Journalist Tool

Kineticist

  • HDashboard
  • IItems
  • ↓Ingest
  • SSources
  • KBeats
  • BBriefs
  • RIntel
  • QSearch
  • NName Review
  • +Health

v0.1.0

← Back to items

Episode 363: The World comes to Germany

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·39m 57s·analyzed·May 19, 2023
View original
Export .md

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

JDL Pinball organizes historic 11-day German pinball festival with EPC, Olympics, and World Championship.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Jim and Dina Lindsay from JDL Pinball about organizing an unprecedented 11-day pinball festival in Germany (May 25–June 4) featuring three major tournaments: the European Pinball Championship (EPC), IFPA Olympics, and IFPA 18 World Championship. With 256 EPC participants alone and nearly all top-100 players in attendance, the event represents logistical complexity requiring extensive planning, streaming infrastructure, and strict behavioral enforcement.

Key Claims

  • 256 players are participating in the EPC, divided into two qualification days (128 players each), with groups of 16 on each day

    high confidence · Jim and Dina Lindsay describing EPC format and participant numbers

  • Nearly all top-100 IFPA-ranked players will be present at the event, with every group of 16 in EPC qualification containing at least three top-80 players

    high confidence · Jim Lindsay noting caliber of competition and group composition

  • EPC registration filled in less than 20 seconds, Olympics in less than a minute

    high confidence · Dina Lindsay providing specific registration timeline data

  • The event was conceived as a dream project by Tobias Wegman (country director) before he stepped back around Christmas, now continued by Jim and Dina

    high confidence · Jim Lindsay crediting Tobias Wegman for original vision

  • Bulls and Balls venue in Fulda is expanding with a new dedicated main pinball hall accommodating ~36 machines for the EPC tournament

    high confidence · Jim and Dina describing venue expansion

  • JDL Pinball will stream all major tournaments except the IFPA 18.5 shadow tournament at Bulls and Balls

    high confidence · Jim and Dina clarifying streaming coverage

  • EPC main finals on Sunday is a certified+ event with close to 400% TGP ($3.92 in points)

    high confidence · Jim describing EPC finals event value

  • Jim and Dina have not played competitive pinball since January (German Championship Series finals), focusing entirely on event organization and new puppy care

    high confidence · Jim and Dina discussing their pinball absence since January

Notable Quotes

  • “You want to know how much people love pinball? Look at Germany in the month of May and early June because there's a lot going on. In fact, it's like the perfect storm.”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~0:01:30 — Sets the tone for the magnitude of the event and German pinball culture enthusiasm

  • “They're just a mere 256 people, Jeff, so we're dropping the ocean, really.”

    Dina Lindsay @ ~0:04:00 — Understates the scale of the EPC participation with dry humor, emphasizing logistical complexity

  • “If questions that come from pretty much straight off the pages of the book arise from customers and partners, he just sent an email back with four letters R T F B which means read the book.”

    Dina Lindsay @ ~0:36:45 — Explains strict communication approach—players must read provided documentation before asking questions

  • “For the sake of those people, they are going to be the majority. We're going to be strict on enforcing the rules of nice behavior and obviously cheating of any sort isn't going to be tolerated and will result in a red card straight away.”

    Dina Lindsay @ ~0:42:30 — Articulates TD philosophy: protecting tournament experience for majority of players through behavioral enforcement

  • “We haven't played any pinball since January. Okay. Pretty much.”

    Jim Lindsay @ ~0:33:00 — Reveals personal sacrifice required to organize event of this scale

  • “Midnight Madness is named Madness for a reason.”

    Dina Lindsay @ ~0:22:15 — Characterizes unique Olympic tournament element (midnight–4am) and player dedication

  • “Within two minutes, I think. No, it was less. It was less than a minute for EPC, less than 20 seconds for the Olympics.”

    Dina Lindsay @ ~0:19:00 — Demonstrates exceptional demand for participation—registrations filled almost instantly

Entities

Jeff TeolispersonJim LindsaypersonDina LindsaypersonTobias WegmanpersonMatthias (Matthäus)personKimperson[name withheld pending review]personJohannes OstemeyerpersonRaymond Davidsonperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Unprecedented concentration of three certified IFPA tournaments (EPC, Olympics, World Championship) in single 11-day period in Germany, May 25–June 4

    high · Jim and Dina describe '11 solid days' from EPC through Olympics through World Championship; described as rare historical occurrence ('don't think I can remember them all being together at the same time')

  • ?

    event_signal: EPC and Olympics registrations sold out in under 1 minute, indicating exceptional demand; 70+ waiting lists for EPC; registration fills show extreme community enthusiasm

    high · Dina: 'less than 20 seconds for the Olympics' and registration filled; 'within two minutes' EPC, then corrected to 'less than a minute'; 70-person waiting list referenced

  • ?

    operational_signal: Bulls and Balls expanding with new dedicated main pinball hall (~36 machines) for EPC tournament; main room becoming 'classic room'

    high · Jim: 'There's a new room being built by Mateus and his team down at Bulls and Balls. So the main room, as people know it, folder, is now becoming the classic room. The new room will become the main pinball hall that will accommodate around 36 machines'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Event features nearly all top-100 IFPA-ranked players; every group of 16 in EPC qualification contains minimum 3 top-80 players, indicating extremely high competitive depth

    high · Jim: 'every single group of 16 people contain at least three players that are top 80, the world ranking points'; 'nearly all of them' top-100 players present

  • ?

    operational_signal: Strict TD enforcement including yellow/red card system for behavioral violations; TD WhatsApp coordination group to track infractions; zero-tolerance for cheating; emphasis on protecting experience for non-rule-breaking majority

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.120

0:00
It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teoles. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We have a Facebook group. We're on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. Email pinballprofile at gmail.com. And if you'd like to support us on Patreon, that would be wonderful. You can do that. It's absolutely going to always be a free show. Don't worry. But if you'd like to show your support, that would mean a lot. Great people like Johnny Pinball, Rodney C., Jimmy Law, Lua, and so many others. I appreciate that very much. We are going to Germany right now. And it is May. I'm going to be in Germany for a long, long time. You want to know how much people love pinball? Look at Germany in the month of May and early June because there's a lot going on. In fact, it's like the perfect storm. Of course, the IFPA 18, the World Championship is going to be there. 80 of the best players in the world, top two from every country. That's only one thing. Before that, you have the IFPA Olympics. And before that, maybe the second biggest tournament in the European Pinball Championship, all in Germany. Somebody's got to put this together. Somebody's got to stream this. Somebody has to be responsible. And they're here right now. Jim and Dina Lindsay from JDL Pinball. Hello, Jim. Hello, Dina. Hi, Jeff. I can't believe you have time to even talk to me because it's just 11 days of pinball. 11 solid days from Thursday the 25th of May, starting with the EPC, as you said, through to the Olympics, and then across to Freddie's Pinball Paradise for IFBA 18 World Championship. but we are also doing a IFPA 18.5 tournament that shadows that world championship in balls and balls. We won't be streaming that one, but we're streaming all the way through, including Predators. Well, the good thing about this is there's only a few people there, right? It's not like there's hundreds of people, correct? Absolutely. They're just a mere 256 people, Jeff, so we're dropping the ocean, really. Dina, I know you've been working hard for a long time, and people don't see the kind of things that people do to prepare for this. They think you just post on IFPA calendar, and maybe you come up with a format, but the organization, all the details, you've got people from all over the world asking questions. It's accommodations, it's flights, it's meals, it's tournament time. Thank you, Dina, because I can't imagine the work that you've put into this. Yes, it's been quite a lot of things to do. Well, starting with the initial post on our German forum, which was an eight-pages Word document, just in English, no double languages, just to outline the brief details of all of the tournaments, as you said, including flights, accommodations, and how to get about. So, yeah, that's been a lot of work and still a few things to do. but we're getting there lots of things are already done and ready to be printed out and put in place in balls and balls for you to enjoy balls and balls is where it kicks off in fulda germany it's a wonderful place i was there back in 2021 in fact the first place i went to after the covid restrictions were released loved it i've been looking forward to coming back and Mateus and everyone there do such a wonderful job, yourself included. And I guess it's expanded since I've been there. It was already this huge complex. I guess it's bigger now. Indeed. There's a new room being built by Mateus and his team down at Bulls and Balls. So the main room, as people know it, folder, is now becoming the classic room. The new room will become the main pinball hall that will accommodate around 36 machines and will be used for the main EPC tournament itself. So 256 people, how the EPC works, it's a different format, and that's kind of what we're kicking things off. I'm not including the pin golf warm-up tournament on Thursday, but the Friday and the Saturday, the last few days there in May, 256 people divided into, is it groups of eight? No, it's the groups of 16. So basically 256 people will have to be divided into two groups of Friday qualification and Saturday qualification. So it's 128 people on each day. And every 128 people will take two groups, sort of 64 people in each group. One of the groups will be playing the EPC main qualification in groups of 16, in four groups of 16. And the second group will play the classic qualification at the same time till lunchtime and then the swap. So basically the group A becomes group B in the classics and vice versa. Did you follow that, Jeff? I have no idea. You were talking about the eight-page document that I should probably read, being one of the players that's going to be there. Every one of the 256 people, please read that document. It will be one of Dana's rules. If you ask a question, it will be, have you read the document? So, yeah, please, please try to do that before you come, Jeff. I'm going to pretend like I've never read it.
Paul Englerperson
Eric Stoneperson
Peter Andersonperson
Roy Willsperson
Taco Wootersperson
Escher Lefkoffperson
Bill Masonperson
Steve Zalaperson
Kate Morris Rothwell-Jacksonperson
JDL Pinballorganization
Bulls & Balls Fuldavenue
Freddy's Pinball Paradisevenue
IFPA 18 World Championshipevent
European Pinball Championship (EPC)event
IFPA Olympicsevent
Pinball Profileorganization

high · Dina: 'yellow card group' for swearing, rage tilting, disrespect to machines/opponents; 'red cards...people will be watching the rest of the event on JGL stream due to being excluded'; 'cheating of any sort isn't going to be tolerated and will result in a red card straight away'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Event requires extensive pre-planning including 8-page tournament document, multi-day email coordination, accommodation/flight/meal arrangements for 256+ international participants, multi-venue coordination across Fulda and separate location

    high · Dina: '8-pages Word document' outlining tournament details; 'another eight-page document...containing all the links to all the match play tournaments, containing all the timetable'; participants asked to 'check your spam boxes' for vouchers

  • ?

    operational_signal: Multiple tournament venues (Bulls and Balls in Fulda for EPC/Olympics, Freddy's Pinball Paradise for World Championship) require coordinated tech support, specialized streaming equipment for multi-room coverage, and key personnel deployment

    high · Jim: 'we have probably more equipment than most streamers because the venues that we're in tend to have multiple rooms. So you can't easily cover that with one rig. You need more equipment'

  • ?

    content_signal: JDL Pinball committing extensive streaming infrastructure to cover 11 consecutive days across multiple venues and tournaments; streaming all events except IFPA 18.5; personnel (Jim, Dina, Kate Rothwell-Jackson commentary) fully deployed

    high · Jim and Dina confirming streaming coverage; Kate Rothwell-Jackson providing commentary; described as major undertaking requiring equipment redundancy and team coordination

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Tobias Wegman stepped back from country director role around Christmas; Jim and Dina Lindsay assume primary organizational responsibility for his original vision; transition appears smooth

    high · Jim: 'This was his dream to put this together. Dana and myself have continued that dream, so thanks to Toby for that.'

  • ?

    community_signal: Event draws players from globally distributed regions; Jeff mentions proximity to multiple countries (Austria, Netherlands, Sweden); description of 'world comes to Germany' suggests exceptional geographic reach

    medium · Episode title 'The World comes to Germany'; Jeff discussing proximity to neighboring countries; IFPA World Championship by definition includes 'top two from every country'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Both Bulls and Balls (Fulda) and Freddy's Pinball Paradise described as high-quality, well-maintained venues with excellent tech support and hospitality; Freddy's described as 'going to blow away' first-time visitors

    high · Jeff: 'those machines are wonderful'; Dina: 'excellent tech team'; Freddy's described as venue 'we've been numerous times' and 'we bought our very first new inbox pinball machine from him 10 years ago'

  • $

    market_signal: Exceptional demand for entry to EPC and Olympics tournaments (registration <1 minute, 70+ waiting lists) suggests limited tournament slots create FOMO and high perceived value

    high · Registration timelines and waiting list sizes indicate supply-constrained high-demand tournament environment

    • 5:32
    You'll be just like everybody else. It's not much of an exaggeration. And I know a few people that are going to this tournament that are probably listening to Pinball Profile. And because it is a global podcast, we certainly like to encourage pinball all around the world. But I will be glad to post it. So, Dina, maybe send me the link. Thank you, Jeff, for the offer. I'm currently writing another eight-page document, which will be an information email containing all the links to all the match play tournaments, containing all the timetable, where to go, how to register, and so on. So everybody who is participating and signed up with their email address is going to receive an email containing all this information. In the past, some people had difficulties receiving correspondence from us. So if your listeners will be checking their spam boxes from two weeks from now, that will be useful. Because every single piece of what to know about the weekend is going to be laid out in that email. And players, check your spam folders because sometimes that's where it might wind up just with the attachment. Let's talk to the people outside the 256 plane because there are going to be a lot of people watching on JDL Pinball and they're going to be saying, holy cow, look at all these great players all in one place. It's a big deal. We have the World Championship every year. Last year it was in Fort Myers, Florida. It was wonderful. Eric Stone was the winner. And they did a wonderful job there at the Pinball Asylum. That was one big event. I mean, there were some events leading up to it, of course, kind of a week-long affair. But there were kind of, I want to say smaller tournaments, great players, but nothing like the caliber of an EPC or even the IFPA Olympics. I mean, it is rare that you get all three of these at once. I don't think I can remember them all being together at the same time. There used to be World Championships and Papa back-to-back, but nothing like this. This was the foresight dream of Tobias Wegman, our country director, who unfortunately took a step back around Christmas. But this was his dream to put this together. Dana and myself have continued that dream, so thanks to Toby for that. But if you look at the caliber of people within the top 100, we have nearly all of them. It really is absolutely incredible. The standard of play is going to be phenomenal. So, yeah, please tune in to JDL Pinball. Watch the stream. Well, basically, if you look at the groups for the EPC qualification, which is based on the IFP ranking, every single group of 16 people contain at least three players that are top 80, the world ranking points. Now that's impressive. You couldn't have made a softer group for yours truly. I saw who I'm stuck with, but they're all tough. We put you in the group of death, to be honest, Jeff. You did. That's the sort of advantage of knowing people. You can really get people to give you a soft ride, but we didn't do that, sorry. Raymond Davidson, who I just had to play every single round with at Allentown, at Pinfest, and former number one player in the world. Your German whiz kid, Paul Engler, he's so good. Yep. Well, I have Escher Lefkoff, Bill Mason, Steve Zala in my group, so don't complain. I'm not complaining. The truth is I respect every single player I play, whether they're a name or whether they're not, because as I've learned so many times, and especially when I came to Germany, there are people you've never seen before, but they just don't travel. There's a guy in my group, Taco Wooters, who is, again, a guy who years ago, absolute legend, just kind of not as much now. So, I mean, there are no weak spots. The caliber is crazy. Every win is a well-earned win. I'll give you another one there. There's Roy Wills. I know Roy. You know Roy. I think everybody knows Roy on the circuit, and he is currently 224th. He's just jumped up the rankings, having done really, really well at the DPO.
    9:46
    DBM, sorry. Dutch Pinball Masters. And he is position seven in his group. yeah he had a good chance of winning the UK Open last September until a tilt that was heard around the world ended his run and Peter Anderson went on to win that Mr. Video Mode in a fishtails win from Denmark. I love Peter. He calls me Mr. Inlane, so I always call him Mr. Video Mode.
    10:16
    He's great. Okay, so this is the EPC that's going on. And then so let's say you're lucky enough in your group of 16 to be top four and advance. Then what happens? Well, basically, you need to qualify high up in your group and then the EPC main final rounds is going to be best of seven, which is going to be played on Sunday from the beginning and all the way until through to the finals. 64 players qualify from the qualification through to the final rounds. They play best of seven ladder format all the way through to the final two and that's a certified plus event giving a TGP close to 400%. $3.92 is unbelievable. So don't take a day off that day if you're playing in this event. And I assume it sold out extremely quickly. You had reserved spots for the people that were coming from around the world that were in the IFP18, but the rest must have been gobbled up very quickly. Within two minutes, I think. No, it was less. It was less than a minute for EPC, less than 20 seconds for the Olympics.
    11:25
    Tremendous support for this. It really is. And we had, obviously, waiting lists resulting. And we're working through those waiting lists because with every event that you organize, there are always people who find at the end they can't actually make it for whatever personal reason. So you work down the waiting lists. and there are a few people that have just jumped into the tournament who I'm sure are very, very pleased that they've managed to obtain a place. We had around 70 people on the waiting list for the UPC. Yeah, it'll be a full field, no question about it, and I'm sure there'll be some people kind of drifting around there, hey, did anybody not show? And that sometimes happens too. So if you're on the wait list, take a good eye and maybe kind of float around just in case you never know. And check your spam boxes because the vouchers for the replacement tickets from the waiting list come unannounced to your given email address. And sometimes they finish up in the spam and then they expire and the spot goes to the next one down the list. So it is definitely worth, if you're sort of high or medium on our waiting list, check the spam filters. just make sure you claim your voucher if you want to participate and know that you can make it because they're going to be expired like in 24 hours after being sent so somebody is going to win a major in the epc on sunday it's going to be very exciting oh that's got to be everything nope nope that's just round one of three major ones ifpa olympics now this is a little unique in that it's different formats different days explain the ifpa olympics the olympics was again a dream of Toby Wegman and it's designed to be as close to as the World Olympics athletics in that different formats, the same people but different formats just trying to give variety to the various tournaments that people can enter and there's even a Midnight Madness tournament in there on Tuesday between midnight and four o'clock in the morning and it's that sort of culture These pinball players are real hardened tournament players, and they'll play any time of day. Midnight Madness is named Madness for a reason. Well, we never played one, so we don't know what it feels like. But we start on Sunday with a group match play, which is going to be a certified plus event as well, because it goes all the way through till Monday evening and it is a 20 rounds group match play. So basically, if you haven't made the EPC main final rounds, then you have an opportunity to take part at the Sunday Fair Strike Knockout, which is limited to 128 players. And the registration for that will open from all the qualification rounds finishing on Saturday. So if you don't qualify, you can go in the direction. Everybody will know whether they've qualified or not from Friday and Saturday qualification groups, and then they can sign up for the Sunday Fair Strike Knockout if they want to. But as I said, the field is limited to 128 players because of limitations of how many machines they have for that tournament. So yes, if you know you're going to want to stay for Sunday, please make sure you find the registration desk on Saturday evening between 5.30 and 7.30 to register for that event. So then you get a break, okay? So there is around one and a half hours of a barbecue happening at Bulls and Bulls. So at the end of the EPC, after the finals are finished and the presentations are made, We can all sit outside in the, I'm sure it will be wonderful warm weather at the end of May in Germany, sit out enjoying one of Matthäus' wonderful barbecues before you start the next tournament at around 8 o'clock in the evening, which is the start of the Olympics. So we probably should have a flaming torch from the barbecue running around. English people and the flaming torches.
    15:44
    You're not going to mention the coronation, are you? No, no, no. No, I'm good. I do have to ask about the IFPA Olympics. If it is based on the Olympics, will there be steroid urine checks? You've got a midnight madness. Are we checking for vampires? What kind of testing is going on for this? Well, the only test you need to do to be able to participate in the Olympics is to be able to down the very special spirit that Matthias offers at Bolton Ball. Mongolian? Mongolian, yes. Well, it's not quite the spirit, so it's a cocktail, but there is a new gig in town, and it's a 72% vodka, and you kind of need to down it to be able to participate in the Olympics. No, you don't. But anyway, if you did… Listen to the Russian Dina trying to pass off some vodka. I get it. We were treated to this on Saturday night, I guess, from Matthias, who gave us this little shot of glass and said, just try that. And you definitely felt it burning as it went down.
    16:51
    Yeah, Matthias gave me that Mongolian, I can't say the rest of the words, drink, and I took a sniff of it. I was like, whoa, am I supposed to drink this or put this in my gas tank?
    17:02
    And it was so, like I lost nose hairs just taking the sniff. Have you tried the Walking Dead version of it? Not yet, but it was spectacular. It tasted fantastic. He told me it was in it, and I was like, what isn't in it? That's a shorter list. And it was so good. So I've told some of my North American friends, yeah, you have to try this. But the Walking Dead version, okay, all right. So basically double the spirit and half the fruit. I mean, Matthias is a wonderful host, and he does like to get to know people by becoming their drinking buddies. He is a great host, and he's got a little special treat coming that I'm bringing, right, Dina?
    17:45
    Yes. Does he know it? Yes, he does know. He's got a nice pinball, the man who saved the game, a three-foot by two-foot movie poster signed by Roger Sharp. and he made a nice little comment to Bulls and Balls. So that will be nice on display there. That would be very welcome. There is a special wall with sort of displaying nice memories and special event posters and treats right next to the bar. So, yeah, I'm sure it will have a private place in there. Without a doubt. So Olympics goes on. And then this thing known as the World Championship. And my goodness, here we are in Germany. And to me, one of the greatest IFPA events I've ever seen wasn't in Germany. It was in Italy, but won by a German, our good friend, young Johannes Ostemeyer, who will be there. And, I mean, he's been so busy with school and learning every language on the globe, but he will be there to see if he can win it on home ground, and he has to be one of the favorites for sure. He will be there, and they will be competing, I'm sure, as hard as he's done before. But, you know, the Milan experience was really, really special. And obviously that was JDL's launch into the real pinball streaming world. And we thank everybody for their involvement in that. To get another opportunity to do this four years later in Germany on our home ground is awesome. And we are really, really looking forward to working with the IFPA team again down at Freddy's. Yeah, that JDL stream, I think I've watched more than any other pinball stream ever. And again, we were talking about when Johannes came back on Bram Stoker's Dracula against Daniele Acari of Italy, a multiple world championship winner. And it was just unbelievable. And then they had the tie in there as well. It's something to see. And JDL pinball captured it. And really, you know, you were definitely the stream people like to watch when it comes to competition pinball. forget the tournaments and all the TDing and stuff aside just for a second the dedication the two of you have for these streams and Fulda not exactly next door for you it in Germany but it a good hike to get there And Freddy I assume is the same And here you are doing all these traveling I've seen you go to, I want to say, was it Austria, up at the side of a mountain for a stream one time? That was Switzerland. You were in as a Zoom commentator for that one? That's right. That was the Swiss Alps. We have been to Austria. We've streamed the APO. We streamed in the Dutch Pinball Museum, the Dutch Pinball Open, late last year. We'll be doing the DPO again this year. That's already booked in November. And, yeah, we travel around a lot. And I think we're also slightly different in that we have probably more equipment than most streamers because the venues that we're in tend to have multiple rooms. So you can't easily cover that with one rig. You need more equipment. You have a lot of equipment. You have a lot of mics, great cameras too. A good commentary camera that always focuses on Jim, I remember that very well. If there are three people in the booth, it only gets Jim. I think that's really well done. Yeah, and I think it was specifically designed to avoid Jeff as well. I mean, he preferred the dart player up on the wall, if you remember. That was great. I'm really looking forward to having you back in the commentary again this time, John. I'm an unofficial member of JDL Pinball. I'll be bringing my golf shirt for the Friday commentating for the start of the EPC. I'm looking forward to that. So, oh, Dina, I mean, an eight-page document. I assume it's all being done by AI now, right? Because there's no way.
    21:37
    Can you imagine how smart and advanced AI needs to be to figure out the logistics of a pinball tournament of that side. Well, if you want accuracy, but I'm also thinking of the intelligence of many of these pinball players who, like yours truly, probably hasn't read one page of it yet. And that's our fault, by the way. Yes, it is your fault. And people who are given all the sources to educate themselves about beforehand and not using them are going to get a quote from my boss who wrote a book about hydraulic systems and if questions that come from pretty much straight off the pages of the book arise from customers and partners, he just sent an email back with four letters R T F B which means read the book. And sometimes the page number. So I'm going to refer to a question that arise from the document I'm going to send is an email to everybody individually as rtfe. Don't use the F.
    22:51
    I've already beeped it out. Don't worry. So, Dina, let me just put things into perspective. You might think, oh, what a lazy SOB for not reading this in myself. No, people will ask me, are you looking forward to Germany? And this was last week. I'm like, I haven't even thought about it yet because I'm thinking about going to Allentown. I can only think of one pinball trip at a time. So if I've got Jagdpin coming up this summer, if I've got the Beast in, well, that one I have to think about because I'm kind of running it. But when they ask me about these things coming up, I can't process more than one at one time. It's amazing I even book hotels, which luckily I've done. But even better than that in Germany, my wife and I are going to spend a week in Germany checking out that wonderful country and all kinds of different places before it all starts. Now, I've had people at tournaments say, well, why doesn't Anne go to tournaments? I'm like, because I love my wife, and she would be bored out of her gourd watching me play pinball for 10 hours. So we'll do a little trip beforehand. She'll head back home, and there you go. But looking forward to seeing so many different parts of Germany. It's such a huge country, and I feel bad for the place I'm missing. I'm looking. I'm like, oh, I'm so close to Austria. I'm close to the Netherlands. I'm close to Sweden, and I can't do those. but we'll try to cram it all in before we do this ridiculously long and fun and exciting pinball. Are you going to be like me after this is all done and just not even want to look at a pinball machine for a week or two? Well, we haven't played any pinball since January. Okay. Pretty much. So the last tournament we played was the finals of the German Championship Series.
    24:26
    Which we did very badly because we'd not touched the pinball machine for weeks and weeks. Yes. I can't recall it. So, and since then, we pretty much haven't played at all, because obviously we're organizing the whole thing. End of February, we got a tiny puppy, which is now four and a half months old, but still growing and needs a lot of attention. Then, obviously, we work full-time, and yeah. That's a lot of time for pinball. There isn't anything to do with pinball we have, so, yeah. But JD the puppy is going to appear on the stream. I was wondering what the name was. I wasn't sure if it would be a disco name, because I know how much Dina loves disco music. Yeah, JD as in JDL. So it will be the JDL streaming puppy.
    25:18
    Well, her name is Jasmine Dahlia. She's white, and those are the names of two white flowers. But yeah, for convenience, it is JD. Very nice. Very cute. Who's going to be watching JD when you're streaming for so many days? She'll be commentating, Jeff. She can't do any worse than the other people who are doing it. I have trouble disagreeing with that.
    25:42
    Well, she definitely looks cuter than anybody else. Nice. No, that's great. She'll be around. We are going to be arranging a sort of dog walking and sitting and things for her, so it's a bit too much to spend 11 days inside a pinball hall.
    26:00
    But she will be appearing, so that will be another source of interest, I'm sure, for the pinball scene. So here's the tough thing for TDs to do, because a lot of points and prestige and championships and maybe some dollars here and there, a lot of prizing involved in this 11-day event. You're going to have some players that are maybe a little intense. So, Dina, do you have a stack of yellow cards and maybe red cards ready for any kind of things you won't tolerate? Yes. We have a TD WhatsApp group, which is going to record. It's called the yellow card group. It's going to record all the yellow cards that are distributed by the TDs and basically for intolerable behavior, including swearing, range tilting, not being nice to machines opponents, not keeping in time with the event, free playing on tournament machines. So it's all going to be listed in the email that everybody shall read. And if any misbehavior is noticed by the group of TDs that we have, the balls and balls, then yeah, the yellow cards will soon turn to red cards and people will be watching the rest of the event on JGL stream due to being excluded from the tournament. We will be fair, so it will be straight. It will have to be. With that many people, the whole event has to be controlled and some people will try and push the boundaries. So we do need to pull them back, but it will be done in a fair way. We definitely don't want to fall out with anyone. For sure, Jim, that's the key. be fair with the rulings, be consistent, all that kind of stuff. And I don't say that to put the hammer down, but it's good to hear what you just said, Dina, about the WhatsApp sharing of that, because in fact, we were just talking about this weekend at Allentown at Pinfest. Levi and I were talking about when people get yellow cards, if one TD gives the yellow card, the other TDs don't know that. And it's kind of almost like hush hush. Levi even went so far to say is here's a board and everybody gets a yellow card. Their name goes on the board. So everyone knows not only, not only the TDs but the players and it's kind of like you don't want to be on that wall of shame and it's not a punishment but it's a gentle reminder to be respectful of others. Well, public shaming is never going to yield any good results but people need to know that there are consequences to their actions and just being a nice person in a social setting is absolutely paramount to me like in a private and a professional life and that's sort of the philosophy I transfer into running the tournaments for general public because there are lots of people who are not going to say anything but are going to feel disturbed, feel hassled and generally not having a good time. For the sake of those people, they are going to be the majority. We're going to be strict on enforcing the rules of nice behavior and obviously cheating of any sort isn't going to be tolerated and will result in a red card straight away. I'm kind of partial to the public shaming. Kind of like a Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones. I think that would be great for pinball. Shame, shame, shame. You know, I have the shame bell as one of my call-outs. Oh, of course. Yeah, yeah. Being obviously very close to Game of Thrones and your daughter does the wonderful call-outs, of course. And Kate and Richard are coming over for the EPC. so Kate will be helping in commentary so this is Kate Morris or was Kate Morris, now Kate Rothwell-Jackson the female voice of Game of Thrones my youngest daughter will be in the commentary over the EPC weekend this is going to be good it going to be a lot of fun it is so close Now that Allentown done I am now focusing on this Germany trip and all this pinball Holy cow And I got some reading to do, apparently, don't I, Dina? Yes, you do have some reading to do, starting with the very first post from the early January. But don't worry, if you have missed that, you still have the opportunity to read my very long email that goes to everybody personally on a very long flight. So I'm sure people will want to use their travel times to actually get to know what they have to do during the weekend and beyond during the Olympics, which is going to follow as an information package a few days later. I have one question, and I'm fine with whatever the answer is. I just would like to know in advance. Will the games be set to English? Yes, they already are. They are? Okay. Yes. Well, obviously, there are a few games that are not English by make.
    30:57
    Well, there are a few German games, like German remakes of English games, so they don't have the English as the language. But the essential games are all set into English. All the sterns are going to be, all the DMVs are going to be, and obviously you know what to do on a classic machine anyway. And if we miss one, Jeff, then we would encourage people to tell us. Yeah, there's going to be a list of minor malfunctions that anybody can put, name of the machine and what the issue is down. So if you notice anything that is playing up or not set properly or like whatever, if we missed an extra ball because the extra ball is not going to be played, then just put it down on the list and the next minute our tech team has time. they'll see to it and address the issue. And we do have an excellent tech team. So Matthias has drafted more people in to help. So Kim's still the main tech, but a lot of helpers. And we've also assigned people to be key holders. So the stuck ball, the simple things can be handled by helpers assigned to each tournament. Well, I remember Kim and, of course, Matthias. And let's just say when I was there for a big, big event, there wasn't a lot of teching that needed to be done. Maybe the stuck balls, the things you can't really control. But my goodness, those machines are wonderful. And I hear the exact same thing for Freddy's. One thing I'm looking forward to and I hear just so many wonderful things about is Freddy's. I've never been there. And, of course, the home of the IFPA 18. I've seen pictures. Great website, by the way. You've been there many times. I think myself and other people that have never visited before, we are going to be blown away by Freddy's. You absolutely are, Geoff. We were there. Well, we've been numerous times to Freddy's. We bought our very first new inbox pinball machine from him 10 years ago. But we were there this weekend to do a test stream, test the equipment. And I did a very short video, which is actually posted on JDL Pinball at the moment. It's only a five-minute walk around showing you the machines that are there. But the venue has so much character. It's like being in the Wild West. It's wagon wheels.
    33:18
    It's cowboy seats at the bar. The place really just seems character. Everybody just can't help but have a wonderful time there. How many machines do they have? About 180 machines. But obviously for the purposes of the World Championship There are only going to be 80 plus 12 extras So in every, well obviously the format of the World Championship Is old games, mid games and new games And there are 24 machines in each category that is assigned to that tournament We have three streaming rigs and they will be assigned to old, mid, and new, so that we can pretty much guarantee, following any group through qualification, on all three machines that will be set up in advance. It really is something to watch. The idea is not to have much dead time, which you often get in these higher-level tournaments, because you're waiting for other players to finish games and things. Yeah, that's true, because there's usually only one rig, for example. But yeah, there's a lot of times a group that you're following, they're done quickly, and you can't really jump in mid-game. So I love your setup. And going from Fulda to Freddy's, what's that turnaround time for you? Because you've got to, I assume, lug all that equipment and get it all set up. That must be maybe the hardest day for you. Yeah, I would say so. So it's about an hour and a half, two-hour drive across to Freddy's. we'll be going over on, we've got to decide this, either Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. I think it's going to be Wednesday. No, we're definitely going Wednesday. And then we've got pretty much all day Thursday to set up, test everything out before the Epsom Cup starts on Thursday evening. So, yeah, Thursday's going to be a big day, probably a bit of a stressful day, just as we've done, obviously, a big stream already. The equipment's, yeah, taking a battering. We've got to get that across to Freddy's and then reassemble it all. These tournaments are not possible without the hours and hours of dedication, the work, the preparation. You're hearing Jim and Dina Lindsay talk about it. You've heard them mention Kim and Matthias and, of course, the wonderful staff at Freddy's. But there are a lot of people that are going to be there. Is there anything we, the participants, can do to help? And I suggest that you ask that question for any tournament you go to. But is there something we can do that makes it easier for you at the EPC, at the IFPA Olympics and at IFPA 18?
    36:01
    Yes, exactly. I've already asked lots of people, well, including Josh Sharp, really, to be the group leaders, which is for the qualification rounds of the EPC. So because it's a round-robin qualification, every group has its own tablet and kind of its own little registration processes and taking names that everybody's there and directing them to the machines. So I assign so-called group leaders, which is one of the players of this group of 16. They're basically participants of that group, which is lovely. And obviously there are lots of TDs and referees that come from the field of participants. And streaming and commentary is always welcome. And if you notice any technical issues, put them down on the list. so that we can address them and obviously read the email and don't ask questions. Be nice to everybody, that's all we ask. I mean, the people that we've asked have all just willingly volunteered. Call out for Josh, really, because he has been absolutely excellent through the whole of this planning process. Whenever we've asked a question, the answer has always been yes. What can I do to help? So thanks very much. If you say so about Josh Sharp, fine. We know you have a low-fave relationship with Josh. Even Dino is choking in the background there. Yes.
    37:38
    Once Jim said that, the wine went the wrong way straight away. Yeah, spit take. All right, we all love Josh. He's doing a great job. Absolutely, yeah. I'll have to erase that later. So your input is held with the commentary. We may also actually try and set up some little mini-interviews, but I'll work with you on that when you're over here. This is going to be wonderful. Jim, Dina, thank you for everything you do. We love JDL Pinball. Looking forward to seeing little JD as well. And it's just around the corner. Yeah, looking forward to it. We are indeed. Yeah, looking forward to seeing you here as well, Jeff, of course. So, yeah, let's keep it all going. It starts off at Bulls and Balls in Foldo with the EPC, a major pinball event. Then you've got the IFPA Olympics. Then we head over to Freddy's for the IFPA 1880 this year. 80 people, not 64. Advanced to 80 of some of the world's best. Who will be the champion? Eric Stone, the defending champ. We've got all kinds of world championship caliber players there. Keith Elwin is making the trip to Germany. Oh, this is going to be good. Maybe not for me as a player, but it's going to be fun to watch. You should watch it on JDL Pinball. Dina, Jim, thank you so much. and I'll let you get back to writing those documents, Dina. Thank you, Jeff. I'm on it. Okay, and thanks from me as well, Jeff. Absolutely awesome. I'm really pleased we've managed to do this podcast together. And we'll see you in a few weeks' time. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, we're all on there. pinballprofile.gmail.com is where you can reach us. And, of course, if you'd like to support on Patreon, thank you so much. It would mean the world to me. patreon.com slash pinballprofile. See you in Germany. I'm Jeff Teolis.