Episode 116: Imoto “Arcade” Harney

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·15m 15s·held·Mar 20, 2018

Analysis

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TL;DR

Emoto Arcade discusses Arcade Expo success, custom machine videos, and pinball community organizing.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Emoto Arcade Harney about her recent work at Arcade Expo in Banning, California, where she helped run the event featuring all Spooky and Jersey Jack machines, plus a rare Magic Girl display. They discuss her upcoming appearances at Pinburgh and Replay FX, her custom pinball machine videos (including the Spinal Tap Flash Gordon build and Doom machine), and her work with Project Pinball documenting hospital pinball dedications. Emoto reflects on growing pinball culture through video content targeted at non-pinball gamers and event organizing.

Key Claims

Arcade Expo 2024 was the first year they got all Spooky and Jersey Jack machines on display
high confidence · Emoto Arcade describing Arcade Expo achievements directly to Jeff Teolis
Magic Girl is missing magnets and various components despite looking beautiful
high confidence · Jeff Teolis describing his experience playing Magic Girl at a friend's house (Nick)
Jack Danger attended both Texas Pinball Festival and Arcade Expo back-to-back
high confidence · Emoto Arcade confirming Jack flew from Texas to Arcade Expo to run seminar
Arcade Expo and Texas Pinball Festival will not be scheduled on the same weekend again
high confidence · Emoto Arcade stating organizers communicated to prevent scheduling conflict
Kayla Rose dominated the women's Kong-Off tournament at Arcade Expo in high heels
high confidence · Emoto Arcade recounting her participation in Kong-Off 6 women's division
Portal Pinball Arcade in the Atlanta area is a free-play arcade with 25 pinball machines and ~10 arcade games
high confidence · Emoto Arcade describing Brian Broyle's arcade venue near Kennesaw, Georgia
Pinball FX3 has a Fallout digital pinball machine with a 48-inch touchscreen
high confidence · Emoto Arcade describing seeing it at Arcade Expo
1984 Arcade in Springfield, Missouri has been running for 13+ years and features the custom Spinal Tap Flash Gordon machine
high confidence · Emoto Arcade discussing custom machine builders Jason Devendurum and Eugene Marsh

Notable Quotes

“That's the best thing to do to Magic Girl. Just look at it. Don't play it.”
Jeff Teolis @ ~6:30 — Humorous commentary on Magic Girl's notorious incomplete/broken state despite beautiful appearance
“His passion for pinball just really drives us, too.”
Emoto Arcade @ ~10:00 — Reflects on Jack Danger's impact and enthusiasm when presenting at Arcade Expo seminar
“I'm trying to get people that don't play pinball to start wanting to play pinball. So it grows. And most of that is gamers.”
Emoto Arcade @ ~29:00 — Core mission statement for her video content strategy targeting non-pinball audiences
“I could probably just live in that pinball machine. It's so huge. It's a 48-inch touchscreen.”
Emoto Arcade @ ~32:30 — Describing the scale of Pinball FX3 digital machines
“It's always like a family reunion at Arcade Expo.”
Emoto Arcade @ ~50:00 — Characterizes the community-oriented nature of major pinball expos

Entities

Emoto ArcadepersonJeff Teolisperson Jack DangerpersonArcade ExpoeventTexas Pinball FestivaleventKayla RosepersonCaptain Crazy ProductionscompanyPortal Pinball Arcadevenue

Signals

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event_signal: Arcade Expo 2024 successfully coordinated all manufacturer machines (Spooky, Jersey Jack complete lineups) and featured rare Magic Girl behind museum glass display
high · Emoto Arcade: 'This is the first year that we got, finally, all of the Spooky Pinball Machines. We got all of the Jersey Jack Pinball Machines. We have Magic Girl.'
?
community_signal: Organizers of Arcade Expo and Texas Pinball Festival coordinated to prevent future scheduling conflicts, indicating maturing event management and cooperation
high · Emoto Arcade: 'We all communicated to make sure that it wouldn't happen' regarding future conflicts between Arcade Expo and Texas Pinball Festival
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venue_signal: Portal Pinball Arcade in Atlanta area is thriving with active tournament scene and new player acquisition in market with low pinball awareness
high · Emoto: 'We've already been doing tons of tournaments there... it's fun seeing a lot of new faces and lots of families and people bringing their kids in to kind of play pinball for the first time.'
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content_signal: Emoto Arcade deliberately targets non-pinball video gamers with content featuring licensed IPs and custom machines to drive new player acquisition
high · Emoto: 'I'm trying to get people that don't play pinball to start wanting to play pinball... most of that is gamers... regular video gamers saw Doom and then it's in a pinball machine'
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product_concern: Magic Girl by John Papadiuk exhibits significant incomplete manufacturing (missing magnets, non-functional components) despite high aesthetic quality

Transcript

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0:00

It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teowis. 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. The first time our guest appeared on Pinball Profile was when she was a finalist for the Ultimate Stern Pinball Giveaway back in December of 2016. It has been a while. Time to catch up. Emoto Arcade joins us right now. Hi, Emoto. How are you? good i remember that contest i lost but for good reason it went to a really good charity actually no no harm no foul in fact when you came on the program you said uh yeah i made it but you know what i don't want it give it to the kids and i thought that was really sweet of you i still feel that way very very nice so you have just been at arcade expo in beautiful banning california and I probably woke you up to make this call, didn't I? You definitely woke me up. It was three days or four days for me to help run the event of this nonstop chaos. But it went really well, Jeff. This is the first year that we got, finally, all of the Spooky Pinball Machines. We got all of the Jersey Jack Pinball Machines. We have Magic Girl. Can you believe that? We have a Magic Girl that we put behind glass so no one can really get up close to it, but they can look at it through museum glass, and it was a really big show for us. That's the best thing to do to Magic Girl. Just look at it. Don't play it. Just look at it. We did some nice uplighting, colored uplighting, put it behind a glass, made it all mysterious looking. So I want to do a video on it soon where we go up under it and see if anything is under there. I love John Papaduke games. I never gave him any money, so I don't feel as victimized as other people. But looking at that game, I was like, wow, that's gorgeous. And my friend has it, Nick, and I played it at his place, and I was like, what does this button do? Oh, it's not attached to anything. There's supposed to be magnets here. They're not there. There's just so many things missing. But my God, does it look nice. It's beautiful. Everyone keeps saying I look like the girl from the magic girl, from the back glass. Maybe I'll start cosplaying, but no one's going to know what it is. There was a lot going on at Arcade Expo, too. You mentioned Jersey Jack and all the games were there, and there was a seminar with Jack himself. How'd that go? Jack went to Texas Pinball Fest and then flew out to Arcade Expo just to hang out with us and do the seminar. It was his first time at Arcade Expo as well at the Museum of Pinball, and it was just so great. His passion for pinball just really drives us, too. So we had a lot of fun, a good time talking about his different pins and what Jersey Jack is all about. And I think he really appreciated it. We appreciated him. I'm sure he was exhausted. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to go to both. I was so heartbroken I didn't get to go to Texas. But we're never going to have Arcade Expo and Texas Symbol Fest on the same weekend ever again. We all communicated to make sure that it wouldn't happen. Now if only California Extreme and Pinberg can separate, that would be a perfect world. That's my next heartbreak. I know. It's what I keep talking about. I just, right now, it seems like I'm leaning towards going to California Extreme. But, you know, I'm not tied to any of those two where ArcadeX will actually help run their social media and stuff like that. So I'm just waiting to weigh out the pros and cons about which one I'm going to go to. I'm obviously not competing. I not 45 seconds fast enough to get into the book but besides that Replay FX is just such an awesome event It makes it tough man It makes it tough It is tough to be everywhere at once It is amazing to hear that Jack was at both Texas Wait, which one are you going to? Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but which one are you going to? Maybe that can help me decide. I am going to Pinberg, but if I didn't get in Pinberg, of course I would go to California Extreme. So I'm taking my three boys to Replay FX. Two of them are just going to play the video games and the consoles. and then Carson and I are going to play in the big tournament. So, yeah, I mean. You got into Pinberg? I got in, yeah. Oh, lucky. You went through the back door, didn't you? No, no back door. I, like everyone else, refresh, refresh, refresh. F5. I got you. But I did get lucky there. But I would have gone to California Extreme had I not made Pinberg, and I recommend those that are looking to play in a pinball tournament definitely go to California Extreme. And if you're in the Pittsburgh area, definitely go to replay because there's so much more than just the tournament. So there's two great events. I hope they get separated in future years for sure. But it is neat to hear that Jack was at Texas and also at Arcade Expo. That's amazing, and I heard good feedback too from Aaron Nicholas too saying that that was a very good seminar. Yeah, it went really well. And he tried a lot of make pinball great again hats and passed them out to the kids. We had three kids in our panel, probably no more than 10 years old, ask the most articulate industry-type questions to Jack. It was awesome. Wow. And what about yourself? I know you were a part of the Kong-Off 6.

5:21

I tanked. Yeah. The Kong-Off 6 was so much fun, though. If you ever watched the movie King of Kong, the original people that battled in that, Steve Weeby and Billy Mitchell, they were there battling as well. so it's kind of a reunion for everybody but on the women's division side there's about five of us that ended up playing which was pretty cool for the first women's tournament but Kayla Rose who is already infamously known as like the queen of Kong you know she came out and she just dominated all of us in her high heels she's pretty awesome so how are things going at Captain Crazy productions it's good we're doing well it's my secret that allows me to travel to all the different shows i passionately on my own record arcades across the country just trying to you know hype up pinball arcade culture trying to get more people out and about and socializing um but with my production company we do commercials feature films and all this sort of multimedia of production everywhere too, so it's kind of like I do lots of scheduling to make it more exciting. Well, you're based out of Atlanta now, so I'm sure you've probably checked out Brian Broyle's great-looking Portal Pinball Arcade. It's literally five minutes down from the house I grew up in, in Kennesaw, Georgia, and it's awesome. He's got 25 pins and maybe 10 or so arcade games kind of in the middle of the floor, and it's great. We've already been doing tons of tournaments there. He has a selfie league as well. And because it's in an area where not a lot of people know about pinball or think pinball doesn't exist still, it's fun seeing a lot of new faces and lots of families and people bringing their kids in to kind of play pinball for the first time. It's been great. It's a free play arcade as well. It's an area I have to get to. I've seen your promotional videos, and I know all about how great Southern Fried Gaming Expo is. It's just unfortunate that it coincides with my league finals. So maybe next year I skip the league and make plans to come out to Atlanta and check that out because I know you looking forward to it You just need to have them reschedule league finals That such an easy thing to reschedule Emoto, think about this. Southern Pride Game Room Expo. We have live wrestling there. Like a whole wrestling rink, and they're throwing each other over the rope, and then you walk over two feet, and you're at the Marco booth. Yeah, well, there's wrestling at league finals too, especially when I lose. I snap. I'm off the turnbuckles. Forget about it. Elbow drop. It's all happening. So do you wear spandex to league finals? Is that what you're saying? Guilty. Oh, okay. Maybe a luchador mask. Yeah, okay, fine. You've uncovered the truth. But I do want to get to that for sure. I don't think the league is going to move on behalf of little old me. Hey, everyone, do you mind moving the finals that everyone's made plans for just so I can go to Atlanta for Southern Fried Gaming Expo? Probably not going to happen. Well, you're famous now. They should bow down to you and say, yes, sir, Mr. Tealist, sir. No, no, no, no. That's not how it works. See, those who don't know me think I'm famous. Those who know me think, oh, that loser. That's how it all works. I mean, it's... It's the same way for me.

9:05

It's like playing Magic Girl. Yeah, exactly. I am in love with your videos, and you just did one of my favorite all-time dream pinball theme. You filmed the Spinal Tap custom pinball machine from the old Flash Gordon. Oh, my. What was that like? Wow. It's really cool, actually. The first one I saw was at 1984 Arcade, which is in Springfield, Missouri. And the people that made it, Jason Devendurum and Eugene Marsh, are huge pinheads. They've been running 1984 for like 13 years or maybe even longer than that. It's one of the oldest standing arcades, free play arcades. They brought it to Texas and we did a video there. But yeah, it's Flash Gordon. The game is great. There's nothing on it that isn't super customized. And underneath, inside, looks like a Frankenstein pin, like something you've never seen before. But it all works, and it plays great. They actually brought it to Texas again this year after doing a lot of remodifications, and it's supposed to play even better and have a few new secret Spinal Tap Easter eggs in it as well. I'm so jealous. I have to see that for sure. Go to Springfield. It sits there in their arcade. You can play it. All right. You have seen a few of these cool custom machines. I think of Doom as another one. Yes. The Doom machine is great. He just built that completely from scratch. He just wanted to challenge himself to build a pinball machine. He's not a big pinhead. It's really funny because we're all nerds. We talk about designers and the latest and greatest games. He's just like, I just wanted to build a pinball machine, and I like the game Doom. And I figured I could do it, and he did it. And he actually has a lot. He's been a launch and send as well. So I'm going to do a follow-up video. He might go to what is now Pinball Expo. What Pinball Expo is going to become. Pinball Palooza or whatever they're calling that, yeah. Yeah, something northeast because I think he's Wisconsin. So he's trying to figure out what his next place to bring it out is. But he's going to let me know, and I want to come see it again. He added more code. He added more toys. you fixed a little bit of the play field. I think he switched up his ramp you know engineering stuff so that be exciting to see where that goes too A lot of people really like that video as well because people that aren into pinball that's like my whole thing is I'm trying to get people that don't play pinball to start wanting to play pinball. So it grows. And most of that is gamers. So just like regular video gamers saw Doom and then it's in a pinball machine. They're like, oh, oh man, maybe I should play pinball. I want that game to start playing pinball on. You know, that's kind of like the reason for the licensed themes, too. You know, people might like The Walking Dead and want to go play that game or Game of Thrones or whatever the licensed theme may be. So you've got a good point there with your videos. Now, what is your perfect pinball theme that hasn't been made yet? That hasn't been made yet? Oh, man. I don't know.