said the president he's got his war folks don't know just what it's for no one gives us right more reason you have one doubt they call it treason it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teoles you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we're on facebook and twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. You can email pinballprofile at gmail.com. If you'd like to show your support in the show, that would be very kind. It's not necessary. The show will always be free, but we do appreciate those who support us on Patreon, patreon.com slash pinballprofile. And thanks to Gambling Media Entertainment Law, to Lua W., to Jake C., Nick N., Dave M., and others. We really do appreciate that. We're going to North Carolina right now. I just saw this woman really kick some serious butt at Indisc because she is the 2025 Women's Champion. She's Kaylee Campbell. Hi, Kaylee. How are you? Hey, Jeff. I'm great. How are you doing? Good to talk to you. Good to see you again. That was very exciting, winning the Indisc Championship. And you've won some big championships that we're going to talk about. But that one, guess what? Every time you go to Indisc, you're going to see your name on the banner, and everyone's going to see Kaylee Campbell kicked butt back in 2025. That's so cool. It is cool. Actually, I've been explaining that to a lot of people. I get my name on the banner. I've never had my name on a banner, and I've won a few things here and there, but I talk to people like yourself, and the prize money is great at InDisc and other things that you've maybe won in the past, but all that aside, it's the banner that's the real trophy in a way and really the legacy. Totally, yeah. I mean, the money helps the trip costs, right, but it never pays for all of it, no matter how much you win. And I care much more about, you know, the ranking points, the victory, the history, and getting to play with amazing people and seeing them again in future years. Yeah, it was a great Final Four. And, in fact, the whole tournament was wonderful. So, again, kudos to Jim Belsito, to Jay Collins, to Carl D'Python Anghelo, the entire Indisc team that kept it running. And the Women's Championship, like that's probably one of the tougher ones to win. And, obviously, the World Championship and the NACS is huge. but to do it at Indisc with all those great players, was it touch and go at times? What was the game that kind of put you over the hump, or what did you have to win? I know in the finals, winning the first two games made it easy, but on the path to get there, where were some of the difficulties? Well, you know, the second I saw the entire bank announced, I had a really good feeling. It was like pretty close to my dream bank for an Indisc tournament. I mean, I have Russia home, Love that game, even though that was like the hardest rush I've ever played. Argosy is actually my favorite EM that I discovered at a Delaware collective tournament and fell in love with that game. Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite games of all time, which I also have at home. My boyfriend has a total nuclear annihilation at home. And his favorite movie is Twister. So it was just kind of funny that Twister was also in there. I mean, it was great. I was super excited about the bank and then just qualifying on them. They all played great, just as expected, besides Rush, which was hard as heck. And, you know, the qualifying gave me the confidence. And I feel like Twister was probably like my only hiccup throughout all the finals because the game was having some issues. And I just didn't, you know, after waiting several minutes, didn't step up and play like I wanted to. But it was a lot of fun. I had a great time. The bank was fantastic. There was hoops in there as well, which is another dream game. You know, I looked at the women's bank and, like, I know they took one of the games and put it into the finals when they removed a game. I was hoping they could remove a few of them because it was a tough main bank. Holy cow. Yes, that main bank was the opposite experience from the women's bank. I was like, I don't know most of these games. and they do a good job of mixing it up and giving you new challenges to have to go after. I don't know if I've ever played Deadly Weapon or Bone Busters in competition. I might have played it, let's say, in a match play game where you play it once and, okay, if you have a bad round, you have a bad round. But when this can make or break your ticket, yay! Right. I was going to say, like, you know, some of those games you look up and there's not really, like, a good tutorial video you can find online, So you end up getting someone who recorded it in their basement ends up getting a bunch of views all of a sudden because people are trying to see this game they've never even heard of before. And that was the case for me with both those games you mentioned, Deadly Weapon and Bonebusters. But that's kind of the charm of InDisc. You know, you get to see games you don't normally. I mean, it's appealing to those watching on Twitch and the IE Pinball stream to see these games and now maybe have tutorial videos that came from InDisc. But when you're a player like yourself, do you feel a little bit like a guinea pig? Right? Like, oh, let me figure out the tournament strategy on this game you've never seen in a tournament before. And then you wonder how many in-crowds there are that are all plotting together and coming up with those amazing strategies. But it was wonderful, and I saw the news this week because on February 5th, it was F5 day. Those people that wanted to get into Pinberg were pressing their F5 button to refresh, refresh, and many of them did. In fact, you got in. I believe your boyfriend got in, other people from North Carolina. So because it expanded to 244 people, that's pretty cool. You know, we're seeing more and more people. And, of course, Whipped goes on sale in a month. So you have to be happy about that. Oh, I'm so excited. I mean, I made a Facebook post just celebrating and trying to see who else made it. But, yeah, you know, we had four computers set up. We were refreshing the second I was announcing the countdown. I think my boyfriend was laughing as I'm doing like a space shuttle launch level countdown to when we have to start trying to go in. And pretty much all the people that travel around here, I believe, made it in that wanted to. So it was a huge difference from last year where a lot of us you know this is one of the closest bigger tournaments to drive to from Charlotte North Carolina And that the biggest reason It just like oh it an amazing tournament It's close. But also, I've loved Pinburgh. I went twice before, you know, the original event stopped happening and definitely cried when they announced they were selling everything off and that wasn't going to happen again. So it's really exciting to see it doubling in size. And I hope it continues to double. and maybe we'll see that old full convention center and 1,000-plus people again. Well, I know the goal is to grow every year, and I've been told that it will grow again next year in 2026. But for those that didn't get in, don't you worry. Go to pinberg.com, and again, thanks to the great sponsors. There's so many of them, too. Barrels of Fun, I think, of UK Open and Flip N Out Pinball that really made this possible and helped make Pinberg grow. but go to the website and check out the satellite locations. There are 20 of them that are going to be posted between now and the end of June, so still a chance to get in, and hopefully if you're on the wait list, sometimes people can't go for whatever reason, so there's still a chance. But you're going to be there, Kaylee, again with Whipped as well, and they've got so many other things going on. You've been to Indisc. You're going to Pinberg. I wonder, these have to be two of your favorite tournaments. Is there a favorite type format tournament for you? I love the herb qualifying. I feel like that highlights my skills the best. You know, you just, you can retry a game and then once you lock in that amazing game, you can move on to the next or you can have a strategy where you just go around improving your worst games that are counting there. I struggle a little bit with the card format, but the group match play Pinberg style, I mean, is probably my favorite just in terms of getting to play with other people, feeling like you're in a tournament the whole time. Because sometimes people travel to those herb qualifying or card qualifying, and if you don't make finals, you really just kind of play pinball with yourself the whole time. Yeah. Where there's a match play component, like you're playing with people from around the world and other places in the country, and I think those are the most fun. I agree. I really do like the match play ones. But for tournament directors, and I know you've done a lot of this yourself because you're the North Carolina state rep, and it's not easy to run big match play tournaments. I know Pinburgh does it and they expand. Yegpin has been doing it for years now, and they're quite big here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. But it's difficult to do, so you do appreciate when people put in the time and effort to do that. But it's not the norm, these kind of big match play, 100-plus people. It's just you need too many machines. It's tough. It is tough, but I think it's worth the payoff when they accomplish it. I do want to get to the A-Camp one of these years because it's the most Pinberg-like that's been keeping it going. And we actually are going to be having a significantly sized tournament at Super Herbarri Game Bar in Charlotte, North Carolina. We are going to be doing a tournament in honor of Kevin Shanus. It's the Kevin Shanus Charity Tournament that we did for the first time last year, sadly, after his passing. And we're doing it again this month and giving away a pinball machine. And we expect to have over 100 people playing a target group match play event. So when is that? So we are going to be doing the Kevin Shames Memorial Charity Raffle and Pinball Tournament on February 23rd at 1 p.m. at Super A Bari in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before we talk about Super A Bari, for those that didn't know Kevin, a big part of the NC community for sure. Tell us about Kevin. Oh, Kevin is, especially when I started playing just about 10 years ago, He was a big influence on me discovering competitive pinball and what it's like to run and organize pinball tournaments. He wasn't the state director when I first started, but he was quickly afterwards after Keith Brown handed it over. You know, everyone who was around Kevin just saw how passionate he was, how into pinball, how much he loved running the tournaments, getting people together, making things challenging. He taught me how to make tournament decisions and learn about the IFPA rulebook. We've had several spirited arguments over some decisions, and sometimes I won and sometimes I lost, but I learned a lot. And I think the whole community here still misses him a lot, and his family has seen the outpouring of support since he passed. Well, that's kind of nice. It's almost like with this tournament you're doing on February 23rd and just keeping his name out there, really a legacy thing too. And how many people did Kevin, like yourself, inspire to grow pinball, to bring others into our lovely hobby? And it takes a special, passionate person to do that. So we certainly miss Kevin and people like that, but I love what you're doing there. And he wasn't just North Carolina. He helped start the scene in South Carolina when the Fellowship of the Silver Ball Group was getting going. I know he helped out a lot in Georgia and Southern Pride back when that was a pro circuit event. He also was a big part of those OBX tournaments, which you went to recently, and making those happen every year. Well, we'll talk about OBX. Yes, I did go in 2023, an event you won. We will get to that in a second, but I want to backtrack and just kind of highlight Super Bari because this is a place I've heard you and Bill Mason and other people just rant and rave about how wonderful it is. I have to get there. And, you know, we are right now, I don't like using the word anniversary because it sounds like a celebration, but it was five years ago that everything kind of shut down because of COVID. And to hear Super Abari, you know, really thrive now in 2025 and for years to come, that's very, very important. Tell us what Super Abari means to you and the North Carolina players. Well, if I cried when I thought Pinberg was never going to happen again I cried 10 times harder when I thought Abari was going to close for good It was definitely the summer into COVID and the shutdowns And I mean, there was a whole community of us doing rooftop concert attendance that they were putting on, buying calendars of silly people in, you know, exposing poses, just anything we could to try to keep the business afloat. But it wasn't even COVID that ended up doing it. It was development and the owner of the building ended up selling or committing to sell, which was what closed it down. But the community was already so strong and everyone just believed in Zach Pulliam, who owns it, and all the crew he had working there. And there was so much support that I think even though the amount of work to get a new location nearby acquired and built out was an overwhelmingly large task, I really think that's what motivated him to find the new location. And at the end of the day, the new location was bigger, better suited for a very awesome arcade bar. And we have room for more pinball machines. He has room for more rhythm and music games. And, of course, all the classic arcade machines that they support. And it truly is an amazing venue, staff, and community. We're up to, what, 60 players in our weekly league nights there now, and it's really a good time. I've told you this before. My wife works for a company called SAS, which is headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. So every now and then she has to go there for a few week-long meetings. And I like to tag along because as I look at the snow outside here and freezing and minus temperature, North Carolina is pretty nice, especially this time of year. But it's great even in the summer, too. I've gone to some Durham Bulls games and other things, too, but Super Bari and other venues. The North Carolina scene has just grown so much in many cities. It really has. I think the biggest boost in recent years has been Asheville really stepping it up and growing their community. They have multiple venues that do weekly tournaments and just great groups of people that are fun to be around and love their competitive pinball tournaments. but also the triangle scene is really strong with people doing all the boxcar tournaments and Greensboro getting really active. It's been really cool. And Wilmington, too. They built up a whole big community over in Wilmington and that part of the coastal North Carolina area. So we're growing. I think we're in one of the top ten states for size when it comes to state payouts and stuff like that. Very nice. So that being said, not an easy state to win, but you did win it back in 2023. In fact, perhaps the first person ever to win the Open Tournament state finals and the women's state finals in the same year. And, you know, I remember years ago in Cleveland, I've told the story before, seeing who's this Bill Mason guy just story. I've never seen this guy, but he traveled and he's just killing all these games. And then I see Kaylee Campbell doing really well in all these tournaments. And they're at the North American Championship Series and finishing sixth, by the way, out of all those great state champs. I don't know if that was kind of the turning point for you back in 2023. Again, we talked about you winning OBX later that fall, but 2023, is that kind of the year you circled and went, okay, I'm now this next level of player? I think that definitely was a huge year for me. Winning both the state championships, getting to go to nationals, defeating the defending champion at nationals to take six was really a fun experience. And then I believe that was the first year for Women's Worlds where I ended up taking, you know, top four position there. And that was a lot of fun. Just great travel, good competition. And then, of course, yeah, OBX at the end of the year. That was a blast. I want to give a shout-out to Flippers because I had never been there before. And I don't know if I even told you this. I originally was going to Philadelphia like the days before, so the drive down the coast from Philly to OBX wasn't great by any means. The only problem was the Philadelphia Phillies found a way to blow the National League Championship Series after being up three games to two, and I didn't go to Philadelphia. I didn't go to the World Series, so I had to make the long hike at the last minute from near Toronto to OBX. But thankfully, I loved it. What a great place Flippers is and a good community. Really got to chat with Samantha Bacon, who's now on the women's board, and so many other great players. Kevin Stone did a great job picking up and running that tournament. You were on fire that weekend. I didn't think you were going to let certainly Canadians or Eric Stone or some top players from other parts of the country come into North Carolina and take that title. You put your foot down, didn't you, Kaylee? I did. I mean, it felt really good to defend against Eric Stone for sure and all the other amazing players that were there. And OBX really is a treasure. I mean, how many big pinball tournaments do you get to hang out in a giant convenience store with almost 100 pinball machines and just have a good time and be around friends and competitors the whole time? And top-notch machines. Whenever you run a tournament, you always need techs and whatnot, But I don't remember seeing too many techs. And you think about the volume that OBX gets too, especially in the summertime. Now, this was a November tournament, but these machines get a lot of play and they were fantastic. So if you're looking for something to do in November or in the summer just for hanging out at the coast, OBX is definitely somewhere you want to go to and flippers for sure. And that used to be pre-2020 OBX tournaments used to be a venue where a lot of players would travel in and they'd do well and then realize that they were qualified for the North Carolina State Championship. So that what I think felt the best about that recent victory was sending a message that no you can just come over here for States and try and take a victory We going to fight back pretty hard and there a lot of good players here One thing I noticed about the scene there when I was playing in North Carolina was the women's community there was wonderful. Seeing that and other places I go to, and I always wish, oh, why can't the Open tournaments just have this much fun? Yeah, the women do a great job here. All the Bells and Chimes chapters are very inclusive of, you know, anyone that doesn't feel safe and necessarily all the open events and wants another space, which may be a little more focused on community and friendship and bringing food and just having fun while also competing. And yeah, I mean, Sammy does an amazing job on the board down in South Carolina, Kim Martinez down there, and just lots of great women all around. There's a lot of And the Asheville community has a really strong chapter as well. It's really amazing, and I just love what they've done with the space and how inclusive it is. There are people listening to this podcast that may not have ever played in a tournament or a league or anything, and they want to find out more. Go to ifpapinball.com, and you'll see everything, including the gender inclusion Ryan Policky, which is well-written. And the IFPA recognizes that there are many genders and that gender identity is a complex spectrum that goes beyond our current binary system of categorizing tournaments and leagues as, quote, open events and, quote, women's events. So they explain all that on the IFPA. And, again, if you have any questions, ifpawomenatgmail.com. They'll be glad to answer your questions. And hopefully we get to see more women playing pinball. Like, that's probably the best place for growth. I would say women and children. The only problem with children, of course, is they're too damn good at pinball. But, you know, I say that jokingly. But I think those are the areas we need to see more participation and, you know, spreading the word about Women's League, spreading the word to open events for everyone. I know you're doing it in North Carolina and other podcasters and social media is doing it as well and places like Super Abari. So as a state rep, you have to love the growth that you've seen. Oh, yeah, for sure. And, you know, speaking of children players, we've got the Bradleys, both of which got their name on banners in the last couple years at Indisc as well. Well, Liam, I remember when he won it a couple years ago, and he was just so cool as a cucumber. And I asked him, how old are you? And he told me, and I said, oh, are you going to play on this year? And he goes, no, I'm going to let somebody else win it. He let his brother win. Yeah. That was so cool. Nice family there. And I forgot until you just reminded me that they're from North Carolina. But, I mean, that's a name you're going to be watching for years to come. Liam Bradley, a super, super nice young man. And, you know, we were talking about some of the obscure games in InDisc. And I remember being in queue with him for, I don't know if it was Deadly Weapon or Bone Busters. It was definitely a game I really didn't know. And I said, yeah, I'm kind of not so sure. And he's like, oh, do this, do this, do this. kid's 40 years younger than me and he's telling me how to play pinball. Oh, I listened. He was right. You know, it's just amazing how they can, A, have the time to learn all the rules like that, but also that they just retain and just grow so quickly when they actually get into it. If I could figure out how to get my own kids that level into it, I would appreciate any tips anyone has. See, that's the key. I tried hard with my three boys to get them into pinball. Carson kind of liked it the most, but it's tough at the young age if it's not their thing. But if you can get the kids into it, oh, then you get more kind of, I don't want to say hall passes, but more, hey, I'm going to take the kids away on a trip. Oh, it just happens to be a pinball trip. And I know Josh Sharpe is pressing very, very hard for his kids to get more into pinball. I'm not saying there's an ulterior motive. It's all about family bonding, but it is fun when the kids play. Oh yeah, it definitely helps the guilt levels when you go to travel. If you could bring them with, then they actually would be into it for sure. Well, you've got some travel. We mentioned Pinberg coming up. What else is on your calendar for 2025? Not a ton, but I'll be going to the Women's Worlds and Nationals in New Hampshire in March. Port City Pinball. Yeah, the O'Neills do a great job there. That's going to be fun to watch. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to that. It's The last two years have been a blast playing with all the women and just hanging out with the crew that typically runs those things. They do an amazing job running them every year. Well, I'm not sure when I'll see you next. I know I'll see you at Pinburgh, but I'm hoping you stay the week and stay for the Beast the following week in Buffalo. Great main classics, women's tournaments, pump and dump, if you will. So the tournaments you say you like the best, that you do well in, Kaylee. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. Hope you can make it. but it is a lot of travel for sure for a lot of people, and you make it count when you travel like you did with Indisc, winning the Women's Championship. So congratulations to you, and best of luck at Super Bari on February 23rd for the Kevin Seamus Memorial event that you're doing. I love that idea and keeping his name out there. So Kelly, it's good to talk to you, and I hope to see you soon. It was great talking to you, Jeff. Thank you so much. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter and Instagram at pinballprofile. You can email pinballprofile at gmail.com. We've got a great group on Facebook as well, too. Good community there, so look for that. And if you'd like to show your support, that would be wonderful. Don't worry, the show will always be free, but we do appreciate any contributions at patreon.com slash pinballprofile. And so much thanks go to people like Rodney C., Tony V., Jerry S., Derek S., Fox Cities Pinball, and more. Enjoyed our time with our In-Disc Women's Champ for 2025 Kaylee Campbell, I'm Jeff Fules We always end up In a run Try to make it real But compare the one