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Aussie Pinball Podcast Ep 22: Lambo & Tom Experience The IFPA World Championships

The Pinball Network·video·54m 16s·analyzed·Nov 28, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.037

TL;DR

Australian pinball champions recount their first World Championships experience and Epstein Cup team competition.

Summary

Lambo and Tom, two top Australian pinball competitors, discuss their experience at the IFPA World Championships. Tom qualified for his first Worlds via the Australian Championship Series, while Lambo competed in his third World Championships. They recount travel logistics, the Epstein Cup (a non-IFPA team competition between top 8 USA and European players), tournament experiences, and sightseeing around Murrieta, California, Encinitas, Los Angeles, Houston, Edmonton, and various arcade stops.

Key Claims

  • The IFPA World Championships alternate annually between Europe and the USA to ensure equal travel opportunity for competitors.

    high confidence · Host states this as standard practice for World Championships rotation.

  • Tom qualified for Worlds by winning the Australian Championship Series at West Coast Pinball Festival in Perth, and had only 4-5 days to decide to attend.

    high confidence · Tom directly confirms his qualification path and tight decision timeline.

  • Lambo was seeded 7th among European Epstein Cup players and played in the competition; Europe won the final tiebreaker game on Godzilla that lasted approximately 2 hours.

    high confidence · Lambo provides detailed account of Epstein Cup participation and playoff mechanism.

  • The Epstein Cup is restricted to top 8 ranked USA players, top 8 ranked European players, with Canada falling under USA and Australasia under Europe.

    high confidence · Lambo explains Epstein Cup eligibility structure.

  • Jim Belsito's barn for the World Championships contained approximately 60-70 machines; Tom had only played about 30% of them before.

    high confidence · Host asks about Jim's barn; Tom estimates 60-70 games and 30% familiarity.

  • The current Epstein Cup overall record stands at 5-5 between USA and Europe teams.

    high confidence · Host provides this statistic during discussion of Epstein Cup history.

  • Tom's total US trip lasted 3 weeks: 1 week in Murrieta for Worlds, 1 week in Encinitas, and 1 week in Los Angeles.

    high confidence · Tom directly states the three-week itinerary breakdown.

  • Lambo spent 2-2.5 weeks in the US (Murrieta for Worlds, Texas for Wormhole Pinball and Barrels of Fun factory visit, Yagpin in Edmonton) and an additional week in Canada.

    high confidence · Lambo provides detailed timeline of his extended trip combining Worlds with other tournaments.

Notable Quotes

  • “I came in as the seventh highest seeded European player, I guess. Got the call up to play in the Epstein Cup... it was a very, very interesting and very enjoyable contest in the end. So yeah, it was fun sort of fun taking the US down on home soil.”

    Lambo @ ~32:00 — Demonstrates Lambo's competitive achievement and pride in European team victory at non-IFPA event.

  • “So basically what happened was I think when the Epstein Cup was planned, I don't think anyone actually realised that a tie was actually possible... they ended up doing a draw for the game on Stern's Godzilla... a good two-hour game between 16 of us, one ball each, and basically the combined scores determine the final result, and the European team come out on top.”

    Lambo @ ~35:00 — Details the unique tiebreaker mechanism for Epstein Cup and the unusual 2-hour single-game resolution.

  • “It was definitely the most serious comp I've ever been to.”

    Tom @ ~54:30 — Tom's assessment of World Championships atmosphere compared to Australian events; reflects the cultural and competitive intensity difference.

  • “I like to just—sometimes I have the most fun if I haven't played something before. I like to surprise myself and just see what happens, especially considering I haven't played a lot of these games.”

    Tom @ ~26:00 — Reveals Tom's competitive philosophy of going into machines cold rather than practicing beforehand.

  • “There's a place for both, and I've always said that. You can certainly still have plenty of fun in an IFPA tournament. It's just up to you whether you bring that fun or not, I guess.”

    Lambo @ ~43:00 — Addresses tension between IFPA vs non-IFPA tournament formats and player agency in enjoyment.

  • “We stumbled across a really, really nice barcade there called Rad Retrocade, and that was where we first stumbled across our first sighting of Pulp Fiction... we rocked up there I think it was about 7:30 at night, and it was hardly a soul in there. And by the time we left—this is on a Monday night, mind you—we left at like 1 a.m., and there was a good probably 20, 30 people in there.”

    Lambo — Illustrates the draw of skilled pinball players at local venues and spontaneous community gathering around competitive play.

Entities

LambopersonTompersonIFPA World ChampionshipseventEpstein CupeventJim BelsitopersonWormhole Pinballorganization

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Spontaneous pinball community gathering at Rad Retrocade in Las Cruces, NM during travel; local players drawn to play with touring international competitors, growing from minimal crowd to 20-30 players by 1 AM on a Monday night.

    high · Lambo and Tom's account of Rad Retrocade experience; venue drew locals throughout the evening.

  • ?

    event_signal: IFPA World Championships 2024 held at Jim Belsito's barn location in Murrieta, California with 60-70 machines; Epstein Cup non-IFPA team event resulted in European victory via unusual 2-hour tiebreaker on Godzilla.

    high · Direct detailed accounts from Lambo and Tom who competed; Epstein Cup mechanism and result described; overall record now 5-5.

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Australian pinball culture characterized as laid-back, social, and friendly across all competition levels; contrasts sharply with World Championships' serious, formal atmosphere and minimal inter-game chat.

    high · Lambo explains Australian tendency toward casual, social competition; Tom describes World Championships as 'most serious comp I've ever been to' with reduced friendliness.

  • ?

    community_signal: Top European pinball players (Johannes, Arvid) provided strategic assistance to Lambo during high-stakes Epstein Cup tiebreaker playoff, indicating collaborative competitive culture among international elite.

    medium · Lambo mentions having Johannes and Arvid 'over your shoulder... helping you say, oh, this shot's next' during 2-hour Godzilla playoff.

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Tom's strategy of entering machines cold without practice, preferring to 'surprise myself' and 'shoot for the flashing lights' approach; preparation via Zen Pinball virtual play and tutorials mentioned but downplayed.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.163

0:00
The pinball network is online launching the Aussie pinball podcast. It's episode 22 of the Aussie pinball podcast. And today I get two of Australia's best pinball champions currently playing, Lambo and Tom. And I want to find out, how do you get an invite to play in the Pinball World Championships?
0:45
Are there problems getting there? When you're there, what do you do? And what is the Epstein Cup anyway? We'll have a chat and check out their adventures on the Aussie Pinball Podcast.
1:02
And joining me, Lambo and Tom Lambo from God's Country in Queensland and Tom from the Wine and Church region of South Australia. I don't know what else you're known for down there. What's your main tourist thing down there, Tom? I dare say get out of Adelaide and go and explore the surrounding landscape. go to the beaches go out Adelaide beaches I mean Glenelg used to be good until they removed poo mountain yes they're all like managed by truck sand in for those beaches I wouldn't recommend those ones so we got we got Barossa we got the Karen Vale we got King Island Linda's Rangers Linda's okay yeah the Kurong got to get down to the Kurong What's the Coorong? Oh, it's my favourite place. It's probably two hours from Adelaide and it's like a coastal lagoon system that's cut off from the ocean. It's kind of a one-of-a-kind place. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world quite like it. Okay.
2:05

World Championships has a more serious atmosphere with less chat between games compared to Australian competitions, while Yagpin had more of an expo/tournament hybrid feel.

high confidence · Both Lambo and Tom compare competition atmospheres across venues.

  • Australia lacks well-maintained EM (electromechanical) games in comparison to the US, where multiple machines in Jim Belsito's collection were in excellent condition.

    medium confidence · Host and guests observe Australia's shortage of well-maintained vintage EMs compared to US availability.

    • @ ~67:00

  • “I mean, the majority of us are quite laid back, and it is a very friendly, fun environment no matter where you go and no matter what the competition is... But then Worlds, on the other hand, the Worlds are super serious. There's a lot less chat going on between games and things like that.”

    Lambo @ ~52:30 — Contrasts Australian pinball culture (laid-back, social) with World Championships atmosphere (serious, formal).

  • “Four or five days, I think. The comp finished on Sunday, and yeah, I think Thursday was the deadline. I say that because it was pressure from above—pressure from above that was giving me very little time.”

    Tom @ ~15:00 — Highlights the tight logistical constraints for international competitors qualifying for World Championships.

  • “Yagpin sort of had that Expo feel as well as the tournament feel as well because there was a free play area for the general public and the tournament area, which was actually separated as well.”

    Lambo @ ~50:00 — Describes Yagpin's hybrid format blending competitive tournament with public exhibition areas.

  • “The Coorong. It's probably two hours from Adelaide and it's like a coastal lagoon system that's cut off from the ocean. It's kind of a one-of-a-kind place. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world quite like it.”

    Tom @ ~5:00 — While primarily tourist content, demonstrates the conversational opening and Tom's local knowledge of South Australia.

    • Barrels of Fun
    organization
    Yagpinevent
    West Coast Pinball Festivalevent
    Murrietalocation
    Johannesperson
    Arvidperson
    Rad Retrocadeorganization
    Aussie Pinball Podcastorganization
    Brisbane Mastersevent
    Matt Owensperson
    Robert McCauleyperson
    Greg Siegelperson
    Dave Peckperson
    Jessperson
    Livperson
    Indiscevent
    Jasonperson
    Justineperson

    medium · Tom states he 'didn't touch a machine before the comp started' and prefers unfamiliar games; mentions virtual play prep but indicates it had limited practical value.

  • ?

    event_signal: Yagpin tournament in Edmonton features hybrid format combining competitive tournament area with separated public free-play exposition area; Stanley Cup finals broadcast during qualifying created atmosphere mixing sports and pinball competition.

    high · Lambo detailed Yagpin's hybrid expo/tournament format; mentions Stanley Cup finals playing in background during Friday qualifying with cheering.

  • $

    market_signal: US pinball ecosystem markedly different from Australian: superior condition and availability of vintage EM machines; better-maintained classic game collections; multiple barcade/arcade venues across regions.

    medium · Host and guests note Australia lacks well-maintained EMs compared to US; Dave Peck's 100+ game collection in excellent condition noted as exceptional; multiple arcades encountered during US travel.

  • $

    market_signal: International travel costs to World Championships present significant financial barrier; Tom struggled with tight 4-5 day decision timeline; Lambo noting he 'hasn't recovered financially' from US trip despite 3+ weeks; Indisc in LA mentioned as financially attractive due to flight pricing.

    medium · Tom's comment on pressure to decide quickly; Lambo's reference to still recovering financially; interest in Indisc based partly on flight costs.

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Comparison of IFPA tournament atmosphere (serious, formal) versus non-IFPA and local events (social, fun); community preference tensions around WPPR chasing versus social play.

    high · Both Lambo and Tom discuss differences in atmosphere; mention some players resisting IFPA to prioritize fun; Lambo notes 'place for both' but acknowledges World Championships 'super serious.'

    • It's not real bad. I've lived there for two years and never heard of it. Damn it. Kept secret by the locals.
    2:11
    The Coorong. All right. That's cool. Mostly outside Adelaide. I would have thought the main attraction would have been the Australian pinball champion, you know, that's the biggest attraction around there.
    2:25
    We've got a current and a has-been. That's good. How long have you been playing competition pinball? Well, I've been playing pinball for 10 years and I've been playing, I guess I've been serious about comps for the last seven or eight. And was this something that came naturally or did you practice hard and what motivated you to get to the top levels? yeah just playing i guess just playing pinball and discovering like yeah i guess falling down the rabbit hole further discovering new games you know getting the wizard mode of different machines seeing the animations and the lights you know of late game features that's kind of brought me here i wouldn't say i practice in particular but yeah did you have a mentor over there or was it just a lone journey like i started playing the same time as matt owens so there's been there's been a bit of a rivalry between us two then we've had we had like robert mccauley and greg siegel they were they were kind of like yeah we used to look up to these guys they'd been to world champs when we started so um yeah we looked up to these guys and thought oh wow like they're the top the top players and now they've got footprints on their head from you guys So what I want to talk about with you two is you recently went over to the IFPA World Championships and that was Tom's first visit to the mecca of pinball competition and Lambo's third. And for those who don't know, they alternate. So one year will be in Europe and the next year will be in the USA. So everyone gets an equal chance of travel and attending. and as the newbie, Tom, tell us about how you got there, how long it took, that sort of thing and what you think overall. I won the Australian Championship Series, which I was invited to play in because I was of a high enough rank within Australia. And the other way you get into that is by playing in the state, like each state has a championship. But, yeah, I didn't need to play that this year, so that's how I got there. And that was the one in Perth? Yes, yep. That was at the West Coast Pinball Festival. Yeah, it was a pretty exciting event. Yeah, pretty good fun. It was probably the best comp I've played in, I reckon. Excellent. And how many from South Australia went over? Four or five. Okay. And then Lambo says, congratulations, you get a wildcard entry with your ranking into the Worlds. And how long did you have to decide to pack your bags and head to the big USA? Four or five days, I think. The comp finished on Sunday. and yeah, I think Thursday was the deadline.
    5:06
    I say that because it was pressure from above, pressure from above that was giving me very little time. So yeah. Right. It's always a fun thing to go to your partner and say, guess what, I'm off to America. How was that handled? Yeah, so it was an option, I guess, at first. It was like, well, you could do this. I said to Liv, well, I'd love for you to come with me Because, yeah, I wasn't sure about the whole thing to begin with, I guess, with the cost and so little time to investigate options and that kind of thing. But, yeah, she was all up for it, so that was pretty easy. And so she imagined going, like, you know, Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty and, you know, Disneyland. So where did you end up actually going? We went to, like, the con was in a town, I guess you would, they called it a town. to me is a big city, Murrieta. And what's around Murrieta that's a great attraction for an Australian to go over a holiday? Oh, not a lot. Yeah, lots of shopping malls, lots of houses. It's a place you could live if you wanted to, and a great big eight-lane highway running up the centre of it. And had you been over there before? Had you been to the USA before? Good shopping? Having never stepped foot in a US supermarket, we had a great time exploring why they why are they different than ours oh i guess for the most part here you've got coles and woolies and audi and a few others like we've got foodland and iga down here and they all stock 80 of the same exact same products whereas the us a lot of the supermarkets there have their own they stock their own stuff and there might be there was one we went to that was just a Mexican supermarket. So they had all sorts of stuff. Everything was in Spanish. We didn't understand what we were buying, a lot of the stuff, but that was great. They had all sorts of great food and, yeah, I wish we had that here.
    7:05
    More Mexican food. I agree. I mean, I found the Mexican food in America to be stunningly good with reasonable proportions, whereas you go to an American restaurant, you get this massive pile of food that you can't possibly get through. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's it. Very nice. All right. So Lambo, you took him under your ring like a good father figure or uncle figure, creepy uncle. I guess you could say that. It probably wasn't me that was doing the looking after, I guess. But, yeah, no, we were actually pretty lucky. We actually landed LAX pretty similar times, actually. So it meant that we were able to give Tom and Liv a lift out to Murrieta. Sorry, I was about an hour and a half in the car, I think. Probably, I mean, a little bit longer because of traffic. being Friday, what was it, three o'clock in the afternoon or something or other. LA traffic, never heard of it. Yeah, so, yeah, there was plenty of traffic around. But, yeah, no, we got out there, what was it, about, I don't know, about five, six o'clock, something or other. USA time or your body clock time? USA time, USA time. How did you cope with the jet lag, Tom? Yeah, the jet lag was bad. I think by the time we got in, I don't know what it was, something like 30 hours or some awful number i refuse to remember we'd been yeah sitting on planes and in airports and then once we actually got into la and met up with jason and justine there was still another like it was supposed to be an hour and a half drive and the traffic was shit so it was three hours before we got to marietta from la and yeah we just crashed when we got there and how long did you have to warm up before the actual competition started three days which was probably a sensible buffer for the jet lag so lots of practice before the comp started uh not not a bit yeah i didn't touch a machine before the comp started that's kind of how i go into comps i like to just sometimes i have the most fun if i haven't played something before i like to surprise myself and just see what happens especially considering i haven't played a lot of these games well one thing you could do uh if if you made the team was have a go in the Epstein Cup. What can you tell us about that, Lambo? So the Epstein Cup is essentially reserved for the top eight ranked USA players and the top eight ranked European players and falling into that category. So anyone in Canada will actually fall under the USA banner and anyone outside, I'd say Australasia, for example, fall in that top eight category, play for Europe. I came in as the seventh highest seeded European player, I guess. Got the call up to play in the Epstein Cup. I guess it was always a goal to potentially try and get there one day and play in that. It was a very, very interesting and very enjoyable contest in the end. So, yeah, it was fun sort of fun taking the U.S. down on home soil. How long did that last, that competition? How long did it go for? The competition itself, excluding the actual playoff, was probably, what, three hours or so? It was not too bad. But the actual playoff game was about two hours just on its own. It was one game. It was absolutely nuts. So basically what happened was I think when the Epstein Cup was planned, I don't think anyone actually realised that a tie was actually possible. so no one actually knew how they were going to break the tie or what they were going to do or anything like that. And because there's eight players on each side, so 16 players in total, they ended up doing a draw for the game on Stern's Godzilla. Of course, when you've got 16 top-ranked players from around the world all playing one ball each on Godzilla, and to be fair, I don't know about you if you got to play that one, Tom, but that Godzilla was set up pretty, pretty nice. It was always going to go very, very long. So a good two-hour game between 16 of us, one ball each, and basically the combined scores determine the final result and the European team come out on top. Nice. What's the overall tally, do you know, between USA and Europe? I know the US are on top, but I couldn't tell you what the actual current standings are. But I think the US won the year before over in Germany. I could be wrong. And to edit this note here, it's currently 5-all as the overall record for the Epstein Cup. I mean, going into the last game, the European team was actually quite far behind. And it didn't even look like it was possible for the Europeans to even tie it up. And sure enough, results went our way and, yeah, ended up in that insane tiebreaker match, which was incredible to be part of. and it was great to have, you know, Johannes and Arvid and whatnot over your shoulder, you know, helping you say, oh, this shot's next or do this to set this up or whatever it might be. And, yeah, it was just really, really awesome to be a part of. All right. That brings up a point a lot of people talk about. That was obviously non-IFPA tournament. That is correct, yeah. What percentage more fun is non-IFPA than IFPA tournaments? Do you think they're better or different or there's a place for both? So there is definitely a place for both, and I've always said that. You can certainly still have plenty of fun in an IFPA tournament. It's just up to you whether you bring that fun or not, I guess. And, of course, you know, if you're having an ordinary day or, you know, houseball city or whatever it might be, that can obviously bring the fun factor down a little bit. But I guess at the same time, it also depends on the environment around you too. You know, if there's other people enjoying themselves and having fun, then you're going to probably have that little bit more fun as well and uh if it's a little bit more serious and there's uh not much chat going on and and that sort of stuff then probably brings the fun factor down a little bit but um and tom do you do many non-ifpa tournaments where you are the majority yeah is ipa whopper chasing i guess although i don't the points down here are well they're getting better in recent years but well you're there which bumps up the points which helps. Yeah, exactly. We've never been large enough to particularly care about, I guess, down here. Oh but on a state level they make a difference Yeah yeah no they will They will on a state level yeah but you prefer the points a little bit more serious than just flip flipper and store ball yeah i guess these days it's more so the people that are drawn or the people that i catch up with at comps like i yeah really enjoy it as a social outing i guess more than a serious competition that i need to defeat everybody at yeah oh yeah yeah a lot of people are sort of resisting ifpa now i think just because they want the bullshit but like lambo said i always explain it to people it's like the invention of t20 cricket you know the real cricket is the five day match and no one wants to really watch it apart from the purists no one wants to play it apart from the very top echelon but the crowds are all happy to go along and watch a t20 because I know there's a finish time, a lot more cheering, a lot more larrikinism. And to me, that's what pinball's like. There's a place for both. And you can, like Lambo said, you can have fun doing either. It depends on your mindset and what you're trying to achieve. That's cool. Now, Tom, when you got there and you looked at Jim Belsito's games, how many games were in his barn for use in the tournament, roughly?
    14:47
    60 or 70. And what percentage of them had you played before? Maybe 30%. But were you familiar with the games? Somewhat. Yeah, like I'd spend a bit of time downloading and playing some of these tables virtually and looking up, like, yeah, watching tutorials and pin tips and that sort of thing. And I made a little notebook for myself with bits of useful information that turned out to be a bit of a waste in the end. I didn't get to pull it out as much as I would have liked, but I knew what I was supposed to be doing on most of these games, yeah. Lambo many new games there for you yeah yeah I mean even even though it was my third visit to a world champ so there's definitely a number of games there I hadn't played before a lot of um late 80s uh gotlib games that I hadn't sort of really seen before like car hop and deadly weapon and that sort of stuff among a few other things as well but uh and a lot of uh ems I hadn't seen before as well, which, you know, EMs are always fun to play for the most part anyway.
    15:49
    But, yeah, no, it's definitely good to experience a few of those newer games. And at the same time, I mean, sometimes going into playing a game you haven't played before can be sometimes to your advantage. I mean, I mentioned that Deadly Weapon game, which is obviously a lethal weapon knockoff sort of thing, but I had no idea what I was doing, but I ended up winning the game that I played on it. So just because, you know, follow that old adage of shoot for the flashing lights. So that's what I did. So did any game that was new to you stand out as something, gee, I wish we had that more over here in Australia? There was definitely one of the EM games. I can't remember the name of it. Had a couple of spinners up the middle and things like that. but it was just one of those games where I love a good spinner rip. So, you know, if you nailed this spinner and it was lit, you know, and listening to the reels click over and everything like that, just really, really fun to play. And, of course, naturally, you know, the odd warm-up game you had on that particular game, you hit everything cleanly and score went up really, really quickly and everything like that. and you had and of course at at world's they allow you the 30 second practice before each game and that sort of stuff as well so naturally that all went well but then as soon as gameplay started everything went downhill didn't it so so tom any game there that you hadn't seen in australia that really stood out to you as a game you wished you had over here to play more of yeah i don't know like a lot of the older ems i'd say yeah just some wacky some ems with you know yeah one or two features that um i think it was i think there's one might have been i don't think it was frontier some other that's some other game um yeah that's a solid state one that's cricket there's one that had like crickets it was like this frontier okay well that's one yeah it's got yeah crickets and it's yeah got interesting scoring logic you gotta get the bears and you're gonna get the animals yeah it's a great day it's a great day it sounds great as well for the time I'm Rod and Alex. You know, the thing they all said is the number of EMs that are in great condition in America. You know, we just don't have that in Australia. I don't know whether it's because we don't have the games or we don't have the tech support to keep them in perfect working order. I'm not quite sure. But, yeah. Yeah, you're 100% right there. And, I mean, even being at Dave Peck's place last weekend, he doesn't have a big selection of EMs, but obviously has a big selection of classic games. And, I mean, he's got over 100 games at his place there and everything was playing in really, really good nick. So, you know, it's not easy to, you know, be able to keep that all going on your own. So, yeah, no, it was definitely a great weekend. And how long was your total stay in the US when you went over? Three weeks. So we were in Marietta for a week and then we went on to, like, seaside again another town what was another busy city um called ensenitas and then we had the last week in la is ensenitas worth is it a tourist stop is it good stuff there we before we went we were telling everybody about it everyone local was like oh you'll love it there it's a nice surfing town so i just assumed it would be a small coastal town like we have here in australia turns out yes it is a surfing town but it's got another eight lane highway going through it and there's just so many people everywhere yeah i don't know be might like maybe the gold coast might be a similar okay but even busier than that probably that's tight and so la go on reveal your secret shame did you go to disneyland no no disneyland sorry so disappointing so disappointing so you haven't got children yet start breeding and you have to go to disney yeah what was your what was your highlight of la then oh i think just the vibe of the city was yeah it's just like pretty comfortable urban place to exist if i pick one place to check out i'd suggest the labria tar pits they are right in the city center for some reason what are they exactly i don't even know what are they yeah they're literal tar pits like bubbling away is it volcanic or broken sewerage it's yeah no it's not volcanic i forget honestly it's like active tar like it's gas escaping basically from a oil reserve just wow and it's in the middle of town yeah it's in the middle of town which yeah i'd heard i'd heard about the La Brea Tar Pits and I yeah I assumed they were out in a national park away from civilization but no they're right in the heart of civilization in a city blocks surrounded by skyscrapers but yeah they've been there for tens of thousands of years and there's all sorts of extinct animals basically that at different points have succumbed to the tar and been preserved perfectly preserved. Wow that's it well that does sound better Disneyland sort of A little bit.
    21:14
    And how long were you there all up on this trip, Lambo? The US. We spent about two to two and a half weeks in the US and then spent a week in Canada. Yeah, so essentially went from Worlds, which we were there. We landed, I think, the Tuesday. Worlds started Thursday. Sorry, the Epstein Cup was the Thursday. Worlds started Friday. And then we went from there to Texas. We went to Wormhole Pinball in Houston there. I also got to visit Jess and had a tour of the Barrels of Fun factory as well. And, yeah, it was really good to go to Wormhole. Really enjoyed that venue and the people there and things like that. Even though it was a big comp weekend, again, it just had really, really fun vibes all weekend and whatnot. And then went from there to Yegpin a couple of days later up in Edmonton. And, yeah, so it really made the most of the trip, actually, rather than just popping over for the weekend and coming back. Any different vibe between the US, Australia and Canada as far as in a competition environment? Or are they all, everyone's the same? Yeah, 100%. Like, I mean, especially here in Australia, we, I tend, you know, I guess we're sort of, the majority of us are quite laid back and it is a very friendly, fun environment no matter where you go and no matter what the competition is. I mean, obviously, you're still going to have varying levels and things like that, but people enjoy having a beer and having a laugh and whatnot. It's not a situation where everything's hush-hush when finals are on or whatever it might be. But at the same time, people also understand that it's not about, you know, yahooing and carrying on when finals are on either. But then Worlds, on the other hand, the Worlds are super serious. There's a lot less chat going on between games and things like that. But I suppose, you know, when you're talking about the pinnacle of the sport we participate in, I suppose that's always going to be one of those things. And Yagpin, on the other hand, I'd sort of say, I guess maybe somewhere in the middle between our experience at Worlds compared to, say, Brisbane Masters back here at home. Yagpin sort of had that Expo feel as well as the tournament feel as well because there was a free play area for the general public and the tournament area, which was actually separated as well. So I found that can be a good thing but also not necessarily a good thing because you didn't have the general public just wandering up to a tournament game and just starting playing a game. But at the same time, it also, I guess, in some ways made it feel like the general public couldn't come and see what was going on in the tournament area. So I don't know, maybe they possibly felt excluded, I guess. All in all, the Friday night when the qualifying was happening in the main event for Yegpin, they had the Stanley Cup finals on in the background. Of course, Edmonton being in the Stanley Cup, there was a lot of cheering going on any time they scored a goal or whatever it might be right in the middle of qualifying. You just couldn't pretend they're cheering for you. That's all right. I highly doubt that.
    24:24
    Yeah, I mean, just to sort of add on to what I was saying, though, the overall experience was fantastic. That was my first time to the U.S. as well. Oh, was it? Wow, okay. Yeah, it was. Yeah, so I hadn't been to the U.S. before. And obviously there's a number of other events on the bucket list that I'd like to attend at some point. I mean, Indisc was looking very, very promising because the flights to L.A. in that sort of last couple of weeks of January are looking really, really good price-wise at the moment. So Indisc was very, very high and still is high on the bucket list. But to be fair, I actually still haven't recovered financially from the last US trip yet. So it makes it difficult to do that. And the comp itself, did it have a different vibe to Australian events? Was it sort of just like another pinball comp or did you go, wow, this is different? It was definitely the most serious comp I've ever been to. In what way? No one was friendly? People were friendly, but I guess it was hard because it was also my first comp in the US. so it was hard to tell yeah hard to pull apart what was the serious nature of the comp we were in and what was the standard us etiquette and culture at a comp but yeah it was definitely a bit you're a bit more wary about yeah talking to people or starting uh in-depth conversations or i guess here a lot of the time you come off after you've had a bad ball and you might say to your opponents like oh i i did shit and over there i i got the impression that you didn't want to even commentate too much about how you yourself did to other directly to other people i guess to put yeah didn't want to put people off their game like this we were discussing on on the last podcast just how much you spend on food and tipping when you're in the usa oh everything's yeah yeah definitely and at least twice the price and and and when you especially when you haven't experienced that before uh you get to those situations you go oh you know how much am I supposed to tip and you know you obviously don't want to look like a bad guy but at the same time it's like you know you know better better do the right thing sort of thing and then you may find out later you've tipped too much or or whatever it might be yeah I don't mind that it was all yeah it was all a fun experience in the end anyway like I mean I would gladly do that again the the only thing I probably would have preferred to have done is maybe spend a bit more time in Canada, but because I hadn't been Canada or either, but all in all, like, yeah, I wouldn't change a thing about the experience or about the trip at all. So. Did you get to see anything outside the tournament area though? Did you have time to visit the falls or anything like that Yes and no Like so so we actually when we went from LA to Texas we actually drove from LA to Texas So there was a few sites along the way We sort of didn't really stop much. We just sort of looked at the map and gone, all right, well, let's aim to stop there and let's aim to stop there the next day and let's aim to stop there the next day. So we looked at a few things on the map along the way. We were very lucky the first night we went from LA to, from Murrieta to a town called Las Cruces, just south of New Mexico. We stumbled across a really, really nice barcade there called Rad Retrocade, and that was where we first stumbled across our first sighting of Pulp Fiction among a number of other really, really brand-new games in really good nick and other older games as well in good nick. But we're in this little town with, you know, I think it's like 15, 16 pins and his barcade that's open and you know we rocked up there i think it was about 7 30 at night and it was hardly a soul in there and by the time we left this is on a monday night mind you we left at like 1 a.m and there was a good probably 20 30 people in there at 1 a.m which was probably triple what what there was when we first turned up at seven o'clock so you became an attraction for the locals to come and look exactly exactly yeah the number one showing people playing. No, no, it's not true.
    28:28
    Come and beat him. Play dollar games. Yeah, no, definitely a fun experience. And then we, you know, along the way, a couple of other, we stumbled across another couple of arcades here or there. We stayed at Austin, Texas and played at, can't remember the name of it, which is probably a good thing because to be fair, the experience wasn't the best, but that's a whole other story and probably not suitable for this one, this podcast. But either way, it was still a good night out anyway. But, yeah, it was a good experience overall. And like I said, I'd be more than happy to do it again. Good to have a good travel companion as well. And, yeah, we certainly had a really, really good experience. And, I mean, it's definitely not something I could have done on my own anyway. So, yeah, for sure. And it was nice to, again, meet up with Jess as well, which we hadn't seen Jess for quite a long period of time as well. So, yeah, so it was good. It's actually good to actually meet up with Jess in her neck of the woods instead of her coming out here all the time. So, yeah, so that was great. Yeah, bad time to turn the favour. Did you take her to Brisbane Lions Jumping? No, no. There was a little bit of Brisbane Lions chat, but no. And, I mean, you would know very well exactly what she was after. It was caramel wallabies and the, what was it? Yeah, that lime soda. Yeah, that's the one, yeah, yeah. I had to take that. Now, she tells me there's a story behind the caramel wallabies. Okay. I don't know anything about it. Did she get them? Sorry? Someone that was accompanying you may have eaten them all on the plane on the way over. Well, that was me.
    30:04
    No, I didn't. You ate them all. No, I didn't eat them all. So I think I took three packets of caramel wallabies and two core packs of the soda water. and yes I did end up having at least one of the packets of wallabies in the way or yeah I mean it's a very long trip on the road to Texas and flat and very flat land the old very flat very hot going through the Arizona desert there at 41 degrees and and whatnot it was it was very very hot but even even Texas was uh houston was you know 36 degrees or whatever it might be and a number of the locals that were there when we were at the wormhole comp were you know apologizing to us saying oh sorry it's so hot it's like this is what it's like at home in summer it's fine yeah you know welcome to brisbane so um
    31:01
    travel in general getting there were there any issues as far as logistics apart from uh having to drive on the wrong side of the road uh any difficulties as far as getting there or getting around i think like most of like outside of la basically need to drive yourself around the public transport was basically non-existent um in a lot of the places we went so yeah we relied on ubers a fair bit which didn't help i think jim's place there was yeah there was not a lot of uh mobile service on top of the hill he lived on and then his internet there was too many people at his house using his internet so at the end of every day it was a nightmare people trying to call like trying to catch ubers basically without access to the internet and we complained about our internet all right yeah it was worse yeah somehow and uh any troubles crossing the border into canada no none at all none at all we did we actually flew over and um yeah no it was it was super easy no dramas at all there obviously coming into texas we were obviously not concerned but border patrol and all that sort of stuff as you're coming into texas it's probably sort of not really something i've experienced before so but even that was um that was pretty good in the end so pretty quick and i wouldn't say i wouldn't say easy but yeah it's just quick so it didn't really hold us up too much which was good so yeah you've been so it's your third trip so you've done what two Europe's as well? Yes. The previous ones were Germany last year in 2023 and then Milan in 2019. So Milan, I went with Paul Jones. We stayed there for about a week, managed to get a day off in there. And then, yeah, 2023 last year was over there and Simon Peel was the other player that went in 2023. so it's just such a much longer flight to europe than the usa it's just so daunting like we were very lucky like the uh so we went uh to the us we went via uh auckland on air new zealand so i had decent flight costs which wasn't too bad it was about 1600 1650 return i think with air new zealand so not too bad overall yeah the the wait times weren't too long uh i think we only i think we We had about a three-hour layover in Auckland, I think, on the way over, which was pretty good. It's like good 19, 20 hours from here to Germany and similar to Italy. So that was interesting. When we went to Germany, we did a stopover via Singapore and we did a stopover in Dubai, I think, for the Italy trip. So, yeah, so it was good to sort of visit a couple of other places along the way. On the way back from Germany, we stayed in Singapore for a couple of days. Okay. It's nice.
    34:01
    Yeah, but all in all, I mean, the Germany trip was really good. We had essentially 11 days straight of pinball because they managed to – they put the – they tacked on the EPC and the pinball. The European Championships. Yeah. Yeah, so it definitely gave us – Did they have lots of wacky European games there? They certainly did, yes. Yes. They actually had the – at Freddy's Pinball Paradise, which was where the Worlds were actually held that year, There was a number of old and new games that we sort of hadn't really seen here in Australia. Well, I certainly hadn't seen them. Old what games? I said old and new games. Old and new, right. Yeah, so what was the basketball, new basketball theme, I think? Hoops. Yeah, hoops, that's it, yeah. Hoops, yeah. So they had that on the floor, and I think there was maybe the latest Stern title might have been there as well, among a few other things. I think that was also my first experience seeing Queen and Galactic Tank Force as well. So I got to play those. They were at Bulls and Balls at Fulda, which I believe is not there anymore. Now, one thing we hear about Europe tournaments, a little bit less prize money. Is that so? Okay. Well, there's none. They're not allowed to give away prize money. Oh, is that right? Okay. Yeah. Didn't you notice or you weren't in the money race? I wasn't in the money race.
    35:31
    Ah, yeah, no. The UK is okay, but in Europe, yeah, they consider it gambling or something similar. Oh, yes, I have heard of that, yes, yes. So you get pretty trophies but definitely no money. Because obviously Escher won the EPC main event that year, and, yeah, I mean, I was there at the presentation and obviously saw him get his trophy, but, yeah, I didn't know there was no prize money involved. So, I mean, not that it's the biggest worry in the world. I mean, like I said earlier, at the Southern Hemisphere Championship last weekend in New Zealand, there was no prize money there either. So it's not the reason why I went. I'm not worried about the prize money. It's just good company and good people. And I always enjoy going to New Zealand and catching up with the folk over there. And you should say that. That's going to be my next episode is travelling to Pukahui and catching up with Dave and doing a bit of Southern Hemisphere pinball championships. So, yeah, we'll hear all about that next episode. Any Aussies that are listening to the podcast, I highly recommend getting over to New Zealand if you can, whether it's the Southern Hemisphere or any of the other sort of bigger events they have over there. They always put on a really, really good show. And like I alluded to earlier, like Dave has 100 pins at his place and everything plays really, really nice. you know it's it's really when you're when you're doing it solo it's very hard to sort of keep that running so great job and um yeah and i'm more than happy to keep going back and supporting them every year so and hope it was really good to see this year i think we had about 15 aussies make the trip over this year so be lovely to see a few more next year now in the ipa world are there side comps for people who haven't qualified so if someone said look i want to go over and watch the world's live yep cheer on the Aussies do whatever do they have side comps like we do here no this year there wasn't which I found a bit strange going in because I would have hoped that there would be a few side comps I mean the venue like Jim's barn was it was a great setup and the games there were unbelievable in terms of like someone went through them very recent like every single game had been re-rubbered and cleaned and stripped down and everything worked flawlessly So it would have been really cool to have, yeah, a bit more of a laid back and a looser comp or a social event there. But no, there wasn't anything around the main event. So either you're invited or you're kicked out. So the Worlds this year, there was actually a little bit of room there for spectators to hang around. Jim did have about, what, about half a dozen machines up in his loft upstairs on free play that people were allowed to play, including tournament players if they wanted to between rounds. But yeah, no actual side comps there. So, you know, if there were spectators there, I think because of the limited amount of space that was there, I think we sort of had to reach out to Josh or Jim and say, look, we will have a spectator or, you know, someone like that there on site just so that that way they didn't sort of overbook the number of people that are going to be there. I mean, overall, the space I thought was quite sufficient. And what about accommodation? where do you stay when you go to these we're pretty lucky that that in this in uh for worlds this year they did promote a couple of venues close by for uh for accommodation and i was very lucky that i managed to snap something up really really quickly surprisingly enough for a little town there was heaps of accommodation around so i mean i think maybe a hundred thousand people in murrieta i think but yeah heaps of accommodation around so no one was going to miss out so that was a bonus then previous year in Fulda not Fulda um can't remember the name of the town we were staying in Germany yes there was only like the town I think only had like 250 people in the town or something rather and there was only one place to stay and that got booked up super quick so if you wanted to stay anywhere close by it was a good probably 10-15 minute maybe 20 minute drive from the closest other, closest next town with accommodation. So you need a car or, I mean, does Uber work in here? I don't think there was much Uber in this little town where we were.
    39:53
    I just can't remember the name of the town. It starts with the letter F, I know that. Yeah, there was definitely no such thing as Uber. I mean, you could essentially walk from one end of the town to the other in, you know, half an hour if you wanted to. It was that small of a town. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice little town, like all sort of older style buildings and Cobblestone Road and that sort of stuff. It was a really, really nice town to be in. But, yeah, for a world championship, it was quite interesting to see accommodation was lacking, I guess. Been some chat at the high level end of organising these things about venue selection and organisation on whether there should be a license for major events So people maybe should have to prove that they run X number of tournaments well that they have the facilities there I remember Tim Sexton did an interesting YouTube show about tournaments and having enough toilets for players, et cetera, to make it comfortable. What's your thoughts? I mean, should anyone be able to – I mean, a lot of people do not want to put their hands up to run major tournaments, and I know you know what it's like to help organise the Brisbane Masters with your committee, it's a damn lot of hard work. So when the call's put out who wants to host the Worlds, you may only get one person to say, I'll give it a go, who's never run a big event before. Do you think the licensing system is needed or... I believe, I don't know how much I'm allowed to say here because, you know, being part of the, being a co-country director for IFPA in Australia, there's certain things I do know, whether I can say certain things I don't know. But I know for a fact that Jimmy and I have certainly put our hands up to want to host the World Championships here in Australia. There are, I'll just say there are certain guidelines that we've been given in order to potentially host the Championships, the World Championship here in Australia. and both Jimmy and I do believe that we can easily tick off all those guidelines. There's about 12 different points. He's one of them moved the country closer to the USA because I believe a number of years ago a survey was done of the top 50 players in the world on who would fly to Australia to attend it and I don't think there was a lot of yeses. Yeah, no, and I think you're 100% right there, but we actually at the Worlds this year I did manage to catch up and have a bit of a chat with Josh at the end of the event because it's one of those things that I like to try and go out of my way to personally thank the organisers of the event. It's something that I've done through my numerous bowling trips and tournaments over the years, and I try and do the same with the pinball tournaments because I know firsthand just how much is involved with setting up and running an event. So anyway, I ended up having a bit of a chat with Josh, and it was actually Josh that actually asked me whether or not we'd be interested in hosting the world champs so i guess i guess it's probably on the table especially now with the changes in the last couple of years where now all players pay the dollar per person per tournament so there's uh more more money being put into the world championships there's more sponsorship money i guess it's probably a little bit more attractive now for players to travel if the World Championships were in Australia. And, I mean, I think that would be a massive thing for us here in Australia if we were lucky enough to get the World Champs. I'd imagine if we were, it would probably be one of the European years, I guess. Yeah, so it may still be a long way away yet. But the fact that we've been asked whether we would like to host it rather than us asking the question and being told no, I'm guessing that's a good sign. We'd certainly be keen for it. And I even floated the idea that if we were lucky enough to host it, that we may potentially move BPAC that year to somewhere around that sort of timeframe so that it makes it a little bit more worthwhile. I think that was one of the disappointing things about this year's World Championship is that there was virtually no warm-up comps, no side comps except for I think they did a coin drop comp on the Wednesday night beforehand and that was it. To test out the games, yeah. Yeah, so when you've got players coming from US, sorry, not US, from Australia, New Zealand, the European countries and things like that and they're flying over and they're just playing one tournament over a weekend, flying all that way just for that, you can sort of see why some people would feel disappointed. There were a couple of other players in the room I won't mention names But there were a couple of other players in the room When I mentioned about potentially moving BPAC and Brisbane Masters To nearby world championships in Australia And their eyes lit up And they're like, oh yes Because they're always like We really want to come down for Brisbane Masters And come and support you guys And that sort of stuff But in reality, do they really need to? They don't need to, do they? So they've always got something to look for It's funny to have a holiday But, I mean, either way, it's definitely something we're striving to try and help build the profile of pinball in Australia anyway, and hopefully that will become a reality one day. How many years in advance did they plan them? I think it's usually two, isn't it? Look, to be very honest, it wouldn't surprise me if they've got the next four or five already locked away. Okay. So were you surprised? What was your thoughts about the standard of the players and their skill level? And do you think Australia will ever rise to that level? Yeah, it was definitely a cut above over there. And yeah, I'd like to think that, yeah, with Escher moving over here, that's going to have to bump us up. Either that or he's going to have to be dragged back down by the rest of us. The average VHL will do that. Yes, yeah, that's it. But yeah, I don't think it's beyond us. I guess I've noticed the standard of player just while I've been playing in comps here is everybody's constantly getting better and the best of us not all of us
    46:23
    some of us are on the decline but anyway well i don't know about that that's all right you think i've always been this bad all right
    46:33
    that's well that's good to know yeah that they are good players and yeah but we could continue to improve and i think the more you do play with great players and go overseas to these things and realize their level gives you impetus to pick your game up as well yeah have we got a long way to go to get there or are we on the cusp of uh being equal footing um i will what i will say is the gap is getting a lot closer it's getting a lot closer there is some exceptional talent uh i i really thought tom would absolutely blitz it at worlds this year it's hard on your first year You've got a lot of nerves running around. Yeah, 100%. But, yeah, I mean, Tom is an exceptional player. As we saw at the Australian Championship earlier this year, he played – I don't think he had a bad game all weekend, to be honest. He was miles above nearly anyone else there. And that's not knocking anyone else because there was some exceptional talent all weekend, you know, Tony and – But that's what you need. You have a good player. you drag the other people up with you when they see what you can do and then to try to beat you they increase their standards so that's what we need yeah exactly right and this is where I think it's having Escher coming here is only going to help a lot of people down here it's only going to be good for everyone in the long run and I would really love to see a lot more of our players get to comps overseas and try and mix it up with some of the players around. Like, I mean, yeah, sure, you've got your Eshes and your Jason Zahlers and your Hannas and those sorts of players. Zach McCarthy. Yeah, they're essentially like robots and know every single rule set just at the click of the fingers or whatever it might be. But at the same time, they can all have a bad day too. And there's no reason why any of our top players couldn't mix it with any of the top players in the world. Now, anything else about the trip or, as you said, I mean, that's the point of these podcasts is to talk to people about travelling for pinball. One of the reasons is to improve their skills in competition. Another reason is sightseeing. And as we've said, now that you've been to three, every time you go, you meet the same people that you met before. So you've got an instant group of friends. You're not travelling to a place and saying,
    49:01
    I don't know anyone in this room. You travel to these places, you go, oh, I know like 80% of people here. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely built some good friendships with people I've met over the years and things like that. It can be part of the reason why you enjoy going to these. I certainly enjoy going to these events because you might only see these people maybe once every 12 months or once every couple of years or so. But, you know, you can certainly turn around and go, oh, cool, they're going to be there. So, you know, I'm looking forward to, you know, it's even more of a reason to go or whatever it might be. But, yeah, I mean, there's the friendships and, yeah, the opportunity to potentially go and explore other countries you haven't visited before. And, you know, even talking about the pinball stuff, you know, you mentioned about, you know, watching some of these top players play and picking up some of the skills or, oh, okay, I never realised you should play that game that way or that sort of stuff. So it's amazing what I've learnt just in those few trips I've been overseas and watching people play and that sort of stuff. So, yeah, something that I've also learned from the last couple of visits overseas is to really make the most of your time when you do go. Like, I mean, a lot of times when I would travel, even if it was just across New Zealand, it'd be a case of I'll fly in, you know, the night before and leave the day after or something or other and don't leave any time to do, you know, actually have a holiday as such. You just go in there playing pinball and, you know, you've got your accommodation essentially just to, as they say, shit shower and shave. and that's it. But, yeah, the last couple of times I've been overseas, I've actually experienced a lot more things and, you know, spent a couple of days in exploring and doing the touristy thing and that sort of stuff. And it's certainly something that I keep thinking about when I do my next or plan for the next trip. So at the moment, I don't really have anything planned as such. I mean, wouldn't mind going to Austria for Worlds in 2025, but we'll see if that actually comes to fruition or not. Then at the moment, my actual next trip is planned for New Zealand Championships in January. Try and go one better and claim the New Zealand Championship next year instead of being runner-up this time. So, yeah. So, I mean, after winning Southern Hemisphere last weekend, I've certainly got a little bit more confidence there on trying to take them down on home soil. there so we'll see how that pans out but yeah i mean there's plenty of other things on the bucket list that you know i mentioned indies before and unfortunately indies will be off the cards for this year but texas pinball festival or chicago pinball expo or you know all those sorts of things definitely high on the bucket list too so all right we'll leave it there but thanks for the chat i hope you've inspired some people to uh qualify for the worlds that's no easy road but But, you know, play in your state competitions, see how you go. You never know. The list can go quite a way down for the Australian Championship Series. Even if you're not in the top 36, you might be in the top 60 and still get an invite. Get to do some local travel, meet all these people and work your way up from them. But that's cool. All right, well, good luck with Austria. See how it goes for next year. Another long trip over. Yes. And hopefully get to Indies one day. I've been to three. They're a whole different beast. Yeah. But we'll catch up with you at the Australian Open in four weeks' time. 100%. Looking forward to that once again. Yes. Thanks, Tom, for the chat and congratulations on getting there. Congratulations on your result. We don't need to talk too much about it. No. But you did better than most, which is good. And I will catch up with you. You're not coming across the Aussie Open this year? I've got nothing planned at the moment. Well, thanks very much for having me on. No worries. Thanks for chatting. See you. All right. Thanks, mate. Cheers, John. Thanks for the chat.
    52:59
    So there you have it. If you're an aspiring tournament player and you want to get to number one in Australia or win the Australian Champions Series or both, you can crack an invite to the world titles and have the adventures that Tom and Lambo had and those that have gone in the past. it's a more serious end of competition so it's not for everybody but for those who make it it's very satisfying and I'm sure you'll have a good time wherever it's held in either the USA, Europe or maybe even one day in Australia Hope you enjoyed it Next time we're going to visit New Zealand with Timmy and see what it's like to play in the Southern Hemisphere Pinball Champs and even a bit of a history of pincade they had over there for many many years hope to catch you then aussie pinball podcast at gmail.com if you want to give any feedback criticisms or compliments much appreciated catch you next time
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    you