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Pinball Pursuit - How We Got Hooked

Pinball Pursuit·video·22m 50s·analyzed·Mar 30, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.028

TL;DR

New pinball enthusiasts Dr. C & Mrs. J share their first-year journey and machine preferences on camera.

Summary

Dr. C and Mrs. J, hosts of Tee'd Off Pinball Pursuit, reveal themselves on camera for the first time and discuss their journey into pinball over the past year. The couple discovered pinball through a Stern dealer (Quality Billiards in Utah) and a visit to the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, then committed to machine rentals through Love Pinball on a year-long subscription. They discuss their favorite machines (Foo Fighters, Godzilla, Jaws), key learning techniques (cradling the ball, ball control), upcoming machines they want to try (Portal by Multimorphic, Avatar by Jersey Jack), and their plans to eventually build a home arcade.

Key Claims

  • We're on our third machine through Love Pinball rentals over a few months

    high confidence · Mrs. J and Dr. C discussing their rental subscription progress

  • Stranger Things machine has a ramp that comes down to reveal the Demogorgon

    high confidence · Mrs. J describing her experience at Pinball Hall of Fame

  • Batman 66 has a turntable that reveals the Bat Phone and allows choosing opponents (Clock Master, Egg Man)

    high confidence · Mrs. J describing Batman 66 at Pinball Hall of Fame

  • Stern Connected app was instrumental in finding machines to play around Salt Lake Valley

    high confidence · Both hosts praising the app's location feature

  • Dr. C put 800 plays on the first rental machine in two months

    high confidence · Dr. C quantifying his play volume on first rental

  • Foo Fighters machine has superior audio/music compared to other machines they've played

    high confidence · Mrs. J explaining why Foo Fighters stands out and why she keeps thinking about it

  • They currently have Elvira's House of Horrors for about a month with two more weeks remaining

    high confidence · Mrs. J and Dr. C discussing current rental status

  • Mrs. J achieved a 24 million score on The Simpsons Pinball Party at Nickel Mania (Salt Lake) and holds #1 ranking via Pindigo app

    high confidence · Mrs. J discussing her use of Pindigo location-based scoring app

Notable Quotes

  • “I put 800 plays on it in two months... I knew that this was something that we were going to stick with”

    Dr. C@ 6:13 — Demonstrates the intensity of engagement that signaled deep commitment to the hobby

  • “What do I do with my hands at night?... He was in a pinball depression”

    Mrs. J@ 20:31 — Humorous but telling moment showing how quickly pinball became a central life activity

  • “It's like Christmas every six weeks. It's learning a new machine”

    Mrs. J@ 21:02 — Captures the excitement cycle of rental-based engagement

  • “There's a lot more skill and technique to pinball than just [hitting buttons]. You just slap the ball around and you win. But no, there's a lot more skill to this than you would think”

    Dr. C@ 9:50 — Reflects the learning curve that draws serious players into deeper engagement

  • “Stern Connected app... scratches that competitive itch... if the machine isn't connected, we're like, I have no proof that I achieved this”

    Mrs. J@ 14:47 — Shows how digital leaderboards and achievement tracking drive engagement for newer players

  • “I love that each different machine brings different challenges... there is so much more to a machine than its theme”

    Mrs. J@ 15:46 — Indicates player maturation beyond theme-driven selection to appreciating game design mechanics

Entities

Dr. CpersonMrs. JpersonJosh (Loser Kid Pinball)personCameronpersonQuality BilliardscompanyPinball Hall of FamecompanyLove PinballcompanyStern PinballcompanyJersey Jack Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Rental subscription model (Love Pinball 6-week cycle) driving rapid machine discovery and sustained engagement

    high · We signed on for a year... getting something new [every six weeks]... It's like Christmas every six weeks

  • ?

    community_signal: Hosts discovered and now regularly interact with Loser Kid Pinball community, planning league participation

    high · We've gotten to know the Loser Kid people... they've been super kind to us... we're hoping to start kind of wandering out of our basement and getting to know more people

  • ?

    community_signal: Content creators like Loser Kid Pinball actively mentoring and supporting new players entering the hobby

    medium · We talked to loser kid pinball, uh Josh, and he suggested you know what, you guys just get over your fear of the camera

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Mechanical features and interactive playfield elements (ramps revealing mobs, turntables) are primary wow moments for newer players

    high · That ramp coming down on the Stranger Things machine to reveal the Demogorgon... the turntable turned to reveal the Bat Phone on the Batman 66 machine... having it react... having it go in its mouth

  • $

    market_signal: Newer players planning home arcade expansion with 8-machine capacity, indicating infrastructure investment in home play

    high · I have a plan... I'm going to turn it into an arcade... I can fit eight machines on the wall... He's already... he's got the decor figured out

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.068

0:00
Welcome to Pinball Pursuit. I'm Mrs. J. And I'm Dr. C. Obviously you're seeing us for the first time. so basically we decided that we were going to show ourselves uh we talked to loser kid pinball uh josh and he suggested you know what you guys just get over your fear of the camera so we are no longer ai characters we are real people in case anyone was wondering we are real and i don't wear a witch hat on a regular basis do you want to explain the the basics behind the witch hat why we did it well cameron thought it was like a pinball wizard so you know the witch hat right That was what it was, yeah. I'm a girl wizard, which is... A witch. A witch, that's me. It was ill-conceived and we never explained it, so... Fine, here we are. Sorry about that. We wanted to do a little bit of a video about kind of how we got into pinball our first year. As we've kind of said in our intro video, we're really new to this hobby. Yeah. And we're excited about it and we're looking for the perfect pinball machine to put in our basement. We've been doing rentals for the past, how long now? A few months? We're on our third machine. We're on our third machine, which has been super fun. We've learned a lot. Very much so. I've learned ones that I love and ones that I don't love so much. And it's just been fun. And now, you know, we're carving out a space to add more and more, hopefully. Right. So, yeah, we wanted to talk about some of the things that we have kind of learned and noticed getting into pinball. So I wanted to ask you kind of a couple of questions. You're going to ask me a couple of questions. We have not looked at each other's questions yet. We don't know what they are. So this is going to be a surprise.
1:53
Ladies first. Okay, I'll start first. So, I mean, this is a good intro beginning question, but when did you know you were hooked on pinball and this wasn't just going to be a flash in the pan? Oh, gosh.
2:05

  • “The communities around it... are really cool... we've gotten to know the Loser Kid people... they've been super kind to us”

    Mrs. J@ 17:55 — Highlights community as a retention factor and path to deeper involvement

    • Multimorphic
    company
    Stern Connectedproduct
    Pindigoproduct
    Jurassic Parkgame
    Foo Fightersgame
    Godzillagame
    Jawsgame
    Stranger Thingsgame
    Batman 66game
    Elvira's House of Horrorsgame
    Portalgame
    Weird Algame
    Avatar Limited Editiongame
    Dungeons & Dragonsgame
    The Simpsons Pinball Partygame
    Cyclonegame
    ?

    product_strategy: Audio quality and music design emerging as key machine differentiator beyond theme IP

    high · Foo Fighters really changed the game when it comes to the audio for me... I went to different machines after that, and I missed having the music... Stranger Things... I don't love the sound and the music... it's kind of dark

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Initial skepticism about sustained interest (Mrs. J expecting hobby to fade) decisively reversed after first rental experience

    high · I don't know... maybe we're gonna like it for the first week, and then we're just gonna forget that it's there... we came downstairs and we played every night... I knew that this was something that we were going to stick with

  • ?

    technology_signal: Digital leaderboard and location-based scoring apps (Stern Connected, Pindigo) are primary engagement drivers for newer collectors

    high · Stern Connected app was a game changer... scratches that competitive itch... if the machine isn't connected, we're like, I have no proof that I achieved this... I just discovered a new app... Pindigo

    • So a little bit of the background. We decided to build a house. So we are in our beautiful house. This is our basement, actually. You're seeing our nerd wall. and we decided when we were building the house, well, I really wanted a pool table.
    2:22
    I love billiards. I used to compete. I taught billiards to pay through college. And so we started looking at a couple of different places that sold pool tables.
    2:34
    And there was the Ohhausen dealer. It was a quality billiards. Love them. They're great. They're so great. If you're looking for a pool table in the Utah area, they're great. and we were looking at their tables. We would go there probably once every two or three weeks because I was obsessed. A little too often. They got to know who we were. Yeah, they knew who we were. And they also sell pinball machines there. They're a stern dealer and we would kind of look around at the pool tables and then you'd wander over to the pinball machines and I'd kind of wander over next to you. He would talk about pool things and I'm not a pool player. Kevin's trying to make me into a pool player we're not there yet it's fun but I'm not very good any who saw I'd go play pinball instead yeah so after I was done talking about all the pool I would go over and we would play the the free demo machines that they had and the one that stood out to us there was Jurassic Park Jurassic Park classic yeah we loved obviously that was our first tutorial we did and it was starting to nag at me but it was really when we went on our anniversary our first anniversary we went to las vegas we had an afternoon kind of open after we went and got a delicious brunch um at the wicked spoon and we went over to the pinball hall of fame that's in las vegas which i know a lot of people kind of talk down at because there's a lot of machines that are broken there yeah you know it's not the most well-maintained place kind of scary but oh my gosh we had a blast it was so fun i remember i think there were two pinball moments that really were like oh oh there was the ramp coming down on the stranger things machine to reveal the demogorgon and battling that i'd never seen anything like that it was so cool um and it was probably when the turntable turned to reveal the bat phone on the batman 66 machine and I love Batman as I mean he's right there right um but I loved that show as a kid and because my dad had tapes of it and we would just watch it and so having like the turn and being able to pick you know who to fight the clock master or egg man or whatever I I was like oh this is this is special this is something that's really cool so that was what it was for me what about you um because that was one of my questions yeah i i had the same question it's kind of funny yeah oh that is funny um it's funny because it does go back to quality billiards that's the first time i had really played pinball i can't remember playing pinball ever anywhere else um jurassic park was a good one i remember they had foo fighters they did have a good selection there so definitely that then of course you know we went to uh the pinball hall of fame as you talked about and then after that we were just regularly hitting up local arcades nickel kids we went there on Halloween one night if you ever want a free you know zone just to play pinball go on Halloween and we just found ourselves on the weekends really just wanting to go play seeking it out and then you know we did our first rental I was like ah I don know maybe we gonna like it for the first week and then we're just gonna forget that it's there but we came downstairs and we played every night and it was so fun I put 800 plays on in two months I wasn't convinced before our first rental that it was gonna be something that we were gonna continue with. I told him, I was like, I don't know. I don't know if you're going to love this after this, but no, after we got that first machine and we played it every night and Cameron played it way more than I did. I knew that this was something that we were going to stick with and we were super excited to get other rentals. And that's why we signed on for a year. We love every six weeks getting something new. So yeah, I think it was after that first rental that I was like, You were really like, okay. This isn't going anywhere. I think for me, yeah, it was just that first time at that Hall of Fame. And then when we started going to all the different places in and around the Valley, just trying to find machines to play.
    6:44
    And bless the Stern Connected app. Oh, my gosh. That was such a game changer for us. I know. It was so fun just to, oh, this is where this machine is. Let's go here. Let's go there. Let's make special trips out to certain places. Yep. All different places in Salt Lake, you know, it was just really fun. It was really, really fun. Okay, what's your next question? Oh, because you asked me that same question. I asked you the same question, so yeah, now it's your turn again. Okay, deserted island question. Oh gosh. You are on an island and you're all alone. You have nothing there except for you come across a pinball genie. And he says, I will grant you one pinball wish. While you're here for the rest of your life, you can have one machine and that's it. What do you pick? Gosh. Pinball genie. It's very generous. Very generous. He gives me one machine.
    7:29
    That's really hard. Yeah. Oh, man. I'm going to have to think about this. There's three that immediately come to mind. Okay. You can go through your three, but you have to narrow it down to one. I have to narrow it down to one. Yep.
    7:45
    This is not a three-wish genie. No, he's a one-wish genie. Yep, that's it. Gosh. I I'm gonna have to say it's gonna be one down to three it's gonna be down to probably Godzilla okay probably Jaws right now okay you do love Jaws and I know that we ranked it lower in our reviews but I might have to go with Foo Fighters over Jurassic Park I love Jurassic Park but I just love Foo Fighters I feel like you have been hooked on Foo Fighters. I feel like that is the one that you keep coming back around and talking about most. I do. And because we had it in the house, right? We had it for six weeks. Yeah, that was our second rental, yeah. Second rental was the Foo Fighters machine.
    8:34
    And I keep coming back to it. I miss it. You talk about when we hear Foo Fighters songs out in the wild. We'll be like in the grocery store and be like, Foo Fighters. I know. Because I wasn't that big a fan before. and I think for that reason because I know it because I know I can do better on it and I want to get to that final wizard mode I might have to go with Foo Fighters you'd pick Foo Fighters I might have to it's a good machine I need to get more time on both Jaws and Godzilla it's coming up we're going to have them in our house but that's where I think I'm going to go right now good machine but that surprises me I thought you were a Godzilla guy through and through I love Godzilla whenever I get to play it is so much fun But I don't know the machine yet. Fair. Whereas I know Foo Fighters. Okay. There you go. Okay.
    9:21
    What is the, this is my question for you. Yeah, yeah. What is the technique, advice, or strategy that you feel made you a better player the most? Yeah. It was one that I am still working on. And it was one that you, I feel like, had to really push me on. I mean, I'm still a beginner. So this is probably very basic for people. But cradling the ball. like and just really getting that ball under control in the beginning I just wanted to go in there and hit buttons and make it happen and then I realized that there's a lot more skill and technique to pinball than just that I mean I'm gonna be honest when I first stepped up I was like oh yeah you just slap the ball around and you win but no there's a lot more skill to this than you would think there is and just being able to cradle that ball slow things down figure out where you want your next shot to go. Passing it to the other flipper, also very helpful.
    10:13
    I am the type that just kind of, you know, gets in the thrill of things and I just want to keep going, but it's just like, take a deep breath, cradle that ball, hold on to it for a minute, figure out what you're doing, and then go. I feel like that is the biggest thing that I've had to learn and am still learning.
    10:33
    Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Good answer. Thank you. Good answer. Thank you. For me, it's probably just stopping the ball. Yeah. And I will say the slap nudge. Yes, that's something that I am not good at, and you keep on telling me to do it. I'm still not great at it either. But I can save the ball occasionally with a good one-two, hit-hit flip. Yeah. Okay. Okay, your turn. My turn. And I'm excited to hear what you have to say on this one. I don't know what you're going to say. Okay. But what machine are you most excited to try right now that you have never had your hands on?
    11:11
    Oh, gosh. That I've never tried? You've never tried. What is one that you are excited to seek out and play?
    11:17
    That is a good question. Could be new old who knows Okay there are two that immediately come to mind Deal I take two Um I And if you watching this please contact us Um... I really want to play that Portal machine. Okay, you sent me a video about the Portal machine. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited for Portal. Okay, tell them our history with Portal. Oh, yes. Okay, so I love Portal. I love the Portal franchise. You can't see it. I might have to show it to you over here. I will take a picture and flash it on the screen. It's on the wall. I have a giant Gladys lithograph that I got when Portal 2 came out as part of their special edition because I was so excited to play Portal 2. Yeah.
    11:59
    And when we were first dating, I had bought the Portal collection on Switch, Portal 1 and 2, and I wanted to see how she would do. So I had her play Portal 1. So Cameron was living in San Francisco at the time. I was living in Utah. This was my first trip out to see him. We were still kind of fresh. We were very fresh. I really liked him. Thank you. So I went out there over, was it Labor Day weekend? It was Labor Day weekend. And I go to his place. We're just looking to kill some time before we go get some dinner. And he's like, here. He whips out this game and has me play it. Little did I know that he was judging my marriage eligibility based on this game. Luckily, it was fun, and I don't think I did too bad. No, no. I've never played it before. You solved some of the puzzles pretty good. I never even heard of it before, but it was fun. I think the thing that the puzzles didn't mess you up, it was the controls.
    12:55
    Listen. It's your classic first-person shooter style controls. I grew up playing Mario Kart, and nothing but Mario Kart, Mario Party, Mario, and that's about it. Yeah, so that was where you struggled. But you did it very well. Thank you. So we'll have to play that some more. They have a co-op that we need to try. Oh, okay. Portal 2. Oh, so good. so I that is a top theme for me yeah it looks really cool I love what they did with the machine what Multimorphic did so that's probably the one that jumps out right now that I've never tried that I really want to try they also have the Weird Al machine and I love Weird Al I'm going to see them in concert yes with his friend Troy thank you Troy because I don't want to go she doesn't want to go bless you Weird Al but have fun so yeah So that comes to mind right now as kind of like the machine I want to play. I would love to try out the new Avatar machine that Jersey Jack has. It looks really cool. I don't like the Avatar movies very much. That's right. So that's why it surprised me. It's blue Ferngully.
    14:05
    Blue people Ferngully is what it is. But I just think the machine looks cool. Yeah. And I've played a Elton John. I've played a Willy Wonka. And I played, what's the other one that we played? Oh, Toy Story 4. Oh, Toy Story. That one was really cool. A little Duke ramp. Duke Kaboom. Yeah, Duke Kaboom ramp in there. It was pretty fun. But I'd like to try out their new one. Yeah. That's probably the two that I would say. Nice. Okay, I'll take two. Okay. Very cool. Okay, let's go with, what is it about pinball that keeps you wanting to play?
    14:40
    There's a few things. Stern Connected app. I know. Love it. It just scratches that competitive itch. We get into this terrible habit of it's like if the machine isn't connected, we're like, I have no proof that I got this high score or that I played another time. It's not going to record my badges earned. What's the point? I know that there's plenty of point beyond it. There are great machines out there that are not sterns, and so I don't want to say that there aren't. But I love that aspect. I love that it keeps track of things. I love earning badges. I love all of that. I think that's really fun. I also love the different themes. Foo Fighters, we're going to go back to that. I feel like Foo Fighters really changed the game when it comes to the audio for me. I went to different machines after that, and I missed having the music in the background. And I think that it's so cool that different machines bring different things to life. And so I love the music machines. I love all the machines. but I think that there's cool different qualities to different ones.
    15:46
    I love that each different machine brings different challenges. I figured that the theme was the basis of whether or not you liked a machine. So obviously I was like Jurassic Park, duh, because it's a classic movie. Oh, I love the movie. But there is so much more to a machine than its theme. The themes are cool, don't get me wrong. But just the different layouts. I mean, you look at the new Dungeons & Dragons machine and the new things that that's bringing for gameplay. Oh, yeah. I love that. The whole story element behind it. I love that each machine is so different and that they're bringing just totally new, innovative ways to play the game. Yeah. No, I completely agree. Yeah. Completely agree. So, yeah. Yeah, that Stern Connected app. I just discovered a new app. I think I showed it to you a little bit, maybe.
    16:33
    Pin, is it Pindigo? I think it's Pindigo. You were telling me about it. I still need to look at it. I haven't seen anything. Where you can, if you take a picture on location as proof that you got the score you got, it will show you other people at a location on that machine and rank you on your scores. Yeah. So I have the number one score at a Simpsons pinball party at a Nickel Mania, or Nickel whatever it's called, in Salt Lake right now. I got 24 million on that machine. I was very proud of myself. That's very exciting. It was a good game Yeah Yeah Good work I never played that one It I love The Simpsons You do So it makes sense I want a modern Simpsons Oh Treehouse of Horror man I had it in our top five. Oh, they haven't made one. No. The last one was this one that we played. It was like 2003. One other thing that I want to mention about pinball that surprised me that I think is really cool is the communities around it. And that's something that we need to dive deeper into. There are all sorts of leagues that go on and different groups of people. that's going to be our next step. Yeah, I think so. I'm a little intimidated, you know, when it comes to joining a league. We're not very good. No, but it's really fun. I'm getting better. We're both getting better. You're way better than I am, but I'm getting better. So I don't know if I'm league worthy or not, but I would love to even just go on a league night and just see how it works. Talk to people. I love that the community feels so tight-knit. Very much so. And, you know, we've gotten to know the Loser Kid people. We talked to them a little bit. They've been super kind to us, So we're hoping to start kind of wandering out of our basement and getting to know more people. Yeah. So, yeah, that's great. Okay. You got one more question, right? Well, I had one more question, but I feel like you already answered this in your first question. But it was, what was the first machine that really did you win? Made you want more. And you can't say Cyclone because I know your history with Cyclone as a child at the RV park with your dad. Like, there's some good special history there. Very special history. So that was what like introduced you back in the day when you were all of what, 12 years old? 12 or 13. Yeah. I love that machine. Yes. So that was your first introduction. But nowadays, you know, within the past year or two, since we've really gotten into things, what was the one machine that was like, you know, the end all for you? I think it was really those two I mentioned. It was Stranger Things. I was seeing like, I know a lot of people don't like Stranger Things. They don't? Yeah. I feel like it's kind of slow, and I don't... This is going to go back to the music thing. But I don't love the sound and the music. I feel like it's kind of dark. It's a little muted. But I still think it's fun. Yeah. But that ramp coming down and revealing the Demogorgon, and then having to hit it, and having it react. And having it go in its mouth. Yeah, which I did. You did. I remember that. And we both freaked out. We both freaked out about it. Like, what in his mouth?
    19:22
    That was probably the... Oh, pinball's different than it used to be. Because all I had really before that was that cyclone machine.
    19:32
    And yeah, that was probably what it was. Deal. For me. Yeah. Okay, I have one last question for you. Okay. When did you realize this was going to be a problem for your husband?
    19:46
    After we got the first rental. So we got the first rental and we were just going to see how that one was going to go. Cameron wanted to jump into the year long from the get go. And I did. Let's slow down. Let's just get the first one. See how it goes. Because like I said, I thought this was going to be something that, yeah, we played with for a minute. And then maybe it was just going to hang out in the basement. We'd go, you know, visit it every once in a while. But no, that was not the case.
    20:13
    So that after that first one rental and you still had the rentals on the mind, we took a break off or a month off because. the next month was December we were going to be out of town there's gonna be a lot of family in town lots going on so I was like let's not do December see how we feel in January hoping that maybe things would pass and he was very sad he was in a pinball depression he was like what do I do with my hands at night you know and that's when I knew I was like oh this isn't going anywhere and so I think we picked it back up in February we did yeah yeah and we have a year we have till next February. We've got our list of machines that we want to bring in next. And it's exciting. It's fun. I'm excited for our next machine. I'm always like, Cameron, when do we talk about our next machine? And he's like, in six weeks. We just got this one. But yeah, we always get excited. It's like Christmas every six weeks. It's learning a new machine. It's, you know, so it's fun. It's fun. I love it. I'm obviously loving it. And we had people come over, right? We've had a lot of people come over and enjoy playing the machines with us and people are like my brother is boom yeah your family loves it my family loves it they're always asking you know what machine do we have now and they'll come over and try it out so yeah we should have them start ranking them right family ranks family rank because that's another thing that we are looking at in our ranking scale is how user-friendly is it for the everyday player we want i mean we want multiple machines someday yes someday i have a plan he does have a plan I have a plan. There's a room over there. It's unfinished. I'm going to turn it into an arcade. He's already... I know. I can fit eight machines on the wall. He's got the decor figured out and everything. But we want to have machines that are easily accessible to anyone that comes over, as well as fun machines for more experienced players. So it's fun. We'll figure it out. It's a fun thing to think about, dream about. Yeah. So anyway, that's kind of it for this first little video with us on camera in our nerd wall and everything.
    22:14
    Do you have any questions for us? Leave them in the comments. We'd love to answer them. And we're going to do our reviews, I think, now starting in this format. Yeah. Also put up the graphics with the scores and everything so you can keep track of stuff. We've got Elvira coming up next. Elvira's the one that we've got in our basement right now. I mean, we've had her for a month now. For about a month. we have it for two more weeks. Two more weeks, okay. See, again, always counting down to the next machine. I don't know what it's going to be, but I'm excited. Yeah, so anyway, thanks for joining us and keep flipping. Keep flipping.