it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teolas you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we're on twitter we're on x we're on instagram at pinball profile we have a great facebook group as well you can email pinballprofile at gmail.com and if you'd like to show your support boy that would be very kind not necessary the show will always be free, but patreon.com slash pinball profile. And we want to thank great people like David M, Fox Cities, Stefan R, Rodney C, and so many others. So it's Saturday night. Try not to be around too many people because I'm just getting over a cold. And I got to thinking, as I'm now in my 30th year of professional broadcasting and radio, how it all started after college was doing a Saturday night request party. And I always thought it was weird. You never knew who was on the other end of the phone when you picked up the calls. When you were talking into the microphone, you didn't know who was listening. You would get ratings and you would see whatever the shift was, 30,000 people are listening. Okay. But you weren't talking to a crowd of 30,000 people. Same with podcasts. You don't talk to the thousands of people that listen. You're talking to one person because only one person is listening at a time. It's not like, hey, everybody, gather around. We're listening to a podcast or a radio show. It's one-on-one connection. and for most part it's just one way broadcasting but the request show was pretty neat because then you've got some interaction so one of the things i love about pinball profile is it's not just me spewing this and that it's me finding out about people so in a way i've kind of come full circle so let's do just that let's pretend it's the saturday night pinball profile request show or at least for part of it so let me get into the mood here hold on a second here Donna Summer, Hot Stuff, feeling good on a Saturday night here on Pinball Profile. Great music ahead, including ABBA. We've got the Bee Gees, Casey and the Sunshine Band going out to our friends over at Ted Motors. A reminder on Monday morning, don't forget the phrase that pays. Your chance to win $1,000 coming up at 10 to 8. Take a look at the forecast. Oh, hoping for some nice snow on Christmas Day. You can go away on the 26th, but give us a white Christmas, won't you? Let's go to the phones right now. We're going to go to South Carolina. Hi, who's this? Yeah, this is David calling from Charleston. It's good to hear from you, David. I saw you last, I think, in April at the very last stop ever of the Pinball Profile Played in America Tour. We were at Portal Arcade, Brian Burrell's wonderful place just outside of Atlanta in Georgia. That was a bit of a trek for you to get there, wasn't it? Yeah, it was tough. It was like five and a half hours through a monsoon. It was brutal. That was a tough day. Now, when you say a tough day, was that the hardest part, or was maybe something that you did at the tournament maybe a little tougher? Yeah, that was rough. I played Emoto's extra ball on Valley Star Trek and got a zero. I just wasn't playing good that day, but it was a tough way to get a zero on there. And that was actually the first time I ever met Emoto in person. You know, we have a lot of mutual friends and stuff, but she doesn't do a lot of the local stuff in South Carolina, and I don't do a bunch of the big shows. So we just have it cross paths, and that was like the first time meeting. So that kind of stuff. So you were starstruck. That's why you plunged your ball. Yeah, a little bit. That's counted as that. So what have you been up to? Just getting ready for states. I'm one of the two IFPA state directors for South Carolina. So we are doing the state tournament at a new venue this year. So I've just been trying to get those guys squared away, helping them out with settings and all that stuff. And we did a fellowship of the silver ball tournament at that venue for the first time. I saw your results. My God, look at that. You were in second place and you got 31 Whopper points. I was playing pretty good. Me and Bill were tied in first at the end of finals. So we had to play a tiebreaker. He picked Guardians of the Galaxy and blew it up, and I just completely ran out of gas. That's actually the second time that I've lost to Bill on a tiebreaker on Guardians, so he's just got my number. This is Bill Mason, the wonderful player in North Carolina who went south to play in this event. So no shame losing to Bill, but you knocked off the Grants, Nate and Ken, and some other really good players. It's a good scene there in South Carolina and also North Carolina. Yeah, it's awesome, and it's grown a lot. Steadily, since I started in 2016, we've kind of steadily made a progression. And this year is the first year we're going to be a super state, so that's really exciting. You know, top 24 now instead of 16. So everything is going well. We've got some new locations. There's a location in Rock Hill that opened up. We just got Radioactive Pinball in Aiken, and I'm going to host their first tournament ever on January 7th. So they're going to be in the mix next year. So it's a lot of good stuff going on. Well, I wish you a lot of luck. That's a lot of fun when it's Super State because the top eight get a nice buy there on that third week in January. That's always sweet and a good competition there in South Carolina. I know I had fun when I went to Bang Back there back in March for part of that tour. So I wish you the best of luck. It's nice to talk to you again. All the best in the holidays and safe travels and all that kind of good stuff. All right. That sounds good, Jeff. You have a good one. David Benke from South Carolina here on Pinball Profile. Back to the phones we go. Oh, look at this. This one from overseas. Melbourne, Australia. I wonder who it could be. Oh, look at that. It's our good friend, Martin Robbins. Hello, Martin. How are you? I'm really well, Jeff. How are you doing today? It's so nice to talk to you on a podcast. We don't get this opportunity like ever. We really don't speak enough, do we? Well, I did want to talk to you before the Christmas holidays because I think we're going to take a bit of a rest on final round. That doesn't mean I'm not busy and you're not busy. What do you got cooking? Well, I mean, I've got to get a head-to-head episode out before the year end. I love the stress that you and Ryan have to put out one episode a year. There's a lot of pressure. I mean, going from a weekly episode, so 52 a year down to one, there's a lot of pressure on that episode. So we'll just do the usual thing, just turn the microphones on and see what comes out. Well, you've got a special guest, and I'm not sure the name of the bottle of gin with you usually when you do that show, but it's always entertaining. Well, I hope so. I mean, it's one of those things when we sort of laid down the mics on head-to-head, a lot of people were disappointed and they wanted it back. So doing it once a year is a way of being able to satisfy those people, but also it gives me a chance to speak to Ryan as well and have a bit of banter. I mean, that's the reason why we do Final Round, as you know, is actually just because we like each other and we like talking to each other, and it's a good way of catching up. It really is. I mean, the fact people listen is just kind of, okay, that's the bonus. But I was just on with Jason, who we both admire from the Pinball Party podcast. And I know he wanted to get you on, too, but timing is – I hope it happens, but it may or may not. He's doing these 12 balls of Christmas and 12 different guests. And it was nice to connect with Jason there because he's a big fan of what you do, and he likes us and has this character on his show called Meff. Meff, yes. It's a combination of Marty and Jeff. And I said, well, why do you need me on the show? But anyway, I did mention to him that on that show, I said, by far, my favorite podcast I've ever heard when it comes to this pinball hobby was and is head to head. So I look forward to that special Christmas edition, if you will. Yeah, so do I. I say that before we record it. I hope it's worthy. Can I just tell you, I had somebody by the name of Keith Elwin. You might have heard of him. he sent me a message and he said tell marty to run the twerpies this year do you remember when you did the twerpies on uh i remember the twerpies very well the funny thing was i mean the twerpies were for those people that don't know it was the anti-twerpie in that it was the worst of everything in the industry and i've changed I've changed I don't think right now the industry's changed so I don't know whether we would do the the turkeys particularly in the current climate I have no idea what you're talking about but you're right yeah um hey you're doing great things with haggis I know for 2024 I'm looking forward to my centaur uh special edition that's going to be a lot of fun and I know all the people are looking forward to what you're doing there you did a wonderful job with fathom and I can only imagine the same for Centaur, but I know it keeps you busy, doesn't it? It does. The only thing I'll say about it is that Fathom, obviously, beautiful game, and people really responded. If I could just talk about me for a second. People really, really enjoyed the 2.0 code that I did for Fathom, and there's a lot of pressure on Centaur because it's my favorite game from that era, and the code is probably five times the size of Fathom. so there's a lot more that I can get right or wrong so a lot of pressure on. When you say five times, you're talking about the new code that you're going to be making? The new code, yes. Five times the size of Fathom, yeah. That's exciting. I look forward to it and I know people enjoyed seeing you and Damien and Georgia at Texas Pinball Festival. You had a wonderful display there. The good people of FAST helped you out there and you've got some great distributors all across the world But Will, your friends and fans of Marty Robbins and Haggis Pinball, will we be seeing you in March at Texas Pinball Festival? I hope so. I think that the plan is certainly to be there again. And I sort of said that it was interesting that I went to Texas Pinball Festival for the first time instead of going overseas to play a tournament. So it was kind of a bit odd for me. And having that experience of just talking to people and enjoying the spirit of pinball, that was really the turning point for me, dare I say it, to kind of ease back on tournament play because I realized I much prefer just talking to people in general. and I would say likewise people enjoy talking to you and getting to see you because it's very rare that you come across the pond as you say and when you guys come to North America it is a real treat so fingers crossed that happens whether it be Texas or another event in North America. Marty have a great Christmas and I will talk to you soon I look forward to head to head. Thanks Jeff Thank you for an awesome 2023, and I look forward to speaking to you again. Marty Robbins. So what did we learn? We learned that on this podcast, we can keep it clean for 10 minutes. We can talk without swearing. It's possible. All right. I already said goodbye. Beat it. Back to the phones we go right now here on the Saturday Night Pinball Profile Party, if you will. It doesn't matter what we call it. We're just having fun and good to talk to people, especially in this holiday season. Somebody I am very fortunate I get to see quite a bit, and you're going to get to see her at InDisc. If you don't see her and you hear somebody laughing, you definitely know it's her. It's Julie Dorisers. Julie, how are you? I'm good, Jeff. How are you? Best laugh in pinball. That should be an award. It should be a degenerate award. Okay. All right. Joe Cherovino. I tell him to put that on the list I always get a kick out of his Degenerate Awards It was a lot of fun In fact recently on Pinball Profile I had one of his award winners in Cliff Albert He was a lot of fun I really enjoyed getting to chat with him and have to get him back on again But everyone talks about him being a troll and stuff like that. No, he's just a funny guy. I met him at Allentown several years ago, pre-pandemic. And we had to play. They had this tournament where he just played the games that were there, which I don't know if that's a good idea or not because the games were all in different conditions, right? But I had to play him. We had a great chat, and he was so fun and upbeat, and I really like Cliff. He's a good guy. Well, people say the same about you, Julie. I don't know anybody who doesn't like Julie because you are a lot of fun. You really are a real people person, and like you say about playing that tournament at Allentown or when you and I get together at Maple Pinball, You've got something going on right now in London, Ontario. What's going on? Yeah, so Corey Cook, who owns London Pinball, he has placed games in a brewery called Forked River Brewery, and we're trying to do, we have two Tuesdays a month where we have a tournament, and then one monthly tournament. So we're just, he's got eight games in there, and he's going to rotate the games. We're going to get a Big Guns, January or February, and a Hang Glider. So he's going to try to rotate the games a bit, sell one, buy a different one, you know, just to keep changing it up. And we're just trying to have fun. You know, it is for IFPA points, but I don't think you're going to get your Indisc type points there. But it's a lot of locals, Loppel people, people formerly who used to go to the London Ontario Pinball League. So we're trying to kind of build again, and I think it just takes a bit of time. But, yeah, we're having a lot of fun, and we're starting to get people are showing up, coming out of the woodwork. So that's really nice to see. And, yeah. Well, the pandemic cost us not just the London League, but certainly locations. You were busy doing TDing at the old Call the Office, and it's good to see you doing this again. It keeps you busy for sure, and it brings new people into pinball. and who knows where that leads to. I mean, you probably were just playing casual and look at you now. You know, I remember seeing you at the old Papa location, being the first ever, I believe, women's champion at Papa. Oh, was that the first time? I didn't know that. Whether it is or not, we're going with it. Yeah, Julie's the first. No, but you were the winner and it was very, very exciting. That was really exciting. You drove me there. I kind of went on a whim. I went, oh, maybe I should go. And I had to find a hotel. And I just kept playing. And I really had a good time there. When you win like that, you do get the bug, right? It does get you hooked. And you crave that a little more. So I don't know if my skills have improved or gotten worse. I don't know which. But I still have a lot of fun. Isn't that what it's all about? It is. Some people don't play competitions. People listen to this podcast and sometimes it's like, oh, they're talking competitions. but that was more of the drug. We all listening to this podcast like pinball and I found out I liked pinball even more once I was doing competitions so that's why I'm passionate about competitions. It wasn't about whether you're in first or whether you're in last. It was about the people you got to meet and really great connections and you've made them all over the world and I know you're going to see a bunch of them at InDisc in a couple of weeks. I'm starting to get, you know, Christmas is coming so I've got to kind of focus on all that but I am starting because it's like your pinball family, right? You see people that you only see at pinball competitions, and that's such a joy, you know, to hang out with people. You're mostly talking about pinball. That's the beauty of it, right? All the politics and all that other stuff is kind of by the wayside. You're just focused on the pinball, and I really enjoy that. I wasn't going to go, and then I got talked into it. I get talked into these things quite easily. my arms rubbery I guess I don't know well people are glad you're going to be there because they enjoy seeing you Julie and I'm sure there'll be lots of hugs and you mentioned Christmas is coming up if you're not friends with Julie on Facebook send her a request you will see ornaments you didn't know existed when Julie posts her little ornaments I'm so impressed by what you do yeah so I don't know. What's your favorite, Jeff? Do you have a movie? Are you a Griswold? Are you Star Trek? I have all sorts of little weird ornaments. I was at Nick Greenan's house yesterday, and Nick's mom, Lori, is a wonderful woman. She's great to both Aiden and to Nick, and so is Mark, the husband, too. I walked in their house, and I said, Lori, I don't mean to complain. I'm a guest in your house, but you really could use more Christmas trees. I could see four of them. And she goes, oh, yeah, there's more upstairs. I'm like, wow. Somebody's in the spirit. Loved it. One tree, that's all I get. Yeah, but you've got some good ones. To answer your question, she had a bunch of the Griswold ones on there that I got a kick out of. But your Star Trek ones are spectacular. And anyway, Julie, I probably won't see you before Christmas, but I'll see you in California. Okay. Are you going to the Pinball for Change on the 30th? I will not. I don't mind promoting that. So if you're in the GTA area, the greater Toronto area, and you're looking for something to do, on December 30th, the wonderful Walt Moroz puts on these great charity tournaments for Pinball for Change. It's happening at Maple Pinball, where we just had the Ontario Open. That's, again, on December 30th, so a big mix match play. And no, I will not be there. I will be, I guess I can say this, I'll be in Las Vegas. Ooh! It's my 10th wedding anniversary, and Anne is taking me to Vegas. We've been there a few times and thought, okay, we'll go see John Oliver and Seth Meyers and a couple of other shows and have a really good time there. And then I was supposed to fly back on the 1st, and I said, Anne, I've got to be in California on the 3rd. She goes, oh, I said, I should probably just stay a couple days in Vegas. And she goes, yeah, you're right. and I'm biting my lip going, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit. Like Fred Flintstone. So, yeah, it'll be, I'll have to find something to do in Vegas for two days. Oh, there's nothing to do in Vegas, is there? I'll find something. Anyway, Julie, I'll see you in California. Okay, take care, Jeff. Bye-bye. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. As we say goodbye to Julie Dorsey, as we go to a mutual friend of ours, and in fact, we've been at his wonderful collection, his collective if you will the rochester pinball collective bruce nightingale the host not co-host slam tilt podcast hi jeff how you doing sir good to see you bruce bruce you've been a big help to me in more ways than one this year and we'll get to that in a second actually i think you had a big event today at the rpc i did and i missed it because i had to work but luckily you missed stomp too for the same reason didn't you i did i did work has been literally my job luckily we are so freaking busy it it's just beyond comprehensive you know and i have now six employees underneath me god forbid them you know that they have to listen to me all day but uh you know we're just so busy it's just unbelievable so i gotta just do my regular gig and then this is just of course my side gig but a fun side gig a little relief would be nice but I guess it's good to be busy. I mean, we certainly had some downtime just a few years ago, so that's good. But I heard you and Ron, the other host, and the other co-host, Zach, on the recent Slam Tilt, and some good topics on there. But just talking about the RPC, because I know you and Zach are partners, I had a great time there at the Pinball Profile Played in America Tour. You guys are wonderful hosts, and 50 games now. I even heard you say you might try to get more. We're trying to. We're talking with the landlord about expanding. Either we're going to expand in the back area, which is our repair area a little bit, and rent another space for a repair area, or a bigger area adjacent to our area. So it's all up in the air. We're still dealing with the landlord and the realtors. The nice thing I found about the RPC is you go to a lot of arcades, and let's say if they have 10 or 20 games, good chance they're probably going to be all probably modern games, certainly the themes you recognize. But you go to RPC, you've got those newer games, but you've also got LEs in there, and you've got incredible old games. I remember playing Zach in a playoff, and he got to pick a game, and he picked a wood rail on me. Yes, yes. So we've got a couple wood rails. We have a lot of 60s games. So we even have a hot tip, you know. So that tells you that we like all generations of games, and that's what you would see at the RPC. Speaking of hot tip, and I mentioned you were a big help to me in 2023, We have a big, big tournament that's done just down the road from you, a little west in Buffalo at Pocketeer Billiards. Bruce, you were a massive help to me as a tech, and you also brought a couple of games, including Hot Tip and The Fist. Yes, The Fist. And, Jeff, I'm going to say it right now. Next year, when you do it again, ask, and you shall get games. Honest to goodness, you know I'm going to ask. I know you're going to ask, but I'm always offering. That's what I do for you as a friend and as a longtime friend. You do good for everything. That's why I offer it and help you out this way. Right back at you, Bruce. You've always been wonderful to me behind the scenes, even getting pinball profile. Ready, you and Ron? Yes. I probably wouldn't be on air if it wasn't for the two of you just figuring out. I could record. I could talk to people. That was easy. It was just a matter of how do I get this up and going? Yep. Bruce, I hope you and Kat have a wonderful holiday. And I know at times it's been a bit of a tough year for you with Missy and stuff. And boy, are you guys ever great dog owners. And maybe that will happen again soon. And who knows, when you lose somebody, you certainly like to remember the good times. And you do that with Missy and also too. And you might hear this in a few weeks. You mentioned it again, but what you and Ron did with raising money for the suicide prevention awareness and in Lyman's name on Slam Tilt, over $13,000 you raised. We were very privileged to do that. We don't take money. You know that. We don't take anything. So I want to give. And I brought the idea from another wacky idea that I tried to do in the past. And Ron said, do what you want, man. I'm right behind you. And it worked out. Luckily, we earned over $6,750 just from our listeners. And then where I work, they matched it. So that's where we got the $13,000. And it all went to a great cause. And, you know, Lyman was a great person. He had some issues. And unfortunately, we can't help him, but we can hopefully help somebody else. And that's the most important thing. You're a good man, Bruce. You and Ron keep up what you're doing now. You're in your eighth year. Isn't that crazy? It's freaking awesome, but it's crazy. You know, we do it every other week. We keep it light. We get people on. We get people who want to be on. We ask people. We say, if you want to come on, come on. We'll get you on eventually. And we get some great guests. And we're not going for the big names. We do get big names, but we're not going for the big, big names. You know, once in a while we'll get a Jeff Teolas. We'll get, you know, Ryan C. You know, that's... I got to tell you, just recently, Tom C., the big Rush fan. I loved hearing Tom. I know, Tom. Tom was great. It is a great addition We want to get you people you know the normal people like what you do This is what you do and this is what i enjoy about pimple profile i get to listen 15 minutes you stick with one person and you have a great time with it as you know everybody's got a great story so it's a good to talk to bruce happy holidays uh wish you the best and uh give cat a hug for me will you i will happy holidays everyone thank you our next guest on the line has had a little experience with podcasts, especially in the last couple of months, and for good reason, because he gave us a brand new book. It's Ryan Claytor and his book, One Bite at a Time. Hey, Ryan. Jeff Teolas, thanks for having me on the house party. This is amazing. Something to do on a Saturday night, and it's always good to see who's up, and also maybe not at a Christmas party, or I'm just laying low tonight. I know it's going to get crazy over the next three weeks, so this is a good time just to chat to people like yourself. You've been busy, book signings and all kinds of podcasts. I know your Kickstarter campaign was very successful. So tell us what's the latest with One Bite at a Time. Yeah, so you were kind enough to have me on your show just a month or two ago, and we talked about this campaign for my book, which went super well. It succeeded. And in addition to that, here's a scoop. I teach at Michigan State University where I applied for a grant for my book a few months before the Kickstarter campaign. And it just came down the pipeline that I was awarded this grant. So basically, this month, I've been coordinating funds to transfer from my university to my printers so that they can start printing the book. And that's where I'm at right now. But But anyway, in terms of this house party holiday show, I just got back from looking at Christmas lights with my family and just happened to see your message on Facebook and thought, man, this sounds fun. I wonder what Jeff is up to. So I'm glad we could connect here. How the heck have you been? I'm good. I'm just nursing a bit of a cold, so stay away from the – No, no, I'm on the back end of it. So I just don't want to be around my in-laws who I love. They're spectacular. but they're in their 80s, and I don't want to get them sick before the holidays. So just laying low, I thought, oh, I'll turn on the mic and see who's up. And it's nice to hear from you, and I'm really happy for you for the book, One Bite at a Time. And with this grant, too, I mean, you talk about going to the printer. Forget what's inside the book. The book itself is gorgeous. Yeah, it's got a bunch of bells and whistles in there and a bunch of pinball artwork, too. but I don't want this to be a big sales pitch for onebytotimebook.com. But I do appreciate you putting all this together, and sorry to hear you're under the Carl Weathers. I'm glad you're getting a little better here, but hopefully you're all better by the time holidays hit. I think I will be for sure. And if you're looking for a gift idea, where was that website again? I think you're talking about onebytotimebook.com. That should get you straight there. but yeah it will not arrive for the holidays it will not even be printed in time for the holidays but it is worth the wait it should be next year that it'll be in people's hands and it's it's going to take my printers a good couple months or so maybe a little more to print these books because I gave them a very tall order they've told me yeah we're going to need at least a couple months to get this all together for you that's okay you can see the sale purchase you can put that under the tree. I got tickets for my kids to see a wrestling match. The tickets haven't arrived yet, so I've just printed off and wrapped up the receipt to say, look, this is where we're going. I like the way you think. Exactly. All right. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays, Ryan. All the best, buddy. Back at you, Jeff. Thanks for having me on. Earlier, we were in South Carolina. Let's go north in NC. It's Sammy Bacon. Sammy, how are you? It's good to see you again. Doing all right, Jeff. How are you? I saw you recently at Flippers at OBX my first time there. That's a fun place. Yes. That's kind of our home pro circuit tournament for the area. Another successful year. Had a lot of fun. That was busy. What a wonderful facility, too. I think the Saturday there were like five or six birthday parties going on, but it was separate to the pinball area. It's just this huge facility. I can only imagine how it's hopping in the summertime, but it was nice to go there in November, see you and some other great players, Bill Mason, Kaylee Campbell, and Eric Stone, I think, was there, and so many others. Yep. You've had some big news over the last little while, haven't you? Yes. So as of almost a month ago, we went public. I am now on the IFPA Women's Board of Directors. I'm so proud of you. I think the first time I saw you, I think it was Chicago at the women's event. Not this past year, but the year before. And it was the first time we got to chatting. And look where you are now. I mean, I know you're very, very busy. You run all kinds of tournaments. And now you're on the IFPA Women's Board. That's spectacular. It's been an honor to be nominated, an honor to ask. And it's been good. I'm having a lot of fun so far. Do you still have time for the Triad Pinball Twitch stream? Sort of. So I haven't been playing a whole lot. I've had some medical things since August, so it's not been a lot of playing. I've been doing a lot more admin. But just today, I confirmed with the hosts of the state championship that we will get to stream that this year. Perfect. Where is that? That will be at level 256 in Asheville. That's one thing I didn't realize until I was talking to you and to Kaylee and to Bill and others, just how big of a scene it is in North Carolina. There's pinball everywhere. I just figured it would be in a couple places I knew of, Abari and Flippers, but my goodness, there are so many cities that just have big, big pinball areas. For sure. And it's one of those things, too, that at least around the Triangle and I'm sure in other parts of the state, you look to host somewhere and there's five machines here, there's five machines down the road, there's three machines right around the corner, And there's just a lot of these little spots that you may not even necessarily know or be able to run a tournament at. But there's pinball everywhere. It's just amazing. It's truly a blessing. Well, I know you're going to get a lot more people into pinball. And now that you're on the IFPA Women's Advisory Board, you're certainly going to provide a voice that is knowledgeable when it comes to pinball and being inclusive. It's extremely important, and we can't thank you enough for what you're doing in North Carolina, and now really on a global scale. That is the goal, and we certainly have a lot of plans, inclusivity and growing the scene, and I'm looking forward to it. Sammy, all the best health-wise, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and New Year's, and hope to see you soon. Thank you so much. We'll see you next time. Our next caller, our next guest, about an hour away from Seattle, we go to Washington State, Aaron Davis. Hey, Aaron, how are you? Oh my gosh, it's Saturday night and we're talking on the internet. This is awesome. It's not like the radio show, but it's similar in the way that it was my favorite part was actually talking to, in that case, the listeners and maybe they had some requests for this and that, but you never felt like you were alone. And it's weird when you do a podcast. If I were to just talk by myself, I would feel alone, but because I always have a guest or a co-host on Final Round, I'm never alone. So thank you very much, Aaron, and to all the other guests that come on Pinball Profile throughout the year, I appreciate it. But as far as you, I know I saw you in March at TPF. In fact, Marty Robbins was just on. We were just talking about the fast pinball booth and being able to have Haggis there. That was very nice. But what a year for you. I just was one of the judges at Expo for the homebrew section. My God, did the homebrew people love fast pinball. It's a blast. I mean, like getting together at those shows, you know, I think that a lot of us are all looking for something creative to do with our time and stuff. And homebrew pinball has brought people all over the place, all together, around this niche of a niche of a niche of a hobby, I guess, and seeing what people build and create is a blast. And then you get to the show. You don't even need to say anything. You can just see. We can look in each other's eyes and go, I know what it took to get here. And it's not just the engineering and the coding and the art design, everything like that, but negotiating time off, you know, day jobs and away from families and all that kind of stuff. It's a massive undertaking to get a homebrew game to a show. And I think that's one of the things. You get to the show like Expo there, there's a cluster of tables out in front, and most of those tables were filled with just all of us just kind of sitting there just soaking it all up. Our fast booth was just on the other side of the homebrew place, and we were talking about all the people over there playing and having fun. One of the things that I said was, of all the games there, the Battle Stations game that was there, the two-player head-to-head game, I didn't even know it existed until I got to the show there. And it's built on Fast, which was super cool. But what I love most about that one is from our booth, I could see one of the players looking our direction, and they were smiling and laughing the whole time. So it's just great to see when people get out there and they see the homebrews, And then they see, like, oh, my God, I think I could do this. And then seeing all the camaraderie and stuff that comes around from that. And, yeah, this year was even cool with more of the commercial games that people are starting to build now with Fast. It's not just like, oh, Fast, those Humber guys. It's like we built this stuff commercial grade from the start. And so now seeing with Tagus, with Barrels of Fun, and Pedretti and the guys that we're working with on all these projects, seeing these games come out in a commercial format just warms my heart. You mentioned that battle game I was playing with Mark in the city who made Nightmare Before Christmas. And I said, okay, how does this work? And boy, was that ever fun. I just kept going back to it over and over again. You also mentioned Haggis and Barrels of Fun. Boy, good year for you for that because, I mean, that Barrels of Fun, first of all, we talked about Haggis earlier with Marty Robbins. But Barrels of Fun had no idea that came out of the woodwork. David David Van Es did a wonderful job with that. and the lineup, as you saw at Expo, to play Labyrinth was just a real showstopper. In fact, I think it won an award, too, for best booth at Expo. Yeah, something like that. You know what was funny is, like, we got there, and, of course, like, Dave Beecher, my partner here in FAS, like, we got there, and we walked in, and the booth was set up, the Barrels booth, but there was just the games and boxes. So we were, like, goofballs, like, taking selfies with these cardboard boxes, like, oh, my God, this game is here. This is amazing. And, you know, we got to go over there and play and stuff, and we're looking at it. strictly from an engineering standpoint. As cool as the game is, we were there eager at the end of the night when they turned the power off to the place. We wanted to open the doors and touch coils and see that these coils are not burning hot. We did something right. But my favorite part of that booth was, like you said, we would just stand there like flies on the wall. And I didn't even realize for the longest time that we'd walked to the end of the aisle and looked back towards the back of the venue to where people were lined up to play. I didn't realize that the line was going straight back. It looked like it was two people deep, but it was actually going towards the back of the venue. And it was cool to watch because, I mean, as people would play, they'd turn around and as they're walking away, they were smiling and kind of laughing and stuff because I think that the little fiery there was talking crap to them as they drained balls and stuff. And I just love seeing that joy because I know how hard all those people worked to make that game as great as it was. And when this game got to finally come out it had been secret for so long In fact I remember one time I was talking to Rob Burke and we on the phone and he goes hey your friends at Barrels of Thunder are coming to the show And I like he couldn see me but I ghost white Like, I didn't tell him this. I didn't say the name of the company. It was the first time I'd heard the name of the company uttered by anybody that was not like us or them. Of course, my response was, there's lots of people bringing really great things to Expo this year. And just let it roll off. But man, like, it was really great to see everybody there just beaming with all the hard work that is. And I think that that's just the thing about pinball. It's a cliche now, making pinball is hard, but it is really hard. There are so many moving parts and so much it takes to get there. And that's why seeing people get any game to a show and have it be playable is an enormous feat. And again, like barrels, this is their big reveal there, and it was great to see. Well, you also must have saw a great result, too, in your neck of the woods, too, at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show in Tacoma, the pin dev con event yeah tell us what happened back in june so this was kind of a an idea we've been kicking around for a while to do this pin dev con thing and the idea was we go to these expos every year and we go to you know all these different pinball shows and there's always that time spent in a loud venue kind of shouting at each other back and forth trying to hear something in these really loud halls and then there's the other extreme where it's you're at a in a presentation space and you're up on stage and you're telling stories and stuff like that. And what we always found was people were looking for something in between. You know, they wanted to hear the stories in a place that's not super loud and annoying, but also be able to ask some deeper questions. You know, they want to see what adjusting debounce settings on switches actually does to the gameplay or learning what it takes to actually send some commands to some fast forwards and build a game and make it run. And so the pin DevCon really kind of came out of like a, could we make this work? And Brian Madden got all of his camera gear together. And we set up this little theater space with the idea being, hey, we're at least a little further off the beaten path of the floor. But with the idea that like, we could tell people who are chatting with us in the booth, asking questions and say, hey, you know, come back at four o'clock, like Dave's going to be standing up there doing a walkthrough of what it's like to put a fast retro board into a I think it was a whitewater and start writing code against it in real time. Let's just give some people some more space to have a little more in-depth experience. And so it was kind of a perfect concept this year. And I think that next year, what we really hope to be able to do is work with, you know, different parties and stuff like that to maybe have some little breakout sessions where it's like, hey, there's a programming track. And if you come in at like 10 o'clock on Saturday morning, bring your laptop, we'll give you some code demos that you can download in advance, but then come in and tinker with some stuff and then walk over and plug it into a pinball machine and see what your code does running on that pinball machine. I think that'd be super cool. What a year for you. So much of what we do is always undercover and quiet and stuff like that. And this year, we got to go around and just kind of stand back and look at what everybody's created with our product. And there's more coming. Obviously, we're not on camera looking over at a project that a whole bunch of us are working on with groups all over the world right now. That'll be revealed sometime next year. And I can't wait for people to see it because I think it's so freaking cool. Keep up the great work. And thanks very much, Aaron. All right. Have a good night. So wrapping up this Saturday night pinball party, if you will, on Pinball Profile, we've gone from A to Z or in Canada A to Z, and we go to AZ. Alan Zuckerman joins us right now from just outside of Toronto in Thorndale. Hey, Alan, how are you? Great, Jeff. Thanks for having me. How are you doing? So a lot of people may or may not know Alan. He's certainly kind of a little bit of a local legend in the Toronto area because he has found later in life how much he loves pinball. And you can see him do his videos on Facebook and Instagram. And you have just caught the bug, my friend. I sure have. I just finished my 89th tournament since January. So I'm totally addicted. When did you start playing tournaments? Actually, I started December 29th of last year. I found Maple Pinball, Shane Jackson, online, and I had no idea that even tournaments existed. And now I realize through all the different apps that there are tournaments everywhere, every night, almost all over the world. Well, that's definitely the case, and you certainly get them in, whether it's at City Pinball at the Great Cabin Fever in Toronto. You mentioned Maple. I know you do stuff with the Greater Toronto Pinball League and other leagues, and you were a guest of our Ontario Open recently. And are you going to do more of this in 2024? I'm not stopping. As long as I can get out and do this, I find it just, you know, whether I win or lose, it's just I can't even explain the feeling. When I was a kid, my dad had arcades and I played, but I think I got the bug later on in life that I just really got into a lot of the older games and, of course, the newer ones, but it's just fantastic. I love it. As much as I can go, I'm there. We were talking with Julie Dorsters earlier tonight and... Oh, I missed. I was supposed to go this afternoon. They were playing... In London. Yes, and unfortunately, I couldn't get out. Hopefully, I will next time. We were talking with her, and she mentioned the same thing. It doesn't matter win or lose. I mean, obviously, you try to win, but it really doesn't matter. It's getting to play games maybe you've never played before, learning games and the people. And you're a real people person, I've noticed too. But it's just as much as the people as the games. I never get out to talk to so many people. We have the same thing in common as pinball and it's fantastic. Tell me about your father running arcades. I mean, I knew that side of it, but that for something like me, if my late father was into pinball, I probably would have got into it at a younger age. But what was it like when you were a little kid around these machines? Well, it was great, but punishment for us were cleaning playfields. Oh. So we used to go in the arcade, and when they used to close it around 11 at night, we used to have to clean the machines. But, of course, when my dad disappeared, we'd end up playing. So things like Captain Fantastic and Jack's Open and a lot of the godly wedgeheads back in the 70s that came out. And it's funny how even now these games appeal to me more than anything else. So running an arcade, machines break down. Your father or somebody else would have had to fix these. Did you ever get into that? Oh, I used to change coils. I still know how to use a soldering gun, and that's what we had to do. Cleaning a lot of contacts, troubleshooting those games back in the EM games were very different than the ones nowadays. Yes, you can move a machine over and move them around, and all of a sudden one's not working because it was moved. But we've learned ways to troubleshoot them and get them working as good as possible. With 89 tournaments so far this year, that's a lot. You're always out playing pinball, but you get to play pinball at home too, don't you? I do. Well, I did at one time. I had Space Odyssey and Noel from Maple let me rent for a month the Addams Family, which actually is the best thing that could have ever happened to me, only because my wife was always upset that I was out going to play pinball. But after that machine disappeared after a month, you know, she said to me, I get it now. Let's go look for a machine. And I told her, yes, well, we're not going to get one machine. We're going to get a few machines. So I'm starting to build up a collection slowly and hunting around. Just came back from Montreal two weeks ago. I was looking at it. It happened fantastic. I know it's not a great game, but the nostalgia. I like it. It's the sound of the game, and Captain Fantastic is a great game, but it wasn't as popular as I thought it would be, but it's just the back glass, the blue play field, the sounds, the bells, and the ding, you know, just the sounds that you just don't get on the new games like you do on the old ones, unless, you know, they're made up. But it wasn't in the shape I thought it was in, so I'm still looking around, but I think I have a list of what I want to get. I definitely am in love with the Twilight Zone. That was always my all-time favorite. Love Evel Knievel. It was the first EM machine, the first electronic machine that my dad had in the arcade. And people used to line up like crazy for that. And, of course, Godzilla's Rush. I can go on and on and on, more than I can count. So I don't know where to start exactly, but I'll start building on a few machines. Good for you. I know you're having fun, and even though fun is certainly the goal, you're actually becoming quite a good player too, Alan. Well, thank you. I have my good days and bad days, but like I said, win or lose, I love. When I get home after having a good game, I can't sleep. I'm up for hours. Last night I didn't do great at Maple. When I walked in the house at 10 at night, my wife knew right away that I didn't do well because I was home so early. So it never ends. But it's like I said, you know, Jeff, it's the social aspect. You end up just, it's the rush of playing the games, you know, whether you win or lose. So I find even when I'm, you know, standing next to somebody else and they're doing well, I'm still rooting for them, even though I'm sweating and hoping I still do well. It's just the fun part of the games. And they're also different. And again, it's like I said, the people are amazing. I was wearing, I think it was a Friday the 13th, and I was wearing a Camp Crystal Lake shirt. And you said, I've got to get a picture of us. So an old friend of mine in New Jersey, her name is Robbie Morgan, if you check her out on Facebook or Instagram. She was the first girl that was killed in the movie. Her family is from show business way back in the day, so I had to send it to her. She got a real kick out of it. Was she the girl running through the woods? Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, she was running. It was the first one ever killed in Friday. And she still goes to all the, I guess they have these parties every Friday the 13th and does a lot of tours with a lot of the cast on it. I never knew it was going to be such a popular movie. That is funny. Alan, I hope to see you again soon. Have a wonderful holiday and best of the new year too. Thank you, and you too, Jeff. Happy New Year and happy holidays. Well, that concludes our little Saturday night pinball party. I think my voice is starting to crack that cold. Still not quite finished with it yet, but rest the voice. Maybe have some chicken soup. I do want to thank everyone for coming on. That was a lot of fun, just a little improv thing on a Saturday night. Great things still to come on Pinball Profile. Some exciting news, don't forget. Our top ten most intriguing people of 2023. That will be coming out at the year end as well. I want to thank the great Patreon sponsors that make this show possible. Lua W., GME Law, William M., Tony V., Colin M. There's no other way to say this, but your support is extremely generous and makes this show possible. It is not necessary, but it does help offset the cost, and I can't thank you enough. Patreon.com slash pinballprofile. You can find us on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. Email pinballprofile at gmail.com. Join our Facebook group as well. Signing off on the Saturday Night Pinball Profile call-in show, I'm Jeff Teolis. Oh, yeah.