Episode 60: Raymond Davidson, IFPA 14 Champ

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·14m 9s·analyzed·Jul 25, 2017

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

IFPA 14 champ Raymond Davidson discusses his breakthrough win and competitive pinball career.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Raymond Davidson, the 2024 IFPA 14 champion, discussing his breakthrough win in Denmark, his competitive success in Seattle tournaments, his favorite games (especially Simpsons Pinball Party), and his aspirations for future events like Pinberg. The conversation covers tournament strategy, rule set knowledge, and his plans for the upcoming Northwest Championships.

Key Claims

Raymond Davidson won IFPA 14 championship in Denmark
high confidence · Jeff congratulates him on the win; Raymond confirms it was his greatest tournament win to date
Raymond finished 4th at Pinberg last year and 2nd the year before
high confidence · Jeff asks about Pinberg finishes; Raymond confirms these placements
Raymond finished 19th-20th in A division at Papa in April and top 12 in all classics events
high confidence · Jeff cites these results; Raymond confirms with WPPR context
Raymond is currently ranked 3rd in WPPR (Whoppers) and exceeded his goal of 1,000 points
high confidence · Jeff asks about current WPPR standing; Raymond confirms satisfaction with ranking
Raymond's first pinball machine was Black Rose, which he still owns
high confidence · Jeff asks about first game; Raymond confirms ownership and emotional attachment
Raymond chose Ghostbusters as his IFPA 14 prize machine
high confidence · Jeff references choice; Raymond describes its condition as 'playing mean'
Newer pinball games (past 4 years) lack good rule documentation sources like Pinball News archives
medium confidence · Raymond explains challenge learning newer games due to lack of comprehensive rule articles
Raymond has achieved the Simpsons Pinball Party super wizard mode (Alien Invasion) multiple times
high confidence · Jeff asks; Raymond confirms achievement and describes the experience
Raymond achieved the AC/DC Encore Championship wizard mode
high confidence · Jeff asks confirmation; Raymond confirms achievement and describes it as favorite wizard mode
Northwest Championships (end of August in Bellevue) will use Papa Kings format as throwback

Notable Quotes

“I tried to show the world that pinball is still alive in the youth”
Raymond Davidson @ early interview — Highlights younger generation's competitive presence in professional pinball
“When you get that one game away, you're just like, all right, I have to put them away. This is it.”
Raymond Davidson @ discussing IFPA 14 finals — Describes mental approach to pressure in final matches
“You just got to come up with a plan. Always pay attention. Keep track of which shots are really easy... shot efficiency is way better than safety when you're going for a huge goal”
Raymond Davidson @ AC/DC wizard mode discussion — Reveals strategic approach to difficult game goals
“I don't think I could ever sell it. It's just, you know, that special game.”
Raymond Davidson @ discussing Black Rose — Shows emotional attachment to his first machine
“Simpsons Pinball Party, the masterpiece, the pinnacle of pinball perfection in my opinion”
Raymond Davidson @ mid-interview — Expresses strong preference for deep, complex pinball design
“Pinball and magic are kind of my things that I spend way too much time on”
Raymond Davidson @ discussing hobbies — Reveals secondary hobby involvement

Entities

Raymond Davidsonperson Jeff TeolispersonMukilteolocationIFPA 14eventPinbergeventPapaeventSeattle PinballeventEscherpersonKevinpersonDaveperson

Signals

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community_signal: Youth competitive talent emerging in pinball with Raymond (24) and Escher gaining prominence and winning major events
high · Jeff notes 'you're destroying us old farts' and acknowledges Raymond and Escher representing youth in competitive scene
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sentiment_shift: Strong recognition of Seattle/Pacific Northwest as significant competitive pinball hub with consistently high-level local talent
high · Jeff notes 'our pinball finals in local tournaments could be Papa finals' and recognizes Kevin, Dave, Jermaine as serious competitive players
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competitive_signal: Raymond demonstrates mastery of deep rule sets (Simpsons Pinball Party wizard modes, AC/DC Encore Championship) while noting challenge with newer games due to lack of documentation sources like Pinball News archives
high · Raymond states 'Pinball News used to do these giant in articles that I would just read' but notes newer games from past 4 years lack good rule sources
?
community_signal: Raymond uses studied approach to game mastery, reviewing historical rule documentation and learning from observation of other skilled players
medium · Raymond describes reading Pinball News archives comprehensively and learning Game of Thrones 'by watching what other people do'
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competitive_signal: Papa Kings format being revived for Northwest Championships as throwback format with unclear future adoption
high · Raymond states 'we decided as a throwback tribute to the fallen format of Kings' and notes 'we don't know if we're going to stick with it for future years'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.043

0:00

time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff tiolis you can find us on our facebook group also on twitter at pinball profile email us any suggestions from people you'd like to hear at pinball profile at gmail.com and please subscribe on itunes well it wasn't too long ago this guy was sleeping with the lights on now he's the ifpa 14 champ and you've heard a lot about him lately and he's got a good chance of winning pinberg raymond davidson joins us hey raymond hey jeff just a nightlight now right i'm just bugging i don't even know what to say to that i gotta make fun of you young guys because you're destroying us old farts i saw what escher did at papa 20 and then what you did at ifpa 14 in denmark congratulations uh thank you yeah i tried to show the the world that pinball is still alive in the youth and yeah escher did a great job of it and I'm glad I could follow through as well. Well, you get to play different formats, and that certainly is a unique one, the IFPA one. So do you like that format? Because you had to go up against some heavyweights, too. You didn't really get any easy buys.

1:08

No, no. The only buy I got was the one I had to work for, basically. If you finish top eight or whatnot in the qualifying, you get a nice double buy. And I got to wake up and play Daniele right away. That was my prize. The two-time champ. Yeah, that's a piece of cake. Yeah, I was definitely nervous going into it, but somehow it was sort of the thing where you win one game, and you're just like, oh, okay. And then you win another game, and you're like, oh, I can do this. And then when you get that one game away, you're just like, all right, I have to put them away. This is it. Well, you've won a lot of events in your time. I know you do very, very well at Seattle Pinball, and we'll get to that in a second. But that definitely is your greatest win for sure. Yeah, it used to be the Papa and Tinberg finishes where I was good at taking seconds. but this one was actually a one first so yeah and a lot of press came with that too didn't it yeah a kind of unusually crazy amount it kind of snowballed it started off with like a couple articles here and there but then i started getting calls from radio stations that wanted me on and some radio stations just mentioned to me without even having me on they just were like oh by the way someone from muckleteo was world champion i was like oh that's kind of cool well you have to be like the mayor of your town there what 30 minutes north of Seattle uh yeah it's a small town um grew up there went to high school and middle school called Mukilteo it's a nice nice little place it's it's about uh 20 minutes north of Seattle yeah by the way speaking of your uh Seattle Mariners what the hell's wrong with them oh I should be quiet as my Toronto Blue Jays are just as bad yeah ah man well luckily the last Mariners game I went to we actually won so they do win sometimes. You briefly mentioned Pinberg and Papa and some of your other finishes. Well, at Pinberg, fourth last year, second the year before. Is this going to be the year? You know, it just depends. It very well could be, but it very well could not be. I mean, I know I was kind of disappointed with my performance at Papa, which was silly because it was, you know, I got like 20th or 19th, which is still great with the caliber of players I was playing but you definitely sort of feel obligated to do better when you know you're capable of but you know some days you just you blow it right you miss that shot and that's a tournament sort of thing Oh Raymond this just in at Pinnberg funny enough in every one of your banks doodle bugs gonna be in it No It funny I completely sucked on that game I put up a good game on Family Guy and then Doodlebug just crushed my whole mojo But I played it for hours after the final. Me and some buddies, Jarrett, Gaddy, and Kevin Burrell, we just played it over and over again trying to get the Doodlebug up. It was really fun. Well, you were kind of making fun of your Papa finish. There's no shame in finishing 19th in A. And here's something that's really impressive of what you did back in April at the Papa facilities. You played in all the classics events and finished in the top 12 in each of them. So a lot of guys will forfeit the classics to play in the A division. You did both and did well in both. Yeah, that definitely helped the old Whopper resume for sure. Definitely was proud of my accomplishments there. And speaking of Whopper, currently sitting third. How exciting is that? Yeah, within striking distance. I'm just happy. I met my goal of get over 1,000 whoppers because it's a big number, and it sounds cool. It all started with you with your first ever game, Black Rose, a game I love, especially if it's playing well. Oh, man. I'm glad to hear another Black Rose fan is in attendance. And you still have it too. Oh, yeah. I don't think I could ever sell it. It's just, you know, that special game. And with your IFPA 14 win, you chose Ghostbusters. How's that playing? It's playing mean. Oftentimes I'll have to play like 10 games in a row before I get one that I'm satisfied with. And then, of course, even after that, I play another game. We talked about you being so young, but now that you're 24 years old, you've been playing a long time, but it's got to be nice to be old enough to play at some of the places and tournaments where you were once too young to even enter. Yeah, there's definitely some of that going on where now I can, you know, I can fly to Europe or, you know, I can go to Pittsburgh every year. I can play in any bar tournament. It's definitely nice to not have that limitation when I was younger. And when you play in Seattle, first of all, a lot of great places to play, but the caliber of the players there, Kevin and Dave and Jermaine, my goodness, really good players in the Northwest. Yeah, it's serious. We joke a lot of our pinball finals in local tournaments could be Papa finals because it's like me, Kevin, Dave, and Jermaine or some local guys that don't get out to Papa, but have put up huge scores, it's insane. Kind of makes you a better player, too, when you learn from the others or have to step your game up. Oh, yeah. I actually love playing against Kevin or whatnot, where you can't hold back. It becomes a game less of don't suck to kill it. When you have to make that switch, it's kind of a nice drive. You end up playing better as a result. I know another game in your bank, you own Mustang. Which car do you pick first? I usually do Drag Race just because it's a guaranteed multiball and gets you in the feel of the game. Also, with the latest code update, you can actually still get the super skill. And so if you're going for the super skill anyway, you might as well have Drag Race, because then you're making progress towards that as well. Raymond, I love talking to you about newer games and strategies because you certainly know the rule sets. I remember talking to you at PAPA about The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones and seeing what you do on these games, including at IFPA 14, you know your stuff. I'm definitely better on games that haven't come out in the last like four years, because Pinball News used to do these giant in articles that I would just read and study every piece of and all the rule sheets in the archives all that I would just read But the newer games like in the past four years there not really any good source So like Game of Thrones, I don't actually know all that well. I just know the basics, and I try to watch what other people do, that sort of thing. But yeah, it can be challenging with the games that are coming out so quickly, you don't know the rules. But you're not intimidated by Deep Ruleset. I know your favorite game, mine too, The Simpsons Pinball Party. Yeah, I just actually listened to your Keith Johnson pinball profile on the way to work today, and I was like cheering along. I was like, yes, Simpsons Pinball Party, the masterpiece, the pinnacle of pinball perfection in my opinion. Okay, on Simpsons Pinball Party, occasionally I can get to Alien Invasion, but not the super-duper wizard mode, and that's something you've been able to do, right? Yeah, yeah, a couple times. That's not easy. Tell us, us mortal people, what it's like. What it's like getting there or like once you're there? Once you're there. It's just a big frenzy where everything's lit, and you can add balls by hitting things. You get cool animations when you hit certain multipliers. You can get triple supers and stuff. But you don't really care, because at that point, you've done what you wanted to do, so you're just kind of flipping and going along with it. And another thing, I have an ACDC machine, and I've been trying to, pathetically, get to the Encore Championship. I know you've done it. I've got to nine songs, I think, maybe ten once. You've made it, haven't you? yeah that was my one of my goals when I borrowed it from a pinball collector here and yeah I wanted to make sure I got to that and it is so cool it's probably my favorite like wizard mode like playing it I don't want to spoil it but there's there's some really cool things that go on in it you know I've had the machine for a few years I haven't really tried it I've just tried to you know maybe get all the multi balls going at once but now I'm trying to get the encore jackpot and I'm probably be about maybe a month away from just taking off the glass and doing it manually. No, man, keep at it. You just got to come up with a plan. Always pay attention. Keep track of which shots are really easy, like TNT you can pick off. Don't play like you're playing in a tournament. If you're going to encore, just play super risky. Just tag off things. That's how I did it because it's like shot efficiency is way better than safety when you're going for a huge goal like that. All right, I'll give it a try. It won't be done in time for Pinburg, I'll tell you that.