, and we'll put the link on Pinball Profile's Facebook page to make sure you're registered as well, too. You won't want to miss this great event. Like you said, the big thing too, with all the great pinball in New York, and you were just playing in the state championships, there were so many amazing players there. You've got Sunshine, you've got Modern, all kinds of other great places, but no big championship, no big tournament until you guys put this on last year. And now, like you said, 65 Whopper points last year for Bowen Kerins. Well, this is going to be bigger this year, and that means when you do it again next year, which I'm sure you're going to do, hello Stern Pro Circuit in 2021. That remains to be seen. We're focusing right now on putting on the best independent tournament we can. We think a lot of people are coming away from that. You don't need to be part of the Stern Pro Circuit to really grow an amazing event. And everybody should just focus on putting on the best event they can. And we're seeing a lot of bigger independent tournaments springing up around the country, and we want to see more of them. The more of these things, the better. And if you go to IFPA, they'll tell you, and they've got the stats to back it up. Competitive pinball is growing every year. and there's some people who keep saying nobody's into this competitive pinball blah blah blah it's simply not true it's growing every year there's more players there's more interest we had you know we had amazing press at the states on Saturday and so did everybody else you know I'm sure you've seen on your Facebook feed you know everybody's got a local story newspaper about their state finals and we just want to see more of this stuff we want to see more coverage more sponsors more awesomeness I'm sorry Jeff you know once I get excited about this stuff I just can't stop and And we're all 24 hours with us launching this thing. And boy, I'm excited. We're all excited. And you're right. There are a lot of great tournaments popping up. Eric Wurtenberger put on a great one in December in Cincinnati, his Pinsonati show. He just announced another one for Northern Kentucky. It's good to see. And you're right. With all those state and provincial championships, the IFPA gave back from all those dollar contributions almost $70,000 worth of prize money. Almost 1,000 people got paid for playing pinball on Saturday. It's definitely growing. Competitive pinball is huge. Yeah, I won the North Carolina State Championship a couple years ago, and I think I took home $100. I finished in sixth place in New York on Saturday, and I took home $100. So definitely not hearing any more complaints about the dollar fee. I think it achieved exactly what it set out to, which is to get people more excited about this and more payouts. And a lot of people were bringing home $400, $500, $600, $700. So again, it's great to see pinball continue to grow, and we're really happy to be a part of it. I don't play pinball to win money, but I'll tell you, playing on Saturday in the Ontario Championships at Adam Becker's Press Start Arcade, I'll take the $412 that I won. That was a nice little, hey, thank you for playing a lot of pinball over the years. I was pretty happy. Yeah, nice work. But that's Canadians. That's only like 20, 30 U.S., right? About that, yeah. I still got to collect a little more before I get my entry in. And how much is entry for the New York City Pinball Championship? The registration, I believe, is $50 this time around. We're going to have a t-shirt option too, but we're still working on that. Honestly, Jeff, I'm not really sure about that. I think it'll be like last year for the entries. But registration is going to be $50 to lock up your spot. So you want to go ahead and do that and then be ready to spend some money to pump and dump because we've got to build up the prize pool. Everybody's getting paid out this year. We're going to have payout for B as well as A and women's, Maine and women. And we going to have some I sure we gonna have some great prizes and contributions from our sponsors again as well Yeah they were great last year I remember seeing the Jersey Jack play field that they had for I think the Women Championship if I recall when Alisa Parks won And I believe you had some great prizes from Stern You did well on the prizes I guess the big thing for you is really getting the machines isn it Yes, we're going to need a lot of machines this time around because we're going to have a large free play bank. We're going to be working with our sponsors and private individuals and distributors to help us supply some games. So don't be surprised if you get a phone call from me in the near future. Pick up the phone, please. You mentioned the different tournaments. You've got the A and B in the main. You've got the women's too. And kudos to Never Beef for naming the women's championship, the Dahlia Rowan Memorial Championship. I think that's very, very tasteful. I know many of you were very, very close to Dahlia. Eddie Cramer did a great job as a tech there last year. So this is really nice. And you know what? It's going to make people ask, who is Dahlia if they didn't know? So that's great to continue her legacy. Dahlia Rowan is from Brooklyn, New York, and she was a fantastic human being and a great pinball player. Her husband is Eddie Kramer, who you might remember did an amazing job teching for us last year. He's a high-quality restorer and tech, and he'll be on board again this year. And we just thought it was a great idea to honor her legacy. Everybody loved Dahlia. She was a really cool rock and roll chick. She had a motorcycle. She had a great personality. Everybody who knew her loved her. and I think it's just going to be great to remember her from now on every year when we do this tournament. The women's tournament was great last year. We had a lot of competitors, a lot of action, and we're looking to do that again. You know, Jeff, I want to give you a little credit. I'm not sure, but I think maybe the place I heard the idea of doing a memorial tournament was in a conversation with you. And it's a great idea, and we're really looking forward to doing it, putting her name on the trophy and keeping her in everybody's minds and hearts. I just jumped the gun when I was recording the top 10 most intriguing people. And you know what? I'm sure you guys who are very, very close to her would have come up with it on your own anyway. So it's just great for Never Be for doing this. This is really, really classy. And you said it, last year's tournament, my goodness, came down to a tiebreaker too. And it was very exciting. I'm looking forward to this event for so many different reasons. It's fun to go to the Big Apple. There's always a lot to do. And I know you're going to sell out no matter what that number is, Levy. That's what we're hoping. And, you know, it's going to be a great show. We're improving the production. Got a lot of little surprises I don't want to get into yet until various contracts are signed and setups are okayed. But it's going to be a big show. You know, I've been traveling a lot. I went over to European Pinball Championships in Finland last year. They did an amazing job. We're going to take some inspiration from those guys. We're looking forward to having a lot more Europeans this year. I've got some various friends over there who are spreading around the press release and the sell date. So we're looking forward to seeing everybody there. You know, we did leak a little bit in the press release. We're going to feature a live musical performance by legendary pinball player and rapper Sean the Storm Grant. Many have heard about his rap career, but few have seen him perform live. And we're going to change that in a big way. He's in the studio. He's working on some new material for NYCPC. And we're all very excited to have Sean playing and rapping at NYCPC 2019. Sean is a lights out player. if he just got around, my goodness. But if you say his rapping talents or even half of what his pinball talents are, should be a good show. Better. His rapping is better than his pinball playing. All right, maybe not. That'll be for you to judge at NYCPC 2019. And he is a great player, and you're right, he doesn't travel much. If he did, he'd be a top 30 guy easy. Anything else you want to cover before we say so long? No, I think that's it, Jeff. Just wanted to hype up the tournament a bit, let you all know that it's going to be what it was last year and more. And we can't wait to see you there. And, you know, we listened to your feedback. We took it seriously. Everybody had a great time We had very positive feedback last year But you know people said they wanted more space They wanted more machines They wanted a payout for B and they wanted a live rap performance by Sean, the storm grant. And that's what they're going to get because we listened to your feedback. So, uh, we're looking forward to seeing you and making this all reality and we can't do it without you. You know, what about some sort of beat neck thing too? I mean, some of Tim Sexton's rants could be almost real hipster stuff. Yeah. Tim has been down, at Cafe Wa, practicing some of this stuff on his occasional visits to New York City, his beat poetry. But between his work at Stern, we're not sure if he's going to have time to flesh that out. That might be a year three project, Jeff Tealas. You got me excited just talking about Cafe Wa. For those that don't know, this legendary place in Greenwich Village, it's where Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan were discovered. They used to play there prior to their fame in 67 and even before then. That place is very special to me. It was in 1992, my first ever visit to New York City. me and a couple of buddies that I did some comedy with were sitting there front row, watching a band and this band could play any song. You name a song, they'd play it. And somebody yells out, play some Elvis. And they said, we don't do Elvis. And then my buddy who we might've been into the sauce a little bit said, he does Elvis. He's pointing to me a long haired ginger who looks nothing like Elvis. And by the way, I've never sung an Elvis song in my life. He points to me, he goes, he is Elvis. And they said, well, come on up. Well, I don't know anybody there i'm like oh what the heck so i was on stage with this band at the cafe wa and i huddled the band together all right okay guys let's start off a little leave of las vegas and break into burning love all right let's go break and i bet you killed it well all i did was mumble mumble mumble right you know that's what the king does more or less a couple of hip gestures and stuff and then i sat back down got a little little standing o or whatever people just i was making people laugh right and then they said that guy's pretty good you know if you just kind of squint your eyes a little bit. You think maybe it's Elvis. And of course, people are laughing at me as they should. That was a funny line from the guy. And then my idiot friend, John goes, he does stand up. And I'm like, you shut up. Let me sit down and watch the show. So they said, come on back up. And I'm like, oh, again, I might've been into the sauce. So I mosey on up. I'm like, look, it's not a good day for me. It's really, really bad. I just ran into my ex-girlfriend. We were We were together for four years, and she dumped me. It's all right. We're still cousins. And then, boom, boom, boom, I just got into a little routine. Nice. Anyway. Maybe we can get a repeat of that this time around. No, no, no. I did leave it out of the hard sell. I covered it last year. But it is New York City. And one great thing about this tournament is it is New York City. And it's a great thing for people to come who've never been here or have come here and want to explore more. You can go down to the village. You can see old classic landmarks like the Cafe Y. You can go to the Intrepid. You can go to museums. You can go see a band who's in town. You know, Billy Joel plays every other week at the Garden. You can go see Hamilton. You can go do whatever you want. You can eat Chinese food at 5 in the morning down in Chinatown. It's New York City, baby. Come on and take a bite of the Big Apple. Woo! On that note, Levy, we look forward to this Saturday and registration for the New York City Pinball Championship. Again, we've got the link on Pinball Profile on our Facebook page. all the best and we'll see you in May yep see you soon Jeff this has been your pinball profile you can find our group on Facebook we're also on Twitter at pinball profile email us pinballprofile at gmail.com and please subscribe on either iTunes Stitcher or Google Play I'm Jeff Teolas I'm Jeff Teolas I hope you're playing.