Episode 125: Pinball Profile Road Trip in Denver

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·19m 48s·analyzed·May 1, 2018

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Pinball Profile's inaugural Denver road trip tournament showcases thriving Colorado pinball community.

Summary

Jeff Teolis hosts the first-ever Pinball Profile Road Trip in Denver at 1UP Colfax, featuring 33 competitive players, interviews with local scene figures including Snow Galvin from Colorado Pinball Collective, and tournament winner Kevin Ryan. The episode highlights Denver's robust pinball community with multiple locations, frequent tournaments, and strong player base, while Teolis documents the vibrant local scene and player personalities.

Key Claims

1UP Colfax has 40 smart pinball games maintained in competition-ready shape by Dan Gutschus
high confidence · Kevin Ryan discussing venue maintenance and game quality
Denver/Colorado has tournaments approximately every week within the metro area or nearby
high confidence · Joe Kennedy describing frequency of local tournament activity
Iron Maiden pinball arriving at 1UP Colfax on May 5th
high confidence · Snow Galvin confirming arrival date of Jersey Jack Pinball's Iron Maiden
Kevin Ryan purchased a 1961 Williams Metro pinball machine, featuring early disappearing pop bumper mechanism
high confidence · Ryan discussing his recent acquisition and its historical significance
Four Corners Flip-Off tournament launching in early May in Durango, Colorado with Stern Army involvement
high confidence · Kevin Ryan announcing new regional tournament with monthlies and selfie leagues in area

Notable Quotes

“My goal is just to be the top Canadian. I'm the only one.”
Donovan Steph @ ~0:05:00 — Establishes Donovan's competitive positioning as top Canadian player at Denver event
“I'm super excited. I'm a rules person, and I think multiple flippers is awesome. The animations are fantastic.”
Snow Galvin @ ~0:13:30 — Demonstrates excitement for Iron Maiden's rule design and animation quality despite not being a band fan
“Right now, Star Wars Data East is down and I'm totally fine with it. You don't want to shoot the Death Star? No, I don't want to shoot the Death Star.”
Snow Galvin @ ~0:18:00 — Casual dig at Star Wars pinball quality issues; notable that even knowledgeable operator/player avoids the game
“These games are in competition-ready shape... The newest of the new Houdini's over there. The remakes of Medieval and also Attack from Mars. Dialed in.”
Kevin Ryan @ ~0:54:00 — Documents venue's commitment to maintaining modern releases in playable condition
“I just bought my oldest pinball game today. Which one? I picked up a Williams, I think it's a 1961 Williams Metro.”
Kevin Ryan @ ~0:57:00 — Announces significant vintage acquisition; frames early 1960s Williams games as mechanically superior

Entities

Jeff TeolispersonDenver/1UP Colfaxevent_and_locationDonovan StephpersonSnow GalvinpersonKevin RyanpersonNathan HartpersonNathan Wright (Dr. Who)personColorado Pinball CollectiveorganizationIron Maidengame

Signals

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community_signal: Pinball Profile Road Trip format successfully brings podcast on location to regional communities, drawing 33 players for Sunday evening tournament despite competing entertainment (Masters golf, WrestleMania)
high · Jeff notes 33 players attended on second Sunday of month competing against Masters and WrestleMania broadcasts; organizers and community embrace event positively
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sentiment_shift: Iron Maiden generating measured enthusiasm from rules-focused player segment despite band fandom being secondary concern; indicates IP irrelevance when game mechanics are strong
medium · Snow Galvin: 'I've heard other people say, yeah, I'm not an Iron Maiden fan... does the game matter more?... Yeah, that's all that matters to me'
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design_philosophy: Star Wars pinball experiencing notable quality issues affecting even knowledgeable operators; Snow Galvin (operator-level knowledge) voluntarily avoids game despite tournament context
medium · Snow Galvin: 'Right now, Star Wars Data East is down and I'm totally fine with it. You don't want to shoot the Death Star? No, I don't want to shoot the Death Star. I don't blame you, neither do I.'
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design_philosophy: Early-1960s Williams games (pre-1965) being re-evaluated by collectors/enthusiasts as mechanically superior despite community dismissal; Kevin Ryan frames 1961 Metro acquisition as significant historical piece
medium · Kevin Ryan: 'I picked up a Williams, I think it's a 1961 Williams Metro... Steve Kordak is just incredible. I love his games, and a lot of people don't care for the Williams games of the 50s and the 60s, but I have a penchant for a game that plays well'
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Transcript

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0:00

It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teolas, live on location in Denver, this time at 1UP Colfax. It's the first ever Pinball Profile Road Trip, Denver edition. And a lot of people here have come out. In fact, we have 33 players here. And I think I saw this guy. I think he was on Price is Right. It's Donovan Steph. How are you? Hey, I'm good, Jeff. How are you doing? Good. That was fun seeing Fred Richardson kick butt. I know Nathan Hart's here as well. And Nathan was the guy who designed those shirts. Now, no one knows this, but you are the key to everyone at Price is Right because you knew the show front and back. You were telling us how to play the games, and it really helped us if we were to be picked. And Fred certainly was picked, and everyone was looking at you for, what's this worth? Well, I'm not like 100% expert, but I know most of the games. and most of us could have played the clock game probably better than that one lady. Oh, that poor woman. She was nervous, obviously, wasn't she? Yeah. But we're here at 1UP Colfax. You play here a lot, I assume? You know, I mostly just come down here and play for tournaments. I'm in Lakewood and have my games that I play and fix on location. So I usually just kind of get out to here when it's tournament stuff, once or twice a month maybe. I cannot believe all the great players here. My goodness, Heliana, yourself, Nathan, Ryan, Snow. My goal is just to be the top Canadian. I'm the only one. I still might not win that. I think you got it locked up. I just saw you destroy Attack from Mars, plunging off on your last ball, 7 billion. I'm good. Anyway. You know, that wasn't going so well. I actually went into that ball in last place, but I was player four, so I was able to pass everybody, and then I was playing off the extra balls because they're not off today, but I'd already won. He says so smug. My goodness. Anyway, I took a third in my game. Oh, well. Well, have fun. Thanks for coming out for the Pinball Profile Road Trip. You bet, man. Another Denver player, Nathan Wright, or as he's known here by me anyway, Dr. Who. He just kicked my butt on Dr. Who. That game was playing tough. Yes, I cannot hit the loop to save my life on that game. I squeaked by on my multiballs. Oh, what was that, a multiball? Because I didn't see that in my game. I don't know. There was a lot of flashing lights and suddenly some balls. I don't know. It's like some parties I've been to.

2:29

2:35

That's over my head, lightning flippers. It's out of your pay grade? Out of my pay grade, yeah. So where do you play, Nathan? Usually here. There's a place called Three Kings Tavern in town. Has some good machines there. Has a Doctor Who there, actually, that plays a lot better. hit about 45 more loops on that one than I can hit on this one. Yeah, I got schooled there. But anyway, best of luck in the Pinball Profile Road Trip Denver Edition. Good luck. Thank you very much. Welcome to town. Thanks. So I came out here for a little bit of baseball, a little bit of pinball, and on opening day for the Rockies, a lot of snow. And here it is Sunday night, and more snow. But this time, Snow Galvin joins us from Colorado Pinball Collective. How are you doing, Snow? I'm good. I'm the warm kind of snow. The nice kind, yes. I much prefer you versus the wet stuff. My goodness, it was so cold on Friday night, and they still played. That was the game we went to, or was that today? I chickened out. It was so cold, yeah. It looked pretty awful. What a great city. I'm enjoying my time here in Denver, and what a fun place here, 1UP Colfax. Yeah, I love it. This is definitely my home turf, and the games play great. Yeah, we live just down the road, and I love this place, yeah. It's amazing. I think there are 30-plus games here. I see a Houdini, for crying out loud. They've got everything new. The new remake of Attack from Mars, Guardians of the Galaxy. If it's new, it's probably here. Iron Maiden on May 5th. Really? Yes. What do you think of that? I'm super excited. I'm a rules person, and I think multiple flippers is awesome. The animations are fantastic. I've never been a fan, but it looks fantastic, you know? And so, yeah, I can't wait to play it. So that being said, I've heard other people say, yeah, I'm not an Iron Maiden fan. and I happen to be, but does the game matter more? I mean, if the game is as great as it looks, is that all that matters? Yeah, that's all that matters to me. I mean, they're probably never going to do my weird dream theme, you know. So let's go for what they think will sell. They seem to know what they're doing, and I'll play it. I'm very excited about it. All right, let's find out the weird dream theme.

4:38

Oh, I don't know. Actually, my husband and I have talked about wanting to do our own machine in whatever free time, which we don't have. But eventually we'd like to do an EM with the Frank Lloyd Wright theme. Oh, wow, really? Yeah, I would love that. We both love the artwork We love his architecture We love his products And I think that doing cast metal different design elements on the playfield kind of mixing super early pinball with more modern EM rules I would love to do And as a craftsperson, I think it would be a lot of fun to make. You amaze me. I've seen some of your things on Facebook too, and we've talked before on Pinball Profile about how you like to get your hands dirty and fix things, and you have no fear, where I'm a total chicken. Absolutely. I haven't damaged too much yet. So I really enjoy it, and I have so much to learn. When I hang around a lot of the local ops, I'm blown away with how fast they just know what to do. I can text five words that don't even seem to be related, and they're like, oh yeah, it's this fuse, and then you've got to replace it. It's amazing. It's beautiful. There are a few operators playing in this tournament today, and I wonder, for you, who obviously knows how to fix machines, and I've heard it from some of the operators too. When you see a game down, does it kind of make you want to bite your tongue and go, that's such an easy fix, let me get under the glass? Depends. Right now, Star Wars Data East is down and I'm totally fine with it. You don't want to shoot the Death Star? No, I don't want to shoot the Death Star. I don't blame you, neither do I. Snow, best of luck. Yeah, thank you. You too. Joe Kennedy here at 1UP Colfax with the pinball profile. Road Trip Denver Edition just schooling me on Scared Step, although that's not really much of a schooling. I mean, we sucked. No, I wouldn't say that was a schooling at all. If that's schooling, we all failed, but you did slightly worse than I did. But we're going to watch this guy, Alex, step up and see if he can do a better job than we did. But it's a tough game. Tell me about the Denver and Colorado pinball scene. It's a big scene. There's a lot of people here, a lot of players. There's a tournament pretty much every week somewhere if you want to drive a little bit outside of the metro area. But, yeah, lots of people, lots of passion for the hobby, so it's real nice. And I can't believe how many locations there are. There are so many. There's a lot of good ones. There's the one-up and the two-up are the two locations downtown that a lot of the big events are at. But Ryan, who was on your podcast, was up in Boulder for an event. He's got a location up there. So, yeah, there's locations all over the place, leagues all over the place, a lot of interest. A lot of good players here today. Who's the person to beat? Donovan's always the person to beat. He does pretty well for himself. But every once in a while, you can catch him. So you always got to watch out for him. But after that, there's all the usual suspects who come to all the events. So anybody can win any given Sunday, as they say. Joe, you didn't see at the bottom the disclaimer. I said rules subject to change. I'm going to make Donovan play one-handed. I think that's a good policy. I think you should take one of his hands off completely. He'll probably beat us half the time with one hand anyway. We're putting out a hit here on Pinball Profile. And we just talked to Snow, and she does Colorado Pinball Collective, and you help out with that too, and you've been on a few of them as well. Yeah, yeah. Snow does most of the legwork. She owns the equipment. She's in charge. But myself, another gentleman named Chase, and another guy, Will, who's here too, all kind of pitch in around the town for doing that show. So please watch us, check us out, see what's into it. Yeah. I've watched several times. Thanks very much. Talk to you soon, Joe. Have a good one, Jeff. Thanks for coming. She is the first prize winner of the Pinball Profile Road Trip Denver Edition, Bridget Roper. She can hardly contain herself.

9:48

American money, I'm Canadian. That worth millions We can talk My people will talk to your people Okay well best of luck and thanks for coming out hey thank you very much jeff and look at this mrs pinball profile is here too my wife ann has come but you not playing are you no i here observing and enjoying the delicious pizza from the neighborhoods it's pretty amazing all these people came out for me and me and excuse me i made this whole thing happen thank you very much because of my work Yeah, that is a good point. Ann had to work in Denver for a week and said, do you want to come? I saw the baseball schedule. I know a lot of Denver people. I said, yeah, I think I'm in. But, no, you know what? These people love tournaments. And there's usually a tournament here every first Sunday of the month and then the third. So, in fact, we're here on the second. They were looking for something to do, and good old Ryan Wanger had the idea, let's make something happen. But it all really, it's because of you. So, whoever gets the points should thank Ann Teolas. Well, you know what? I've met so many nice people already here tonight, so it's cool to be a part of it. You know what's so funny is that we went to Bat City Open last year in June in beautiful Austin, Texas, and I introduced you to somebody here in Denver. I said, Ann, this is Snow, and you remembered Snow from Austin. Oh, she's probably the only girl I've ever met with the name Snow. She has gorgeous red hair, and she's a pinball player. I didn't know it wasn't too tough. So you like red-headed pinball players is what you're saying. Apparently. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Pinball Profile. Thank you, Mr. Pinball Profile. Another one of my Price is Right buddies, Nathan Hart, joins us right now. And, in fact, Nathan was the guy who designed those amazing T-shirts, the Game to Play Plinko and Pinball. And I've had a lot of compliments for those shirts. Well done. Yeah, thanks. It was a lot of fun making them. How many people watched the Price is Right when Fred was on with you and Donovan? We had 12 people watching at Donovan's house. He made some breakfast burritos for us, and we had some mimosas and made a little day out of it pretty much. You told me something very funny that you had to shut off all the notifications on Facebook because everyone was saying, oh, Nathan, there you are. Yeah, it was more just people commenting on photos I was tagged in because I was tagged in all of the Fights is Right photos. So anytime anybody mentioned anything on any of those posts, it came through my phone for me. Well, the burning question everyone wants to know is, what's the next game show we're going to do? Let's Make a Deal seems goofy. Yeah, Let's Make a Deal would be fun. We were already into dressing up, so why not? Yeah, why not? Sounds like a great idea. Game shows are probably a lot better for us because pinball certainly wasn't in the cards, especially today. No, today it was not very well. I think maybe we could do Family Feud. If they take our pinball family, that'd be pretty fun. That would be all right. I mean, I don't know how we'd explain that, but I think you could look at us and say, yeah, that's a pretty shallow family tree, like one branch. Yeah, they definitely see that we're not the smartest family around.

12:46

Maybe that won't be a good idea. What a great place here. One thing I've learned from all the people that have come out here in Denver and went up fullbacks, I would be the worst player ever in Colorado if I lived here. No, I think you'd find your groove. Maybe the travel brought you down. I don't know. All right. Thanks for the pre-excuse. What a great lineup here. I mean, the games are great. I have trouble in the dark. I'm going to use that as an excuse. It's still not a real excuse. I'm just trying to find something. I got killed on every game. Seven rounds, I came in last four times. Like, I have never played pinball in my life before. Well, we're glad you could come and show us what you don't have, at least. Yeah, we're spoiled here in Denver, though, with this location. And we have so many other locations where the games are just dialed in, and there are so many of them, a lot of options for us. Well, it's fun. I'm glad Ryan Wenger and Jonathan and yourself and everyone who's here to help out. It's a lot of fun and 33 people. That's a pretty big tournament for a Sunday night. Yeah, it was a good showing for 5 o'clock on Sunday. With the Masters on and WrestleMania. That's right. Pinball Profile is where it's at. Yeah, Pinball Profile, baby. Woo! Thanks, Nathan. In a tournament the critics are saying bigger than Papa, bigger than Pinberg, the Pinball Profile Road Trip Denver Edition, someone had to be the ultimate winner. Thousands of people came, 33 played, and one winner from Denver, Kevin Ryan, the big winner, and you've got the trophy to prove it. Yes, yes, I'm actually basking in the incandescent, well, glow. Maybe not incandescent, but the glow of this trophy because it's got a little button on it that turns on. LED backlit from Ulic Store. It is. It's way sweet. I should turn this into a nightlight and keep it in my bedroom. Well, you were playing very well. I mean, you got four points on the first game, and then you just plunged off on Twilight Zone to, once you clinched the win. It's always nice to plunge off on your last ball on the last game knowing that you didn't even have to play it, so that felt really good. What are you going to do with the prize that you won give or take of it I think I going to invest in Pogs What your favorite game here Great place. Oh, geez. Well, my favorite pinball game is Twilight Zone, period. And that was the final game. It's not funny. It was the final game. And it was actually an interesting game for me because Snow Galvin, our top qualifier tonight, could not drain out of Dowlings. And I got bit on both of my drains on that right out lane because it was just... On the right. The lawler's special on the left, too. Well, the upper right flipper wasn't that strong. That's right. So it could make the shot, and it didn't go all the way up into the lane coming down to the pops. You found the right. Yes, and it got me twice. So is playing fantastic today. So she's currently playing in the tiebreaker for second place. Yes, with Chase. With Chase and Ryan Wanger came in fourth. Yes. Well, thanks for coming out. I really appreciate it. You guys made me feel very welcome here in Denver. Yeah. Got to see some great sites and fantastic players. I would easily be the worst player in Colorado. I wouldn't go that far, but it's – how should I say this? The training grounds are great here. Yeah. So this room is 40 smart pinball games. They're all maintained by Dan Gutschus and the people at the 1UP. These games are in competition-ready shape, And we've got the newest of the new Houdini's over there. Yes. The remakes of Medieval and also Attack from Mars. Yes. Dialed in. Got dialed in over here. Guardians of the Galaxy is sitting right next to Metallica. I'm sure Iron Maiden will be here very soon, too. It will be. And then the other one is the game that everybody loves to hate is Can't Crusher. Yeah, but I was talking to some of the operators. It's a huge earner. It can be. I mean, it's nice because you can get a 90-second game out of it consistently. And as an operator, that's important. And it's interesting for me because I just bought my oldest pinball game today. Which one? I picked up a Williams, I think it's a 1961 Williams Metro. Oh, wow. And that's the original game that has the disappearing pop bumper on it, like you would see on Circus Voltaire. Okay. That mechanism came out by Williams in the early 60s. Yeah, 61. And it doesn't have the super wide 2-inch flipper gap. And it has outlanes, but they're right next to the flippers. There's nothing out to the side, so wouldn't you know. It's a relatively modern design. But Steve Kordak is just incredible. I love his games. and a lot of people don't care for the Williams games of the 50s and the 60s, but I have a penchant for a game that plays well, and he made a lot of games that really played well. Well, congratulations. That's good. And now it's paid for, too, with the big win today. Yes, yes. It was wonderful. So thank you for coming on out here, and you got to hang out and play with myself and my co-host of the Little Kings Pinball Podcast, and we both got into the top four, so that felt pretty good. and it was a great event. Thank you very much. All right. Best of luck with the podcast. Thanks for coming on Pinball Profile. I'll be looking for the Little Kings road trip tournament soon. You know what? You're going to have to talk to Ryan about that. But I will say that there is a new tournament that I will be traveling to in May in the southwest corner of Colorado called the Four Corners Flip-Off. And Durango, for some reason or another, they're doing great down there with pinball. The Stern Army is down there. They have monthlies, they've got selfie leagues, and it's great. And Durango's absolutely gorgeous. So if you're anywhere near the Four Corners area coming up in early May, check it out. It's their first time doing it this year. And, yeah, pinball's coming to even more remote locations than one would normally expect. My last question, with the Trash Talker Invitational, I don't know if you're going to Pinburg or not. No, not this year. Oh, no? Good. Okay, thank God. The way you and Ryan played, I'd be dead. It feels great, and it's my first. I'm going to call it glow-in-the-dark pinball trophy, and I had a great time. So thanks once again. Thanks, Kevin. This has been your Pinball Profile Road Trip Edition here in Denver at 1UP Colfax. 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. And make sure you listen to the Little Kings podcast, too. Yes, please do. Man, you are the man with the golden voice. I'm Jeff Zolas.