Episode 149: Obsessive collecting with Mike Dymus

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·18m 50s·analyzed·Aug 20, 2018

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Mike Dymus discusses building London's pinball league and his obsessive machine collecting hobby.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Mike Dymus, president of the London, Ontario Pinball League, about building and managing a thriving community league that has grown to over 80 participants in its first year and now operates in two shifts after eight seasons. The conversation covers league formats, community building strategies like rookie and most-improved awards, Mike's obsessive pinball machine collecting and restoration hobby (100+ machines acquired in five years), pricing trends in the secondary market, and a humorous anecdote about winning the league while bleeding from a sword wound.

Key Claims

The London Pinball League started with 12 people in the first league night and had over 80 people participate at least one night in that first year
high confidence · Mike Dymus stated directly in interview
Over 40,000 people have joined the IFPA in the last four years
high confidence · Jeff Teolis cited this as growth statistic during opening discussion
Mike has acquired over 100 pinball machines in the last five years
high confidence · Mike Dymus: 'I don't know the exact number, but you know, in the last five years is when this craziness began, about five years ago and easily over 100 machines since then'
Older pinball machines are maintaining their value around $2,000-$4,000, while newer high-end machines ($6,000-$10,000) are starting to cool down in the market
medium confidence · Mike Dymus offered market analysis based on his personal experience as a collector and operator
The London Pinball League now operates two shifts due to capacity constraints from hosting in people's basements
high confidence · Mike Dymus explained the operational necessity for splitting league into shifts
Julie Dorses was the women's champion at PAPA last year
high confidence · Mike Dymus mentioned this achievement of a London League member
The league changed from full year-long seasons to two seasons per year to reduce commitment barriers
high confidence · Mike Dymus explained the format evolution
Mike purchased seven pinball machines in one week during the interview week
high confidence · Mike Dymus: 'This week was a bit exceptional. I purchased seven pinball machines this week.'

Notable Quotes

“I say I blame you, and the reason I say that is because you formed this league.”
Jeff Teolis @ early in interview — Sets up the interview premise about Mike's impact on the pinball community
“I am partly responsible for inflicting more than one person with the pinball obsession. And especially to you and to all those people, I say you are welcome, and I also apologize.”
Mike Dymus @ mid-interview — Humorous acknowledgment of his role in spreading pinball enthusiasm
“I learned after, you know, about 100 pinball machines that it's kind of addicting.”
Mike Dymus @ collecting discussion — Candid admission of his collecting obsession after reaching 100+ machines
“I purchased seven pinball machines this week. Yes, I have a problem. I know it.”
Mike Dymus @ late interview — Demonstrates the scale and addictive nature of his collecting behavior
“If you want to win in pinball, there's got to be blood.”
Jeff Teolis @ closing anecdote — Humorous callback to the sword wound story that became the climax of the interview
“I had the T-shirts made up and everything”
Mike Dymus @ TTI/Pinburgh discussion — Shows his commitment to community events despite not qualifying for trash talker tournament

Entities

Mike DymuspersonJeff TeolispersonLondon, Ontario Pinball LeagueorganizationJulie DorsespersonJoe StancicpersonToronto Pinball LeagueorganizationPinburghevent Canadian Pinball Podcastorganization

Signals

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business_signal: Mike Dymus operates as active pinball machine broker/restorer, acquiring 100+ machines in five years with weekly purchasing activity, indicating secondary market liquidity and operator business model viability
high · Mike: 'easily over 100 machines since then' in last five years, and 'This week was a bit exceptional. I purchased seven pinball machines this week'
?
community_signal: London Pinball League successfully scaled from 12 initial participants to 80+ in first year, now in eighth season operating dual shifts, demonstrating sustainable community building model
high · Mike: 'We started with 12 people in our first league night, I believe it was, and that was our first year. And I was actually just looking at some stats. We had over 80 people participate at least one night of league in that first year.'
?
community_signal: League implemented inclusive award categories (Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player) beyond top-4 finishers to acknowledge broader participation and retention
high · Jeff: 'create something like maybe the top rookie or the most improved player, because I remember when we handed out those awards this year, there were some pretty excited people'
$
market_signal: Older pinball machines ($2,000-$4,000) holding value while newer high-end machines ($6,000-$10,000) showing market softening and becoming harder to sell
medium · Mike: 'the higher-end and newer machines are starting to cool down a little bit' and older machines 'are still holding up' because they are cheaper alternatives
?
community_signal: Growth in IFPA membership cited as over 40,000 new members in four-year period, indicating expanding competitive infrastructure and community baseline

Transcript

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0:00

It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile, at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. So I've been doing this Pinball Profile for a little while, and really only been into pinball for about four years. How did it all start? Blame this guy. Mike Dimas is the president of the London, Ontario Pinball League, And Mike, welcome to the show. Hello, hello. I thought I was pretty obsessed with pinball. You've taken this to a whole new level.

0:38

I say I blame you, and the reason I say that is because you formed this league. We're in our eighth season already, correct? That is correct. That is amazing. It started for me four years ago. Somebody on Facebook said, we're going to go play pinball at a pinball league. I'm like, what is that? And really, in the last four years, there have been a lot of people that have joined the IFPA. Over 40,000, in fact. So I'm not alone. I guess it's just really getting the word out. So how did you create the London Pinball League? Well, it was sort of discussed here and there over a few years, and everybody kind of thought it would be a good idea. And it was sort of a collaboration of a few people, just decided to get together and have some meeting and talk about the potential for the Pinball League. And, you know, shortly thereafter, it began. We started with 12 people in our first league night, I believe it was, and that was our first year. And I was actually just looking at some stats. We had over 80 people participate at least one night of league in that first year. So I am partly responsible for inflicting more than one person with the pinball obsession. And especially to you and to all those people, I say you are welcome, and I also apologize. Apologize to my wife. You don't have to apologize to me. I love it. But Julie Dorses is another person that's been in the league for quite some time. She's the treasurer of our league. She was the women's champion at PAPA last year. So we've got a few people that have done well in London and that have traveled and played in different places too. The London League, though, when you talk about 80 people in the first year, it is a huge league. It meets kind of about once every three to four weeks on a Saturday. And you've grown so much that you've had to expand it to two shifts. I've talked to some other people in Arizona and other places too about what to do for capacity. So what made you come up with this idea? You just didn't want to turn anyone away? Yeah, that's basically it. We really have tried to make sure that anybody that wants to play is able to, but our league is, as you know, in people's basements. There's really not a public location for us to do this. So we have finite space, and nobody's got enough space to host 50 people, 60 people in one sitting, so we have to divide it up into a couple shifts so we can accommodate everybody, and we do a pretty good job for the most part, and pretty much never had to turn anybody away. You've probably seen different formats of leagues. Some people do direct play. Our league in London, you play six different games, and it's kind of a best-score league, and you play six nights in the league, and your best four count. So was that always the format for this league, or what made you decide to use this type of best-score format? I think it has always been a best-score format. The first couple of seasons were actually full year-long seasons, so it was not always that same format. We decided to change it up and get a couple seasons per year so you don't have to be committed to coming out the whole entire year. I mean, you only had to play so many nights. So we split it up, and now we do two seasons a year. It's easier for people to participate that way. I think everybody likes it. In terms of if we have more people interested, capacity could be an issue. We don't really want to have to have one single host host three different shifts. I mean, for the host, it would be a full-day event. And even with two shifts, it is a pretty long day. But it works the way we have it right now. And who knows where the direction will go. It could be open to changing formats. But right now, we're just working with what works. Okay, what kind of changes would you make? Is it just really to accommodate? Well, you know, the Toronto League, they do more of a match play style where the top players are grouped with the top players and they have a whole system that they do. And I believe that format, you know, you don't have to rely on the machine to work for eight hours if the machine goes down. It's not machine dependent. It's just sort of, it's more match play. Just how you did on that machine against those particular players. And not that we would necessarily change that but it been a thought in my head like hey you know there are other formats out there that could work work But things are going good the way they are now What they do with the direct play and I seen other leagues do this as well too is there's no need then for a playoff because you've had so much direct play. With the league we have now in London, where it's a best score, there is a need for a playoff because there isn't a direct play element. So, yeah, it's interesting to see what all the different leagues are doing and the different formats too. Let's put it this way. I drive an hour and a half to come to London. I was born and raised in London, but I don't live in the city anymore. I like the league so much, and there's a lot of pinball to play in Ontario, as you know. Tri-city pinball. You've got the city pinball in both Toronto and Guelph. You've got pin-up league in Waterloo. PCPL. There's Bluffs in Scarborough. There's the Toronto pinball league. There's a lot of pinball around and a lot of leagues, but there's something that brings me back to London and the league that you created, Mike. It's great. Yeah, you keep coming back, and you have a busy schedule, and I know you really try hard to get your nights in, and I guess that says something about the league and your obsession with pinball as well, which is a good thing. Well, do you know what's interesting, too? Because there are different types of ways you, me, everyone kind of play pinball, and here's three, for example. So me and you just might play, and we'll just have some fun. Maybe it's a new game we've unboxed. We maybe want to have a little dollar challenge. Fake dollars, of course, not real money. No real money. Never real money, of course. Who's believing that? Anyway, so those are just kind of some fun things. There's the league, which is more social. You know, if you think about it, if you were points hungry, a league is a good way to introduce you to new pinball machines, new locations. It's not all really about the points because it's really about the people, and that's what I like about leagues. Whereas tournaments like we just had in Pinburg or any of these other events, these kind of things, those are the ones where you kind of go for the points and try to up your standings if that's something that's of interest to you. Yeah, if you're point hungry, you definitely don't need to participate for six months in a league. You can go to a weekend-long tournament and probably just get as many points throughout that tournament if you play well rather than committing to a whole six-month season. So the league has definitely a more social aspect to it. And we're breeding a lot of tournament players, though, like I mean yourself included. A lot of people are getting really good at pinball, and the league is partly responsible for that. and we've turned a lot of people that never even knew what Pinbird was into being regular attendees. The league certainly introduced you to the IFPA and how the Whoppers worked. That's one aspect that I didn't even know was a factor. I was just there to play pinball and see games I had never seen in a long, long time, 15 years, in fact, and that's what got me hooked back into it. And just the fun social atmosphere about it, and we hear other leagues talk about, you know, I wouldn't say there's coaching, but if you were to ask somebody, okay, what do I do? I've never seen this machine. And pretty much everyone's going to say, here, do this, or go to pin tips, or whatever the case would be. That's what I like about the league atmosphere, too, and the people. And the tough thing, too, for you, Mike, as the president of the league and the executive, which I'm now a part of, it's a tough balancing act for any league to please everyone because there are people that do not care at all about points. There are people that want to be there for the social, maybe to have a drink or something. and the hard balancing act is to try to please everyone without going swaying the needle too far one way, I would say. Yeah, there's every aspect, every player in the spectrum from extreme to beginner, and there's no way to please everybody, but we try and manage. You've been one of the most difficult to please. No, just kidding.

8:15

That's just because my play sucks. Yeah, so we adjust every year and do what we can and try and make it better every year. Well, you know, one thing we did last season, and I recommend this to other seasons, and it's not an original idea by any means, but there's always the awards for top one, two, three, four people, and some people may never get there. So create something like maybe the top rookie or the most improved player, because I remember when we handed out those awards this year, there were some pretty excited people that were looking at this nice trophy and going, wow, it's not always about the trophies by any means, but just the acknowledgement that I've done well. And I think that kind of hooks you in a little bit. Well, I've got to give you credit for bringing that to the table because that was pretty much your idea to bring those types of awards. And you're responsible for the trophies, so you've done a great job with that and very cool trophies. And giving out awards for different things like that was a great idea. And, you know, you're right. Not everybody is going to be able to qualify for a top four trophy, but you can be Rookie of the Year or Most Improved, and there more prizes to give out Let shout out to David of Ulic Store in Michigan who provides those great trophies I don know where you are located when you listening to this There are trophies everywhere Double Danger also has them as well too But look around. There are some unique things that you can get in pinball. And we just happened to use Ulic Store in Michigan. They're very cool. I have a couple of them. And sometimes when my friends come down, I'll turn them on just to illuminate them. And I guess, I don't know, boast while I try and win their quarters off them. We had the top four trophies before. And I said, let's eliminate the fourth place one and make the rookie of the year and make the most improved player. By the way, I was fourth both times last year, so there go my trophies. But I was glad to see it go for something like that. Doesn't matter. But I did get to do something I wanted to do. So you've got the grand champion, which Joe Stancic seems to win all the time. He won that. But we created a special one for second place, and I think you won that. What's it called? Oh, I think I might have that one. Let me go walk over here. Let's see. says London Ontario Pinball League season 8 second place the Josh Sharp not sure who that is runner up award Mike Dynas June 2018 so that was cute I'm glad I have that trophy there you go Josh immortalized not just on a Team Josh t-shirt but you're on the London trophies as well oh yeah he's immortalized what are we going to do if he ever wins one of these things oh I can throw my trophy out ok fair enough don't worry about it it's safe Now, Mike, you also were in the podcasting game, too. Now, you chickened out at the TTI at Pinnberg. You left early. We know about that. But you also are a podcaster. And here in London, Ontario, you said, you know, I'm going to take not just the London name. I'm going to take all of our huge country with 36 million people. I'm going to call it the Canadian podcast. Yeah, why not? You know, go big or go home. We try. We're the most hackiest of podcasts out there with almost zero listeners. So it's definitely a fun way to kill time Because if anybody has heard it They know it's mostly just us going on road trips That's when we record And definitely gives us something to do And kills time on our long road trips And if anybody happens to find it entertaining Then cool But yeah, I had to back out Well, I didn't have to back out of the TTI trash talker action But I suck so bad at Pinberg That I didn't qualify for any playoffs I was relegated to the D division I didn't even qualify for playoffs So I was like, well, I played a lot of pinball this weekend. Going home is an option. And unfortunately, it wasn't a bad option, but I did miss out on the trash talker, which I was excited about. I had the T-shirts made up and everything. And I mentioned to Chuck on his page that me and my team spared everybody a brutal beating by us going home early. So you're welcome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll talk there, Mike. But you and Tony do this Canadian Pinball Podcast. And again, for those who haven't heard it, we talk about the road trips, too. The thing I know about you, Mike, and even today, you're always acquiring pinball machines. You're an operator. You like to fix them up, move them out. Your rotation is huge there in your basement. That's what gave you the idea to do the podcast. But really, I'm more interested in this obsession of buying pinball machines. I mean, is it exciting to get the good deal? Is it exciting for the project? What is it for you? A little bit of everything. Definitely the excitement to buy a new pinball machine and going to pick it up and acquiring it and bringing it home. It's definitely very exciting. And I learned after, you know, about 100 pinball machines that it's kind of addicting. And, yes, as you called me earlier today, I was like, oh, yeah, just on the way back from Brantford picking up a pinball machine. Surprise, surprise. This week was a bit exceptional. I purchased seven pinball machines this week. Yes, I have a problem. I know it. But I definitely get to keep my collection fresh. Every time I host the League, there's always something new in the collection. And, you know, anybody from League comes, it's like, oh, what's new in the collection? Because they can usually assume at least one or two machines is different. But, yep, I like restoring them. I've done all kinds of restorations and all kinds of fun projects. And, yeah, it's a little bit of everything. I enjoy every aspect. I've achieved many levels of obsession myself. There's an obsession ladder. I've probably jumped off the top of it, and that's what's fun about it. Have you ever figured out how many games you've owned in your lifetime? I don't know the exact number, but, you know, in the last five years is when this craziness began, about five years ago and easily over 100 machines since then I afraid to count You really becoming an expert at fixing these too I see you on the Facebook group Pinball Repair and always asking questions Do you use other forums to figure out what problems might come up Yeah I use a little bit of Pinside occasionally or Pinball Repair Help Group or ask a couple friends. But that Pinball Repair Help Group has a lot of real experienced long-term operators, repairers, professionals, hobbyists. There's a lot of smart people. Clay Harrell comments every once in a while. He is the owner of the VFW, of course. If anybody knows anything about pinball, it's definitely him. And there's resources out there. If you have a question about pinball repair, it's not too hard to find it out there. So diligent research and a little bit of help or a lot of help, and you can probably fix most stuff. Back to acquiring games, you've seen the prices just skyrocket exponentially over the last few years, especially in the older games where you're paying almost new in box prices for some of the older games do you think we've reached the peak of prices or do you think it's just still going to continue especially with the older games when they're not remaking them i think with the older games i think they're maintaining their current values i think with the higher priced games older or newer they're kind of reaching a peak they're a little tougher to sell uh because there's so much out there to choose from in the new and high-end markets. So I find those are starting to soften up a little bit. But that also is what holds the value of the older machines because, you know, you can buy an older machine for $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, which sounds real cheap compared to $6,000, $7,000, $8,000, $9,000, $10,000 for the newer machines. So I think the older machines are still holding up, and the higher-end and newer machines are starting to cool down a little bit. Well Mike, I appreciate you coming on Pinball Profile I know I'll be seeing you soon at the London Ontario Pinball League and best of luck in your next acquisition Thank you very much and just as a side note I remember one thing about League that happened to you and I don't know if you ever told this story to your fans I know where we're going You know where we're going with this and I don't know if you ever told this story but if not, you really should just give a quickie of this story Is this the only time I ever won the London League? I'd have to check this stat, but it is possible. So, all right, since you're on here, I didn't... The only time I ever won the London League, I almost didn't make the finals because I had to go to the hospital to get emergency stitches when a sword that had to be at least a foot, maybe 18 inches long, fell off the wall and stuck into my arm, blood gushing like Monty Python. Oops.