Episode 397: Nick Byrd – Pinsomniacs Pinball

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·27m 25s·analyzed·May 17, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Nick Byrd discusses building Jacksonville's pinball scene and hosting a Pinberg satellite with rare ticket giveaway.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Nick Byrd, operator of Pinsomniacs Pinball in Jacksonville, Florida, about building the local pinball scene, his Pinberg satellite tournament (May 31-June 1) offering a rare golden ticket, and his day job as a skydiving instructor at iFly with 1,600 jumps. The conversation covers tournament culture, competitive pinball awe, his multi-location pinball operations, and personal passion for Elvis Presley and pinball machines.

Key Claims

Pinsomniacs operates pinball machines across three Jacksonville locations: Video Game Rescue, Teppies brewery, and Throwbacks.
high confidence · Nick describes his business locations and operational model directly in interview.
The Jacksonville Pinberg satellite event is the only one in Florida and has 68 slots for group match play on June 1st.
high confidence · Nick explicitly states location details and capacity; registration already open at insomniacspinball.com.
The Pinberg golden ticket is worth $350 and the main event has 144 people just outside Pittsburgh in July with 25,000+ in total prizing.
high confidence · Jeff cites ticket value and prize pool; Nick confirms Pittsburgh location and July timing.
Nick has completed approximately 1,600 skydives and works as a skydive instructor at iFly indoor skydiving facility.
high confidence · Nick directly states jump count and employment; discusses training procedures.
Nick's Elvis pinball machine is approximately 20 years old and was purchased new-in-box from Old Town Pinball about a year ago.
high confidence · Nick describes acquisition story and machine age; purchased from Will at Old Town Pinball.

Notable Quotes

“Like when I was a kid, I remember my mom dropping me off at the Aladdin's Castle so she could shop in the mall and give me some quarters, and they had a Judge Dredd and Attack from Mars, and those games just kind of pulled me in.”
Nick Byrd @ ~8:30 — Explains formative childhood experience that shaped his passion for classic pinball and motivation to share that history with younger players.
“For me, it's almost a level of awe. I mean, everybody's playing so much better than me... the way some of these pro-level players are just, they can play, you know, they're on Godzilla and they're knocking out of the park and then we switch gears and we go over to something like Creature, and they don't miss a beat.”
Nick Byrd @ ~15:00 — Articulates what draws him to competitive pinball — the skill and adaptability of elite players across different machines and eras.
“I can't think of anything else where you get to play a hobby or a sport and get to be against and amongst the best in the world.”
Jeff Teolis @ ~18:00 — Captures the unique appeal of competitive pinball as an accessible community where enthusiasts can interact with top-tier talent.
“When you leave that plane, there's only one thing going on, and it's that moment on that skydive, and everything else just kind of melts away.”
Nick Byrd @ ~45:00 — Reveals personal philosophy about skydiving as an escape from daily pressures — parallels the immersive focus required in pinball.
“I have the nicest Elvis pinball machine on the planet, and you can play it at Teppies.”
Nick Byrd @ ~68:00 — Highlights pride in rare machine acquisition and commitment to making it available to community at his venue.

Entities

Nick ByrdpersonKimberly ByrdpersonJeff TeolispersonPinsomniacs PinballcompanyTeppiescompanyPinbergeventiFlycompanyOld Town Pinballcompany

Signals

?
business_signal: Multi-tier pinball operator model in Jacksonville spanning coin-op venues, free-play bars, rentals, and special event placements; diversified revenue including tournaments and streaming.
high · Pinsomniacs operates across three locations with different business models; also does weddings, birthdays, streaming, and tournament organization.
?
community_signal: Nick Byrd actively building Jacksonville pinball scene through multi-location operations, tournament hosting, and community outreach; intentionally curating mix of classic and modern machines to educate newer players on pinball history.
high · Nick describes three-location operation, Pinberg satellite event, and deliberate curation: 'I don't want everybody just playing just the new stuff. They need to know some of the history of it.'
?
community_signal: Accessibility and approachability of elite competitive pinball players creating welcoming environment for new/amateur players at tournaments and events.
medium · Nick expresses awe at player skill but notes 'they're so approachable too. everybody's just so awesome and so welcoming at those levels.' Jeff corroborates this as unique aspect of pinball community.
?
event_signal: Jacksonville Pinberg satellite tournament scheduled May 31-June 1 at Teppies brewery with 68-slot capacity; rare golden ticket raffle ($350 value, sold out main event) being offered to participants.
high · Detailed tournament structure with practice strikes on 31st, group match play on June 1st, raffle mechanics tied to tournament performance, registration open at insomniacspinball.com.
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Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.082

0:00

it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff deolos you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we're on twitter x instagram at pinball profile great facebook group as well You can email pinballprofile at gmail.com. If you'd like to show your support, it's not necessary. It's just a kind gesture. I really appreciate it. Patreon.com slash pinballprofile. And thanks to great people like Lua W., GME Law, Stefan R., Cliff A., Colin M., and more. We're going to Jacksonville, Florida, where the scene has gotten a lot better over the past few years. And thanks to great people like Nick Bird, who joins us. Hi, Nick. How are you? I'm great, Jeff. Good to talk to you again, man. Yeah, we saw each other in October right before Expo. That was nice. You were there with your wife, Kimberly, and you've kind of really developed that Jacksonville scene over the last year in a bit because as an operator, you've got a lot of good games going on there. What's going on in Jacksonville? Yeah, we're just really trying to build it up, trying to create a good pinball community, a good tournament community, and really let some of the newer, younger folks know that pinball is alive and well, and it's super fun, and just give them some great games that they can play. Yeah, you're really fascinated by all different eras too, which I have to say, for operators, it's not always easy. It's easy to get the new titles and stuff, but when it comes to tournaments, you kind of want a little bit of mix, and you've got some classics in there as well. Where can people see you and your fine games? The bulk of my eccentric games, I guess, would be at a brewery. It's called Teppies. and right now I've got about a dozen games in there, and it's a pretty good mix of games. I've got Labyrinth, Primus, and Elvis, Spider-Man Vault. About the time this is airing, Shadow's probably going to be there, fixing up a Harlem Globetrotters that's going, and then I've got some modern sterns and stuff like that in there, and I've got a Fathom Mermaid Edition sitting across the room from me right now, staring at me, and it's going to show up for a tournament coming up in a couple months. So, yeah, a lot of cool games. You have a very big tournament we'll talk about that begins May 31st, June 1st, a chance to win a ticket to Pinnberg. We will get to that in a second. But the mix of games, you know, I am encouraged when I hear operators like yourself put in the different era games. You know, the moderns certainly are very attractive, and if you're probably a new player, you're going to be maybe attracted to a theme, at least getting that first quarter, that first dollar in. but the games have to be certainly fun and challenging and priced right. It sounds like with the mix you've got there, people like the variety. Yeah, it's definitely exciting to see people that kind of gravitate to things. And I try and put games in there, like I've got some old Bally Williams, I've got an Attack from Mars, a Creature from the Black Lagoon, and that's the kind of stuff that got me going. Like when I was a kid, I remember my mom dropping me off at the Aladdin's Castle so she could shop in the mall and give me some quarters, and they had a Judge Dredd and Attack from Mars, and those games just kind of pulled me in. I remember playing Dredd, and I thought I was doing something wrong at my age because they got the scene where you're snooping and stuff, and it's just to see people play those games, and it brings them back to their childhood and light up. That's just awesome. And I don't want everybody just playing just the new stuff. They need to know some of the history of it. So when it comes to competition, I think you and I, we first saw each other, it was actually before Expo, it was at Antarium, which is going to be the home of Papa 21. That was in Chicago, and you were there for the Stern Pro Circuit. And you and I had been talking because you also listened to my other podcast with Martin Robbins. You listened to Final Round on the Pinball Network. Thanks for that. And when you see the competition at that level, myself not included because it was kind of a two games and done for yours truly, but you saw some of the best there at the Stern Pro Circuit Finals. What is it about competition pinball for you that excites you? For me, it's almost a level of awe. I mean, everybody's playing so much better than me. I'm the kind of guy that has to play a game. You know, I get a game and I dive into it and I got to get my rhythm with that game. But the way some of these pro-level players are just, they can play, you know, they're on Godzilla and they're knocking out of the park and then we switch gears and we go over to something like Creature, and they don't miss a beat. And then all of a sudden we're on a game like Stars, and we're just kind of bouncing around in different era games, different style flippers, different layouts, different pitches, and just it's incredible to me to watch how quickly they can just pivot like that. That's what gets me excited. It does for me too. It's also I think the awe factor was we mentioned Papa 21 coming up at Antarium in September, but it was kind of my first Papa event. which was done at the old Carnegie Hall, the wonderful Papa Facilities. And I remember people pointing out to me, you see that guy over there? That's Keith Elwin. He's one of the greatest ever. And, you know, he was just a guy in a ball cap and shorts playing the game. I didn't know anything about it. And then, well, certainly you see him play. You look at the stats, you're like, yeah, he probably is the greatest ever. And so I'm sitting in line, and on one side of me I've got Bowen Cairns, the other side I've got Lyman Sheets. And by this time I'm like, okay, I've seen Bowen's videos. I've seen the championships he's won. I didn't really know about Lyman's playing career, which is also championship level, one of the greatest players ever, but I certainly knew of his coding. I was like, holy cow. I can't think of anything else where you get to play a hobby or a sport and get to be against and amongst the best in the world. And that was kind of the exciting thing for me for competitions because I couldn't think of anything else you could do that in. And they're so approachable too. everybody's just so awesome and so welcoming at those levels like bowen is an amazing dude got a chance to spend some time with him at texas and just awesome just it's so great to see people that are that good and that talented and they're that deep into pinball and they're willing to just kind of like spread the love it's wonderful i find that true as well and i have a theory it's because when you tell people outside of pinball that you're obsessed with pinball and they look at you like you've got two heads, when you go to a competition, when you see a Nick Bird for the first time or other people who are just kind of getting into it you want to bring them in and get them excited So again we grow our nerd base and we not as unusual The more we can bring in the more mainstream it becomes I think that's why we do it. Oh, yeah. The more people we can get involved, the more people that want to come to our events, and then the events get bigger and the events get better, and then all of a sudden that person can become the next operator in your area, and they start bringing in a bunch of games, and the whole scene just improves. Absolutely. So is Kimberly into pinball as well? Oh, yeah. Oh, see, you've got a perfect world there. Yeah. She started playing, and she's getting better, and she loves it. And she bought herself an Iron Maiden.

8:25

I'm glad she enjoys pinball as well, too. So let's talk about that big, big tournament you've got. And it is big because maybe you've seen on pinberg.com, there are satellite tournaments happening all around North America. There are several in the United States. There are two in Canada. But as far as the Jacksonville, Florida area, you've got one, and there's nothing really close. It's probably a six-hour drive to get anywhere else. So what's going on and where and when? Got the only one in Florida. It's at Teppies. It's going to be at that brewery. It's going to be on May 31st. It's going to be the practice that evening. We're going to have a strikes tournament and come in and get some play on there. So we're going to have beer, good street-style Mexican food. You can eat, play some pinball, and then on the 1st, the Saturday, actually, June 1st, that's when we're going to have our group match play, and it's going to be styled as close as I can get it to Pemburg. Obviously, I won't have banks of games in there, but we're going to bring in about 20 games, so we're going to have it really packed in there, and it's going to be a really good time. Here's the exciting thing. Thanks to yourself, thanks to Jocton of Pinshades and Pinsteps, who's actually a bank sponsor of Pinberg. You've got this rare satellite ticket, and I can win this ticket by going to Teppies? Okay, so I have to be really good that day? No. Nope. Sure don't. That's right. We're raffling this ticket off. All you have to do is enter. You just have to be in the tournament. That's it, man. And what do you have, 68? I think I saw those, the number of people. Yep. So, Saturday's event, the group match play is limited to 68 slots. We have already opened up registrations, and you can register at insomniacspinball.com. So, we got a little bit of time. You can still get in, and here's how the raffle to get your golden ticket to Pembroke is going to work. Just entering the competition, you get one raffle entry. If you want, you can buy a second raffle entry, but nobody can purchase more than two. So, one for just entering. The second one is optional. If you win the Strikes tournament on that Friday, that practice the night before, the winner will get one raffle entry. An extra one. An extra one, yep. So if you're a good player, you can earn extra raffle entries. Or you can just show up, and it can be your first tournament, and you can still win that golden ticket. Yeah, that ticket's worth $350, long since sold out. You actually bump the wait list because they were actually reserved for satellite tickets, too. 144 people just outside of Pittsburgh in July. That tournament alone has 25,000-plus in prizing. Did you ever get to go to Pinnberg? I have not. It was one of those things where it was ending right about getting really heavy into Pinnbottom. Well, that's an event that's going to be growing, and thanks to sponsors like yourself, like Pinshades and Pinsteps, it will grow next year in 2025 and even beyond that too. So hopefully we can get you to Pembroke. But you're going to be sending somebody at random when you go to Jacksonville, Florida. It's really exciting. So you're going to show up. You're going to play your 12 rounds of group match play. And then we're going to break for semifinals. And the way this works, if you're going to the semifinals and you're seeded eighth through fifth, you're going to get an extra raffle entry. If you're seeded fourth through first, you can get two extra raffle entries. So the max you can get if you bought into the tournament and bought your extra one, and you won Friday, and you made it to the semi-seeded, you know, first through fourth is five tickets. Okay. So a little advantage if you do well, but still, it is random. And limited. Yeah, I like that. So Pinsomniacs Pinball. Tell us about Pinsomniacs. So Pinsomniacs is my company. When I got my first pinball machine, we were staying up pretty late, and we were playing a lot and turned into a little bit of insomniacs with pinball. And so I just thought insomniacs really fit. And I do coin op. I've got three locations around town. I'm in Video Game Rescue over on Blanding Boulevard. I've got Teppies where I've got a good bulk of games there. And then I also have some games that are set on free play at a place called Throwbacks. So you pay your cover charge at Throwbacks, and you go in there, and I've got a pretty nice bank of games in there as well. And I do coin-op, short-term, long-term rentals, special events. I've got a wedding this weekend that's going to have some pinball at it. And we do birthdays, all kinds of good things, tournaments. We stream. Whatever you kind of need pinball, I'm trying to fill that niche for people. Is this the wedding or the actual buck and dough where there's going to be a pinball machine? So it's at the wedding, and we're putting it in the groom's room. He doesn't know, so he's going to have a couple of pinball machines in the room right there in the back of the church. It's going to be great. What if he's wizard mode and they're playing the chimes to bring him down the aisle? He's like, she's going to have to wait. It's going to build suspense.

13:38

That pretty cool What a unique idea But again I seen pinball machines in more unusual places and I not surprised to hear it at a wedding So that's Pinsomniacs, and it's funny it's called that because here we are recording, and for both you and I, it is coming up to midnight. Yep. Because long days and a lot of hours worked, and it's how you squeeze some of these interviews in. But a lot of good players, certainly in the Florida area and around Jacksonville too. The Stafford family comes to mind. Yeah, they are maybe 20 minutes from my place. They're not far away at all. And they attend pretty much all of my tournaments. Excellent players, excellent. Yeah, I've seen Shannon and Stacy and Tristan. They've been to pinball profile events, in fact, but they do love to travel. And it's really special when you can do that with your family. First of all, it gives you the time to get away. But they all love it, and they're all really, really good at it too. so I'm sure they'll be at your event. Yeah, they're already registered. Another reason we're doing this late at night is because, again, there's the day job. And I don't know what you do. You're listening to Pinball Profile right now. You have an honest living. I'm not job shaming by any means because every job is great, but Nick's might be the coolest. I'm sorry I'm saying it. Nick is a skydive instructor at iFly. iFly is in some major cities. people might not know what iFly is. First of all, explain that. It is indoor skydiving, and it's a vertical wind tunnel, and we get you in there, we teach you a class, and then we simulate skydiving in a very controlled environment, and you don't have to jump out of a plane to experience what skydiving will feel like. That's the basics of it. And it's also a great training tool for those that want to jump. So you can get really good at controlling yourself before you ever do leave the plane. So that's an added bonus there. So my family has done iFly right here just outside of Toronto, and it was a blast. It was kind of a, what are we going to do over the Christmas holidays a few years ago? I'm like, you know what? I drive by this all the time. Let's check it out. I had a buddy, Dan Bitterlick, who did it and told me about it. And I was like, okay, let's give it a try. Now, two of us got it right away. We were like perfectly flying. We could move around in kind of the circle area. Two of us kept bouncing off. It's not even a floor. It's almost like a trampoline. It's mesh to get the air to go through. Big net. So two of us were really kissing that pretty good, but the scars have come off my face. I'm not going to say who, but it is an art. It's not easy to skydive and maneuver in the wind. They make it look so easy, like when James Bond jumps out or Tom Cruise or something like that. It's just, eh, no. It just takes a little practice. We can get you there. Come on down. We'll do some lessons. Nick, you know I'll do it because it was fun. That being said, okay, that's indoors. So, of course, maybe, must. You've done a few jumps outside, haven't you? Oh, yeah. That's how I got started. How many? About 1,600. 1,600 jumps. Yep. That is so cool. Yeah, it's fun. So I assume when you first start off, it's tandem, correct? My first skydive was tandem. and after that, I knew it was something that I wanted to go after. I was like, this is just great. It's something that puts you completely in the moment. You know, you've got mortgage, you've got job, you've got all these other things that are always on your mind, but you know what? When you leave that plane, there's only one thing going on, and it's that moment on that skydive, and everything else just kind of melts away. And I was like, man, I've got to do this, and I got to do this a lot. And the hook gets in and there you go. You're in it. My wife has done it. And in fact, years ago, when she had a birthday, I bought her another skydiving package. And she said, well, I'm getting older now. Maybe responsible to kids, family, all that kind of stuff. Maybe I shouldn't do it. It's basically her way of saying she chickened out. She did it when she was young and brave and stupid. And I think it's funny because I'm afraid of heights beyond belief, but only certain heights. Like flying, I love flying. If I'm at a height where, I don't want to sound morbid, if I'm at a height where I fall and, yeah, I might peril to my death. But as long as I don't get hurt. It's like the three to five story range. I might survive and that might really hurt. Once I'm at a certain height, I'm like, okay, I'm going to splat. That's fine. Kill me, don't maim me.

18:19

Oh, this is taking a turn for the worse. You should come jump. Oh, come on. Oh man, you're so high, the heights don't even matter. You're going to look out. It's not even like, you can't even register how high you are. It's like jumping into this beautiful oil painting that somebody did. It's like you can't even tell. You wouldn't even notice a car unless I pointed it out to you. See, skydiving, as chicken as I am, and I might do it someday. Heck, George H.W. Bush did it, I think, on his 80th or 90th birthday, if I recall. The late president. I think I would have more ease and less fear doing that than something like bungee jumping. bungee jumping, forget about it. That's got splat written all over it. I did that. That's terrifying. Okay, thank you, Nick. I was like, oh, that was a thing. We're done. It's a lack of control in bungee. You're just like, you're a yo-yo on the end of a string, but skydiving, you're in control. I guess. You can move it. You can fly. You can fly your body. Yeah. It's just like the wind tunnel for you. You're trying to master a skill set. Okay. Explain the packing of the parachute and the safety mechs. Because I'm thinking about doing this. You could convince me right now, Nick. I'll go with you. We'll do it. Okay. Explain how safe these are. Forget pinball right now. I want to talk about skydiving. So you're going to have two parachutes, Jeff. You'll have your main parachute and we're going to go do a tandem. We're not going to just throw you out the airplane and say good luck, right? So somebody will be with you. It'll be an instructor. We'll give you good instruction. You're going to be attached to his parachute. You're not just attached to him. You're attached to his parachute at four points, one on each shoulder, one on each hip, okay? The parachute that he's jumping with, it's the price of a reasonable car. You know, it's like a $17,000 parachute that he's wearing. Got a main, and then there's a second parachute reserve, okay? It also has a computer on board where if you hit a certain altitude at a certain speed and your parachute is not deployed, it's going to deploy a parachute for you. So there are a lot of safety mechanisms, and you should definitely try it. There like 30 million skydives in the United States every year and there just a small handful of incidents And they usually people that are really really pushing the envelope Oh not deploying until the last minute that kind of thing Yeah or flying down the side of a mountain in a parachute or in a wingsuit incredibly close to trees and things like that. They're risking a lot. The risk-rewards out of balance there. 1,600 jumps, never any scary moments? No, not really. Birds? You'll see them, but not until you're... They're usually not at deployment altitude or higher. That's a good point. When you're jumping, I think the tandem... Is the tandem 3,000 or the tandem 10? Oh, you're jumping like 13,000. For the love of God. 13,500 feet is pretty much what happens in Florida, because Florida's great. It's the capital of skydiving, man. You've got to come down here. The majority of skydiving equipment is actually made in the land. Oh, okay. In Florida. So you're at sea level, so you're going to get more free fall. Like if you jump in the mountains, hey, the mountains meet you halfway, so you've got to pull earlier, less time. So jump at 13,000 feet, get like 45 seconds of free fall, get a parachute around 5,500 feet, nice, silent, easy parachute right down. Okay, back to pinball for a second. Tell me you have the EM SkyJump.