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Episode 367: Julian Nahachewsky

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·16m 22s·analyzed·Jul 14, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.024

TL;DR

Canadian paraplegic pinball player Julian discusses competitive debut, accessibility, and inclusive design solutions.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Julian Nahachewsky, a Canadian paraplegic pinball player from Saskatoon attending his first major international tournament at District 82 in Wisconsin. The conversation explores Julian's journey into competitive pinball despite his spinal cord injury sustained at age 19, accessibility challenges in pinball venues and machines, and practical design solutions like mirrors, LCD screen indicators, and adjustable machine heights to make pinball more inclusive.

Key Claims

  • Julian has been a paraplegic for 14 years (since age 19) and is now 33 years old

    high confidence · Julian states: 'I'm a paraplegic, so I can't stand. I've been a paraplegic since I've been 19 years old so for 14 years now I'm 33'

  • Julian sustained a T12 complete spinal cord injury from a snowboarding fall at Panorama of 30-35 feet

    high confidence · Julian: 'I hit a big snowboarding jump at panorama and I fell about around 30 to 35 feet and then unfortunately I landed on my back and my vertebrae started cracking... My spinal cord injury is. It's a T12, complete spinal cord injury'

  • Saskatoon has approximately 50 active pinball players split between a main league and a female-only league

    high confidence · Julian: 'about in Saskatoon, there's about maybe 25 in our league, and then there's 25 in a different female-only league. So there's about 50 players in Saskatoon'

  • Julian was the first paraplegic in Saskatchewan to complete a triathlon

    high confidence · Julian: 'I was actually the first paraplegic in Saskatchewan to do a triathlon, which is kind of cool'

  • Julian practices criminal defense law

    high confidence · Julian: 'I practice pretty much only criminal defense'

  • Julian owns five pinball machines at home (Tales from the Crypt, Jungle Princess, Halloween, Rob Zombie, Pirates of the Caribbean)

    high confidence · Julian lists: 'What games I currently have in my house are Tales from the Crypt, Jungle Princess, Halloween, Rob Zombie, and Pirates of the Caribbean'

  • This was Julian's first ever international pinball competition

    high confidence · Julian: 'this is my first ever international competition' at District 82

  • Julian drove 16 hours to District 82 after his flight was cancelled

    high confidence · Julian: 'my flight had got canceled, so I had to come and drive the whole way... I cut it up in two days'

Notable Quotes

  • “pinball is for everyone wheelchair it doesn't matter when you're playing pinball in my opinion and it's just great excellent competition”

    Julian Nahachewsky @ ~12:00 — Core thesis about pinball accessibility and inclusivity

  • “the most difficult part is being in a chair. It's not necessarily playing. It's trying to fix them. I own five machines at my house, and I am completely reliant on friends to fix them.”

    Julian Nahachewsky @ ~32:00 — Identifies practical maintenance accessibility as major barrier, distinct from gameplay

  • “You'll make a mint because it's not just for people in wheelchairs. It's for young children, shorter people, whoever. Think of their eye level. Make shorter legs.”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~36:00 — Suggests business opportunity in adjustable machine height as universal accessibility feature

  • “Asher... you know he's going to beat you, But you go up to a game and you go, geez, I've never played this before. And he'll say, oh, do you want to know what you have to do?”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~8:30 — References Asher Lefkoff's approachable mentoring style in community

  • “I think they would [get hooked]. So about the amount of players who are playing in Saskatchewan, about in Saskatoon, there's about maybe 25 in our league, and then there's 25 in a different female-only league.”

    Julian Nahachewsky @ ~20:00 — Evidence of growing regional pinball community organization in Canada

  • “I would love that [Friday 13th]. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A Chucky. I have a feeling one of those will come in the next few years.”

    Julian Nahachewsky / Jeff Teolis @ ~44:00 — Speculation about future horror-themed pinball machines

Entities

Julian NahachewskypersonJeff TeolispersonAsher LefkoffpersonJim BalcidopersonLyman SheetspersonDistrict 82eventPinball ProfileorganizationPokies Pinball LeagueorganizationSpooky Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Wheelchair accessibility in pinball remains incomplete; maintenance/repair access identified as significant barrier distinct from gameplay

    high · Julian: 'the most difficult part is being in a chair. It's not necessarily playing. It's trying to fix them... I am completely reliant on friends to fix them'

  • ?

    community_signal: Growing female-only pinball league in Saskatoon (25 players) alongside main league, indicating deliberate community expansion and inclusive organizing

    high · Julian states: 'there's 25 in a different female-only league. So there's about 50 players in Saskatoon'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Positive reception of paraplegic competitive player in mainstream tournament environment; welcoming, non-judgmental community culture

    high · Julian: 'it's a very welcoming community' and reports helpful advice from competitors regarding skill shot visibility

  • ?

    community_signal: Regional pinball hubs emerging in Canadian prairies with active tournament scene and inter-city collaboration (Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg)

    high · Julian: 'we collaborate with as many people as possible to get as many people playing' across Saskatchewan and Manitoba regions

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Visibility issues with upper playfields and upper skill shots for players with restricted sight lines (wheelchair users, short players, children)

    high · Discussion of Flintstones inaccessibility, Halloween upper playfield visibility, and potential solutions via LCD screen indicators or mirrors

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.049

0:00
It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teolis. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com, past subscriptions, episodes, and more. We're on Facebook. We're on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. You can email pinballprofile at gmail.com. And if you'd like to show your support, it would be much appreciated. Go to patreon.com slash pinball profile. Thank you recently to Lua W., Fox Cities Pinball, Jimmy Law, and all the wonderful Patreons. Really appreciate your support. You can hear arcade action here. It's the mecca for many people, especially in tournaments. It's District 82, and I've met a lot of old friends and some new friends, including somebody who also came from Canada to come here. First trip ever for Julian Ahachewski. How you doing, Julian? I'm doing well, thank you. And you're from Saskatoon. What's pinball like in Saskatoon? Well, I don't know. I think it's pretty good for our population there. It's good. We have, I can think of at least four places to play. The main area where we play is at Pokies Pinball League there. And besides that, we have three other places we can play. I have the opportunity to travel to Regina. It's also great there. It's been fun just traveling around the world, around the province, getting the opportunity to play with and compete with everyone. I like that you're traveling for pinball because it's kind of new for you, isn't it? It's very new for me. So this is my first ever international competition. I've had a blast. I've met a lot of great people. And, you know, it's just a very welcoming community. So I'm looking forward to my next one already. I saw you chatting outside with, oh, I don't know, the number one player in the world in Asher Lefkoff. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I was chatting with Asher. And, you know, it's really cool to see, you know, how humble and, you know, approachable some of these guys are. So, you know, egos got involved, at least from what I've seen. So it's been great. I think it's really cool to see them. One thing I like playing about Asher, you know he's going to beat you, But you go up to a game and you go, geez, I've never played this before. And he'll say, oh, do you want to know what you have to do? And he'll tell you. Now, he'll do it. We, of course, are trying to do it, but that's it. So anyway, you're having fun here at District 82. You picked a tournament where very, very tough competition. Yeah, it is very tough competition. I'm not doing the best I've ever done. But, you know, ultimately, I'm still having a good time. And I'd do it again. Can't wait. So, yeah. Well, you're nuts like me because you drove here and I was 12 hours. You were a little more than that. Yeah, mine was 16 hours. Unfortunately, my flight had got canceled, so I had to come and drive the whole way. But I cut it up in two days, so it wasn't that bad. Perfect. And work allows you to maybe take that time off, or are you calling in sick? Do we need to play this after the fact? Do I need to change your name? We won't discuss that. Right now, obviously, it's a weekend, so I'm not working.
Saskatoonorganization
Pintasticevent
YAGPINevent
Halloween (pinball)product
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Oktoberfestproduct
  • ?

    community_signal: Asher Lefkoff positioned as approachable elite player engaged in community mentorship despite competitive dominance

    high · Jeff describes Asher's willingness to teach new players strategies unprompted despite likelihood of winning

  • ?

    product_strategy: Universal market for adjustable pinball machine leg heights beyond disabled accessibility; application to children, shorter players, and ergonomic preference

    high · Jeff: 'You'll make a mint because it's not just for people in wheelchairs. It's for young children, shorter people, whoever'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Speculation about future horror-themed pinball licenses (Friday 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Chucky) emerging in next few years

    medium · Julian expresses desire for these themes; Jeff responds 'I have a feeling one of those will come in the next few years' but offers no specific sourcing

    • 2:46
    That's exactly it. We'll be home by Monday morning. That's right. Yeah, that is right. But yeah, so I guess what's interesting for me, I'm in a wheelchair. I'm a paraplegic, so I can't stand. I've been a paraplegic since I've been 19 years old so for 14 years now I'm 33 but despite that like I love competing in pinball and it's been just a great opportunity to get to compete with able-bodied individuals and being in a wheelchair doesn't matter when you're playing pinball in my opinion and it's just great excellent competition and like where I've been traveling and everywhere's been accessible so far so I've been having lots of opportunities to play. Well thanks for sharing out with us i don't see too many people in wheelchairs playing pinball and i think in the last couple years maybe i've seen five in competitions and i'm glad you said pinball is for everyone wheelchair it doesn't matter pinball really is for the most part accessible now for you you're obviously looking at okay is this on the first level floor are there ramps things like that i mean those are very important things that a lot of people really don't consider and it's unfortunate. So obviously I am paying attention to how accessible things are. Generally they are very good. So I've had the opportunity to play with everyone and overall it's been very accessible. And I guess really pinball is for everyone I want to get more people in chairs involved and I do have people in chairs playing in Regina and stuff coming out one of my good friends And there no reason why we couldn play So I just stoked about it Now, you told me, as I was telling you my story, my babysitter when I was young, Jason Clark, when he was 19 or so, I thought, I can probably jump that slow-moving train, you know, after a night of drinking. Sadly, legs got caught underneath, and he lost both his legs. he is now a world-class athlete and has been for many many years and I'll tell you this there's nothing that guy can't do and so I like hearing stories like this and your story too because you had an accident as well kind of at that same time didn't you I did so I myself had just turned 19 I had been 19 for less than a month and I hit a big snowboarding jump at panorama and I fell about around 30 to 35 feet and then unfortunately I landed on my back and my vertebrae started cracking to where I'm a paraplegic where my spinal cord injury is. It's a T12, complete spinal cord injury is what it's called. I pretty much severed my spinal cord in half. So I don't have motor or sensory function below my injury level. So after I became a paraplegic, I actually figured out there's a lot of opportunity to do a lot of sports. Back when I was younger and still competing before I was working, I did a lot of wheelchair racing. I was actually the first paraplegic in Saskatchewan to do a triathlon, which is kind of cool. That is cool. Swimming, biking, and then for running, you have a running bike, right? Yeah, it's like a racing wheelchair, and then on the bike portion of it, it's called a hand cycle, and you're laying back recumbent, and on the swim, we were allowed to have a wetsuit, and the five millimeters, that would be the thickness of the NeuroPrene, and we could have that, which would help the buoyancy of our legs. That's amazing. We're just going to go play a round. We'll come back and finish this. Sounds good, my friend. Okay, we had a few rounds in there, but we're back. tough rounds, weren't they? Yeah, I just got knocked out. But it was good. I did better than I expected overall. Still have been in a good mood about it. Good mood. If you're not having a good mood in pinball, why are you playing? I know. It's so much fun and I'm still very thankful I came. It's good. So, back at home, you're a lawyer. I am. What kind of law are we talking? I practice pretty much only criminal defense. That's good. I don't know if you know many people in pinball, but you can just have pinball clients galore. Maybe. I don't know. Not what I see. We were talking about playing in different places. You mentioned that you sometimes go to Regina and other places. You went to Yagpin last year. I did. Yeah, Yagpin was another amazing experience. That was my very first big tournament. Yeah, it was a really good experience to actually get to play with that many people. Yeah, it was great. And you're going to go back, of course? I'm already signed up. Me and three more friends are going. Good. And that's the thing. You were talking about Saskatchewan. Not a lot of play there. It's growing. I know Manitoba's been growing a lot, but Saskatchewan a little more so. It just takes someone to set up a league or something like that, maybe a tournament. You're going to have some casual people, but they're going to get hooked, aren't they? Yeah, well, I hope so, and I think they would. So about the amount of players who are playing in Saskatchewan, about in Saskatoon, there's about maybe 25 in our league, and then there's 25 in a different female-only league. So there's about 50 players in Saskatoon. And then we often will travel to Regina, where they have quite an active pinball competition scene. In addition, we actually go and hang out with people from Winnipeg as well. For instance, like next weekend I'm going down to Winnipeg to join them in their upcoming tournament. So although we're a smaller province, population-wise, we do collaborate with as many people as possible to get as many people playing. Tell me, when you're here and people ask where you're from and you say Saskatchewan and people start thinking of the prairies, do they come up to you? Oh, do you watch Letterkenny? Actually, I've had a lot of discussions about Letterkenny and the Trailer Park Boys today because my name is also Julian.
    7:46
    Where's your drink? I do like rum and cokes. I like when he gets in car accidents and the rum and coke hasn't spilt and things like that. It's quite a gag. We were talking about accessibility, and the nice thing about District 82, right here, you're really impressed with what they've done and made it available. It's not too tight. There's no steps or anything ridiculous. No there no steps It very nice It all ground level There nice accessible washrooms And yeah the discussion that that you and I were having a bit about the pinball machines and you know how to make them more potentially accessible to everyone Like how you had described maybe putting a mirror on. There certainly are games where the skill shots, you simply cannot see it being as low as I am. But the child might have the same issue. But like, you know, a mirror on the back would be cool. One of the coolest modifications I have ever seen on a pinball machine is for a quadriplegic who couldn't move his arms even. and they had cut out the front part of the box so the guy could roll under it directly. Some people, if they're disabled, like the higher they're disabled, the higher they break their neck or like the back, they might not have good balance. So they can't even sit squarely up against the machine. So they cut it out and this guy couldn't use his arms. And what I saw, they had a straw. So when he could like suck in like that, that would make the one, the flip. So it was a Space Jam or something like that or a Michael Jordan game. And basically it allowed a person with no access or no use of any of their limbs to play pinball. And to me, that was amazing. Well, I always liked when I saw innovations. I know Jersey Jack had it a while, you know, for a little bit when you had, I think it was dialed in, you could play on your phone, you could flip on your phone. So I remember Oktoberfest was the first game I saw where they had, you could play both flippers on one side. These types of things probably aren't that hard to do, and it would probably bring more people into pinball. We want to be inclusive. We want to have more people experience this and not have challenges that shouldn't be there because pinball really is for everyone. I couldn't agree with you more. Pinball is for everyone. And, you know, although there are times things can be better, I'm still very happy with how things are because I'm still able to compete with everyone. Another round. We're going to come back.
    9:51
    Let's go, go, go. Sorry about the cut-ins and outs, but we want to play some pinball. It's fun. It's been amazing, yeah. You're doing better than I am right now. It means nothing. You're a really good player. We had some fun on Paragon, too. But tell me, Julian, what are some of the things we can do, whether we're a pinball operator, whether we're an arcade, whether we are a designer, whether we're a pinball company? What are things that we can do to make pinball easier for people at that eye level? What are some of the things that are quick fixes that you found? Well, as we had discussed earlier, I thought some of the interesting, like a mirror on the back would be there, helpful for some skill shots. Another option would be something showing where the skill shot is or something like that on the LCD screen or the DMD or something like that. That'd be really cool. And honestly, the most difficult part is being in a chair. It's not necessarily playing. It's trying to fix them. I own five machines at my house, and I am completely reliant on friends to fix them. I can take off the glass and stuff myself, but in terms of actually lifting, that's heavy. And from such a short vantage point, that's that. I don't know how that could ever be fixed, but that's what I find most difficult. I have machines as well, and we are similar. I also get friends to fix it. I just don't want to touch it. But it'd be nice to be able to get your hands in there, and I don't know what the solution for that is. But you mentioned now that games have LCD screens. Why not put the still shot on there? The video assets are certainly there. It could tell you where to go. You could see it with lane changes. But also, too, we were talking about the Flintstones, and just when you have all that stuff up at the top there, and there's no chance of seeing it, you're just kind of launching the ball and hoping it gets lucky at those particular games. But that's a game where you have to spell concrete. You need to actually, it's not just a skill shot, you actually have to spell dig, and you have a one in three chance of getting it. That's not fair. It is what it is, I guess. Well, I guess one thing you could do is, if you see a game like that and you're running a tournament and you know somebody is in a wheelchair or somebody is a short person, that's a game you shouldn't probably put in because that's an unfair advantage. Yeah, it could happen that way. But at the end of the day, like I've said, I've been here and people are actually telling me where they are. Like, for instance, you're helpful or anyone will tell me that kind of where it is and it in the middle So you just kind of make do but it would be a disadvantage But ultimately you could maybe lower the legs would be an option That is interesting too I thought about doing that at one of my games at my house, Halloween in particular, because it's got the upper play field, which at times can be hard to see. I was just drilling in a couple different holes in that metal and lowering it three or four inches. Here's a free marketing idea for anybody listening to Pinball Profile. You'll make a mint because it's not just for people in wheelchairs. It's for young children, shorter people, whoever. Think of their eye level. Make shorter legs. You might just find a market for that and really make a lot of people happy. Yeah, you can make shorter legs or you could just drill in more holes so you don't have to have the required... Oh, yeah. Yeah, because literally if those holes were down bottom, you could control the distance of how that is, like a foot. Do you do that at home? No, but I should. That might make things a little... It's still going to be hard to lift the play field up, but still, that would certainly help. I like the idea of it. I tore my meniscus years ago. I think I've done it to my other leg now, but I was having some difficulty standing, so I said, you know, I'm just going to sit and play. And I enjoyed it. I like playing, but from that angle, I noticed, okay, there's some things I can't see. You and I were talking when we first met. I said, did you know the late, great Lyman Sheets? Yeah. And if you watched him play, He had this incredible stance, and he told me, because he is extremely low to the ground when he played, and he wanted to be at the eye level of the flippers. He thought he saw things better. Yeah, I agree. Some people do like that, and I can only hope to be one day as good as Mr. Sheets.
    13:57
    So you've met some friends here, and it's kind of nice. I think you've probably got the bug. You're hooked. I think you've even heard about some other tournaments, the Great Pintastic coming up in September. Well, I've been hanging out with a group of people from Massachusetts, Massachusetts and the New England area for the majority of the weekend and they're extremely friendly and they invited me to come to Pintastic and stuff. Same with some friends from Winnipeg and honestly if you have any interest in pinball I'd highly encourage you to come out and play it regardless of your physical ability or anything like that because it's a great crowd of people you're going to make friends and it's an amazing fun hobby. That's the key word fun it is and it's a little addictive too. I didn't ask you what games you have at home. What games I currently have in my house are Tales from the Crypt, Jungle Princess, Halloween, Rob Zombie, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Okay, you got some Spooky fans here, and here we are in Wisconsin. That's something. Yeah, I am a Spooky fan, and one of the things why I'm drawn to Spooky is because we do have numerous places to play in Saskatoon. At my house, when I'm having people over for tournaments, I want to have games that aren't available elsewhere. Have you met Jim Balcido? Jim Balcido is one of the greatest players ever. He's here. He's from InDisc, and I'll introduce you to him. His favorite theme game is one of your five. Halloween. He says you'll never get rid of it. I will never get rid of my Halloween either. I know it's a very polarizing game. A lot of people don't like that upper plate feel. It's beautiful. And for me, it's a dream theme. I'm a huge horror fan. What would be an ideal horror movie that hasn't been made? Friday 13th. I would love that. Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A Chucky. I have a feeling. I have a feeling one of those will come in the next few years. I mean, those are all just popular titles for sure. Julian, it's been great to know you. I know I'll see you again at the Egg Band and hopefully another time soon. Thank you very much. Great to meet you as well. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Facebook. We're on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. Email pinballprofile at gmail.com. And if you can, please support us on Patreon. Don't worry. The show will always be free, but your donations help keep the show continuing to provide great content and meet wonderful people like Julian. Have a great day. I'm Jeff Teolas.
    16:04
    Outro Music