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Dalton Ely from Dalton Pinball - Episode 11

JBS Show·podcast_episode·51m 44s·analyzed·Jan 11, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

daltonpinball wins first InDisc high stakes tournament for $15k, discusses mental game and competitive journey.

Summary

daltonpinball won the It Never Drains high stakes tournament in Southern California, earning $15,000 for first place in his inaugural InDisc event. The episode details his tournament run through qualifiers and finals, his competitive trajectory since 2018, mentorship from Georgia pinball community figures, and his mental approach to high-pressure competition.

Key Claims

  • daltonpinball is ranked 36th best pro player in the world

    medium confidence · Jamie Burchell introducing Dalton at the start of the podcast

  • High stakes entry was $500 with $15,000 first place payout

    high confidence · Dalton confirms directly when asked about the payout

  • Dalton qualified 6th or 7th out of 8 qualifiers for high stakes tournament

    high confidence · Jamie references the bracket showing 6th place; Dalton agrees

  • InDisc high stakes was limited to maximum 80 players, top 8 advanced

    high confidence · Dalton explains the high stakes format directly

  • IE Pinball stream peaked at over 10,000-17,000 concurrent viewers

    high confidence · Dalton states 15-17k at one point; Jamie confirms watching most of the day with 10k+ viewers all day

  • Victor (Pinball Monk) paid Dalton's $500 high stakes entry fee before the tournament

    high confidence · Dalton recounts the story of receiving a message from Victor while eating lunch with his dad

  • Dalton started competitive pinball in February 2018 with his first IFPA tournament

    high confidence · Dalton states 'early February 2018 was my very first IFPA tournament' and finished 14th

  • Dalton won the IFPA Pinmasters in March of the previous year

    high confidence · Dalton states 'IFPA Pinmasters which I won earlier back in last March' and notes it was his first Pinmasters

  • Zach McCarthy won the InDisc open world championship for the second time

    high confidence · Jamie states 'Zach had just won the open for the second time' and Dalton confirms Zach eliminated him in a tiebreaker

  • Eric Stone won the very first InDisc open world championship on F-14 Tomcat

Notable Quotes

  • “The physical skill is a big part of the game, but I'm willing to argue that the mental skill of pinball plays an even bigger part because you could be, you know, you could have all the skills in the world, but as soon as your mental is rattled a little bit, you'll just start crumbling down.”

    daltonpinball @ Early in discussion — Core philosophy on what separates elite players; emphasizes mental game over mechanics

  • “I just had a hunch. I was telling my dad, I was like, I know I didn't do good in qualifying, but I got a hunch. I'm due. I just said, I'm due. I'm due. I'm due on this game.”

    daltonpinball @ Discussing F-14 Tomcat finals match — Shows confidence and mental resilience despite poor qualifying performance on that specific game

  • “I like to consider myself one of those momentum-based players. I always think if I'm in a tournament qualifier, the first round to me is the hardest round. But when I win that round, I've gained some momentum, and then it starts spelling trouble for other people.”

    daltonpinball @ Mid-podcast discussion — Self-assessment of playing style; identifies momentum as key to tournament success

  • “I was so locked in. I couldn't I couldn't even crack a smile. I couldn't even, you know, hoot and holler, celebrate.”

    daltonpinball @ Describing his mental state after winning the finals — Illustrates extreme focus state during high-pressure competition; inability to show external emotion

  • “People tell me, how did you get so good? I just tell people, I was a learner. I had to start somewhere. Anybody can learn this. You've got to practice. You've got to study. You've got to understand how these things work.”

    daltonpinball @ Discussing competitive development — Philosophy on skill development; encourages accessibility to new players

  • “That is my mother, yes. How awesome is that, right? That your mom is on chat. She's rooting for you unbelievably, right? And it's infectious.”

    Jamie Burchell @ Late in podcast — Reveals Dalton's mother is active in Twitch chat under name 'Dalton's number one fan'; shows family support structure

Entities

daltonpinballpersonJamie BurchellpersonEric StonepersonArvidpersonJared AugustpersonDanielepersonEscherpersonZach McCarthypersonVictor (Pinball Monk)personBrian Broyles

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Dalton Eli won his first InDisc high stakes tournament, defeating elite players including Eric Stone, Daniele, and Escher. Victory came with $15,000 first place prize and championship banner placement.

    high · Confirmed tournament results and payout; Jamie references never drains bracket; Dalton scored 4.15M on F-14 Tomcat in finals

  • ?

    content_signal: It Never Drains tournament streamed by IE Pinball achieved 10,000-17,000 concurrent Twitch viewers for extended periods, reaching front page with help from Twitch staff member Pluto. Significant audience for pinball esports.

    high · Jamie and Dalton both confirm 10k+ viewers all day; Dalton mentions 15-17k peak; Pluto helped with front page placement

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Dalton Eli positioned as rising elite player after InDisc victory; previously won IFPA Pinmasters (March) and multiple Georgia State Championships; ranked 36th globally at time of podcast

    high · Multiple tournament victories; ranking disclosed; previous major event success at Pinmasters and District 82

  • ?

    community_signal: Evidence of strong community investment in emerging players: Victor (Pinball Monk) sponsored Dalton's $500 entry fee based on 'good feeling' about his potential. Investment paid off with tournament victory.

    high · Dalton recounts being approached while eating lunch with father; Victor's faith validated by tournament win; shows community culture of supporting talent

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Dalton emphasizes mental/psychological skill as more important than physical flipper mechanics in competitive pinball. Identifies himself as 'momentum-based' player who struggles in first rounds but gains confidence through advancement.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.155

0:00
Hello and welcome to the Wormhole. My name is Jamie Burchill and you are listening to and are watching our podcast called Wormhole Pinball Presents. Today I am joined by Dalton Eli. Dalton lives... Hey, how's it going? Howdy, folks. Dalton lives about an hour outside of Atlanta. Is that right? I live... Yeah, you could say that. Okay. He is ranked 36th best pro player in the world. He's got a Twitch stream called Dalton Pinball. And he just filled out a nice 1099 form. Dalton, welcome to the Wormhole virtually. Sorry for the long holdup. That's all right. Hey, everybody. Hope everyone's doing well. How was your weekend? Anything new happen to you this weekend? Yeah, we can talk about this weekend. Let's delve right into the weekend so that we could just go right into it and not be one of these tease podcasts where we leave it at the end. For those of you who don't know Dalton just won the high stakes tournament This past weekend at It Never Drains in Southern California In disc What was the payout for first place? The entry was $500 And the first place was $15,000 How was filling out that $10.99 For him? Look here's the trophy I got I'm holding it so you can see It says first place high stakes on it Unbelievable It's a big trophy, it's a heavy trophy It's like, I think it's acrylic Or glass worn, but it's a heavy Heavy stinking trophy And I also, for winning One of the things, the end disc, I got one of their Challenge coins For this year The open 2024 Which is super cool But Not bad for a baby's first end disc Huh? That's your first end disc? Yes, it was actually my very first InDisc Last year when we went to Super Series and Expo I did good there And I actually used some of that money I won from Super Series and Chicago Expo to fund this trip To InDisc And It was just Something told me I needed to go And I got out in quarter finals In the World Championship in the open. Yeah, but I managed to get in the top eight of the high stakes because it's only limited to a maximum of 80 players, and it's only taken the top eight to the qualifiers, which is really strenuous, and you've got to do good consistently across five games. You qualified sixth in the high stakes, right, out of eight? I believe I was sixth or seventh. I was around the sixth or seventh because I know when the score course fluctuate you'll change your positions every now and then so but i'm pretty sure i was either sixth or seventh i've got you here six i'm looking at the uh never drains uh players bracket right here in front of me oh okay a couple screens and uh six uh can you explain for people who who've never been to one of these major tournaments uh dalton can you kind of explain the card qualification process because it can be a little confusing okay yeah so uh in disc with the card format they call it card format it's basically you have a card of five scores on it you have to do good it's like you're submitting five game scores at once basically but you got to do good across five games at one time because you could have a good score on four of them and you could have a very bad score on the last one and that card could be destroyed because of that. But you just want to do good across five machines before you submit it in. That's really the gist of the card. It's like your standard best score qualifying, but you're submitting five scores at once that's about the easiest way i could put it and for high stakes how many cards do you get uh high stakes it was the same way but the entry for high stakes was five hundred dollars buy-in okay and you got 10 cards all right so and cards so you know you have you're having a great built fourth game you go to the fifth game doesn't work out there goes one of your entries right Yeah I know that's about it Because you always have that pressure It's okay I need to hunker down I got a good card going I need to pull out all the stops on this last card If I want to qualify And there's something about having that pressure On you There's a little bit of fun to it You know what I mean No Because I choke I don't know what you're talking about I'm ranked 2000th in the world I'm not ranked 35th But, you know, I love that idea, right, that you, you know, great players, no matter what the sport, and I'm a sport nut, when they feel the pressure, the great players can deal with it and can handle it. Yeah, that's what I always tell people. The physical skill is a big part of the game, but I'm willing to argue that the mental skill of pinball plays an even bigger part because you could be, you know, you could have all the skills in the world, but as soon as your mental is rattled a little bit, you'll just start crumbling down, you know?

high confidence · Dalton states 'he actually won the very first in-disc open world championship that was the game that eric stone won that championship on is that f14 tomcat'

  • “I want to pay for your high stakes entry and I just said I really appreciate it that's a lot of money and he said just don't worry about it if you're balking at it I'm going to pay your high stakes entry because I have a good feeling that you're going to shake things up.”

    Dalton Eli (quoting Victor/Pinball Monk) @ Story about pre-tournament sponsorship — Shows community investment in emerging talent; Victor's faith in Dalton proved justified

  • “It's like if you haven't seen a baseball game where they have the players mic, you know, it's like I'm doing a firsthand firsthand reports of what I'm doing and stuff.”

    daltonpinball @ Discussing Twitch streaming during play — Explains how Dalton manages streaming interaction while competing; compares to sports broadcasting

    • person
    Chris Comptonperson
    Scott Kuthaisperson
    Ray Smithperson
    Chris Powellperson
    It Never Drainsevent
    IE Pinballperson
    Plutoperson
    Portal Pinball Arcadevenue
    Dalton Pinballproduct
    InDiscevent
    IFPA Pinmastersevent
    Georgia State Championshipevent
    District 82event
    F-14 Tomcatgame
    Wheel of Fortunegame

    high · Direct quotes about mental game importance; discussion of nervousness management; analysis of own tournament progression pattern

  • ?

    competitive_signal: InDisc high stakes format: 80-player maximum tournament, $500 entry, top 8 qualifiers advance. Qualifiers use 'card format' - players submit five game scores at once; poor performance on even one game can eliminate a card.

    high · Dalton explains card format in detail; references 10 cards for high stakes; discusses pressure of final game in each card

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Machines at major tournaments (like It Never Drains) are set up with high difficulty: minimal ball saves, powerful flippers, no outlane posts. Players make games appear easier than they are despite challenging setup.

    high · Dalton states 'these games were set up hard' and describes specific setup characteristics; notes they 'made it look easy, but it's not that easy'

  • ?

    product_concern: F-14 Tomcat machine in finals had potential switch matrix issue noted by Andy Rosa in chat, suggesting possible impact on scoring. Dalton tilted on a minimal movement but remained composed about outcome.

    medium · Andy Rosa (pinball tech) noted possible switch matrix issue in chat; Dalton tilted after minimal movement; Dalton chose not to be upset about it

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Dalton's first round group and finals featured extremely high-caliber competition: Eric Stone (2x world champion), Arvid (elite European), Jared August (elite US), Escher, and Daniele. Described as near world championship level field.

    high · Jamie's assessment of opponent caliber; Dalton's opponent descriptions; placement in finals as 'best of two groups'

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball community characterized by high accessibility and mentoring for new players. Dalton credits four specific Georgia players (Broyles, Compton, Kuthais, Smith) for fundamental skill development and encouragement to travel.

    high · Dalton's detailed mentorship narrative; Jamie's confirmation of welcoming community culture; emphasis on 'learner' mentality and peer teaching

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Dalton exhibited extreme focus during finals matches ('locked in' state); unable to show external emotion despite victory; describes adrenaline crash post-victory; compares intensity to prior IFPA Pinmasters performance.

    high · Dalton's detailed description of emotional state; Jamie's observation of somber demeanor; comparison to other high-intensity competitions

    • 5:43
    So your mental game is a really, really strong part of the pinball tournament scene. That's awesome. So here, InDisc was streamed by IE Pinball. Phenomenal amount of people were watching you guys.
    5:58
    Absolute phenomenal. I mean 15 to 17,000 at one point Yeah actually There's a Twitch Staff member who was their Twitch Staff partner his name was Pluto He's in Pluto and chat a lot He was actually there and he Actually helped IE Pinball Get onto the front page of Twitch And that increased the Discovery and availability to All the Twitch viewers in the world And we had We had over 10,000 Viewers at once just about all day long. Yeah, all day long, because I watched it most of the day.
    6:36
    And I was up until 2 in the morning watching you, because it was just unbelievable. I mean, you go into... So you make it to the top eight. I'm going to talk people through this in case they didn't watch this, but you're in a group with Arvid, Eric Stone, Jared August.
    6:53
    That's just the first round. You've got Eric Stone, two-time major world champion. You got Arvid, who's one of the greatest players in Europe. And then you have Jared, who's one of the greatest players in the United States. And this is just round one semifinals. Round one of high stakes, I can remember we played... You played Black Knight, Robocop, and Wheel of Fortune. Who chose those pens? How were those pens chosen? So, Jared was the higher okay he was the high seed in our group he got to choose the games but i was actually the first one to pick order or no i was the second one to pick order uh arvid i believe chose fourth on all games i chose third on all games uh eric stone chose second and jared defaulted to go first on all games but contrary to what people say these games were set up hard you know all these big name tournaments. These games are set up hard. There's barely any ball saves. The flippers are super powerful. The outlane posts are gone.
    8:00
    It's just, we made it look easy, but it's not that easy. You got a second on Black Knight, a second on Robocop, and then you wind up winning. You get the W on Wheel of Fortune and move into the finals. And then Eric Yeah Eric and Jared had to play A one game tiebreaker And I believe they played F14 Tomcat Okay So they played F14 Tomcat The other group Which is totally ridiculous Some kid named Escher You got Escher Daniele And Keith And Jermaine In that group That's just That might as well be a world championship final In that group Unbelievable right So we didn't get to see any of that Because the open you know Zach had just won the open For the second time This is the second one He's actually Zach was the one who eliminated me From the open We had to play a tiebreaker We were tied at 6-6 And we had to play Stranger Things And I lost on that particular Stranger Things with about like 160, 150 million.
    9:20
    Which was a great score. Yeah, Stranger Things and Zach McCarthy go together like peanut butter and jelly. He loves that game.
    9:29
    Wow. I remember telling Zach as a joke, I was like, you better win this whole thing or I'm going to beat you up.
    9:38
    But we were joking. Then he eventually wins it. And I say, looks like I wanted to beat you up after all. Good job.
    9:48
    No. So after round two, so you go to the finals now and look at this finals, right? Escher and Danielle, Daniele, and you and Eric Stone.
    10:04
    Oh, man. Holy smokes, right? That's the best of those two groups. That might as well be a world championship final there, you know? It's just crazy And so let's go over here Because I have the never drains here I will say that High stakes finals that was actually I believe the very first time I ever played A match with Daniele Okay That was the first match with Daniele That's actually Matter of fact I think this end disc Was the very first time I met Daniele in person Okay He got to pick the games Right Because he was player one, right? No, he was player four, Escher. He deferred on the third game of F14 Tomcat. He deferred, I'm pretty sure. Eric Stone took that.
    10:53
    Or it's like, I think Daniele, he picked Wheel of Fortune. So you have Wheel of Fortune, Harley Davidson, F1 Tomcat. In the semis, you put up $55 million on Wheel of Fortune. Ladies and gentlemen, look at these scores. I'm going to tell you these scores on Wheel of Fortune. $55 million you put up on the semis, which was amazing, by the way. Oh, yeah. Right? It's a big number. Look at these numbers. Escher, $51 million. By the way, he finishes with no points. That's a last on Wheel of Fortune. That's a last, ladies and gentlemen. Last place on Wheel of Fortune gets $50 million. That's usually a grand champion on other Wheel of Fortunes. player two daniele 77 326 77 million 77 million is third place escher eric stone player two gets 78 million gets two points and you come out and put up 91 million points uh yeah uh talk me through wheel of fortune because it's it's such a hard game how did you do that do you remember wheel of fortune uh i'll just say that that semi-final was like my warm-up game yeah but i don't see wheel of fortunes a lot but from what i can understand there's green targets around the play field that spell out multi-ball and you want to hit those you like your multi-ball uh you have the puzzle on the board you want to hit the contestants to get letters you know you can buy vowels at the little scoop yeah but the most common way of playing is you want to spell bonus, you know, the shots that spell the bonus letters. Hitting all of them will light the bonus round, which is basically a mode. It's basically your mode. Okay. You want to light bonus and light multi-ball, you know, bonus round and multi-ball stacks, usually the way to go right out the gate. And also you want to get some of those inline drops down for your free spins And those free spins are your outlane ball saves and there like two And you were loaded up on your outlanes I wanted to make sure that the only way to go was down the middle. Yeah. Because that's a double wide lane in the middle between them flippers. It's almost like the electromechanical game, you know, something like Spanish eyes, you know. Right. and I can remember getting the bonus round of multiball stack going and then there's one I think it's called stop the wheel and it requires you to hit the contestants and the wheel spins and it multiplies whatever it lands on and there's one that's I believe it's a million and I had a million times four so I had like four million from that one shot at one point but you know multiball in mode is the way to go. When you solve your second puzzle, that is a prize multiball. You get trip to Africa or trip to Spain, multiball and stuff like that.
    14:00
    That's usually how it goes in a nutshell. Just spell bonus, get multiball, get the contestants, solve puzzles.
    14:08
    That game is starting to grow on me a little bit. I don't see it a lot. I think it should. You GC'd it. Yeah. But what was more crazy, when Daniele drained his last ball, he was player four. You know, there was a big suspense because he was like, you know, he was right there to get those two points. Yeah. Pardon me. Pardon the pun. But he was within a stone's throw of Eric Stone's score. Yeah. You know, but he barely missed it by less than one million. Yeah. Which is insane. Seven, three, two, six to seventy eight, two, two, three change. But it's just crazy when you play with these high-level people and $50 million on Wheel of Fortune gets last and $70 million gets third. That's just insane. And this wasn't the easiest Wheel of Fortune out there. While you move on, you get your four, and then you go to Harley-Davidson. Do you know Harley at all? Is it a game you're familiar with? Harley Davidson, the very first time I played it was at District 82.
    15:16
    But it looks very simple, but it's actually a lot of fun, believe it or not. But I knew exactly what I was supposed to do. But Eric Stone, he loves this game. I mean, as you can see when you mention the scores of this game, he loves this game. Well, look at the scores of this game. Escher comes up 16 million, 16.5.
    15:42
    Player two is Eric Stone, and he put up 46 million. You put up, player three, 40 million and change, and Daniele gets 21. So you come out with the two points. Stone, you know, it was very fascinating. Go back and watch it, people, because you guys were blowing Steve Bowden's mind with the moving of the city. I mean, you're blowing Steve Bowden's mind.
    16:09
    Yeah, I remember re-watching it. Everyone in chat is going crazy because, you know, Harley-Davidson's got those almost like Fathom outline in lane, you know, with the curved outline stuff. Yeah. Whenever somebody would save it off, the chat would go crazy because it's such a, you know, miniature hype moment. And I remember Daniele Just heaved the machine Took a textbook double danger to save one And Then he locked the ball Then he took a walk because it's like I moved that a lot I'm going to let that sit So you know what's interesting So you get a second there And so you're in good shape Coming into F14 Tomcat But you're at that point with Eric Stone Because he had a second on Wheel of Fortune And so at that point It's between you and Eric Stone Because unfortunately Escher and Daniele Can't win right But in between Yeah that's right But yeah the battle is between You and Eric and Stone at that point And you're playing a machine That he really really loves Yeah he actually Won the very first in-disc open world championship that was the game that eric stone won that championship on is that f14 tomcat and during qualifying i barely i barely even cracked 500 000 on that f14 tomcat in high states in qualifying because it's just i could not get a hold of it i could not i just i was going into this i was like man i think i'm due i got a hunch i'm due so that was You know, most people would be nervous and shaking. You come in and go, I've got a hunch I'm due?
    18:00
    Well, to say I was nervous, to say I wasn't nervous is a lie because, you know, I mean, the best players in the world can get nervous. It's all about, you know, overcoming that nervousness. And you just got to think, you know, I'm nervous. I know I'm nervous, but I've got a good feeling about this. You know, you know, you got to have that little shred of positivity because when that nervousness enters that mental state, you crumble like dust, you know. And I just had a hunch. I was telling my dad, I was like, I know I didn't do good in qualifying, but I got a hunch. I'm due. I just said, I'm due. I'm due on this game.
    18:42
    And. Boy, boy. Yeah. And this this ball, too, is we're jumping ahead in this ball. No, it's jump because your ball, too, is pretty awesome, man. Yeah, it was awesome, and then it was awesome for the wrong reasons. Yeah. Because I have, you know, a two ball. I start rip off the rip off multi ball. I remember that. And there's this one segment where I take the upper flippers. I hold one up, and I'm just, you know, hitting the other one, getting the bonus multipliers up. I'm making my own side loop up there Which is actually super cool And that F-14 Tomcat That had a special ROM In it is where Wherever you roll over the in lane And you hit the kill targets You know like your kickback and the kills and stuff You would actually spot a letter In Tomcat towards your locks And that Tomcat also You couldn't spot a letter from the saucer.
    19:49
    You couldn't just cheese that over and over again for Tomcat. You had to get these on your own. You had to get these the hard way, so to speak. Yeah, with all those dots across all over the play field. Those blue dots.
    20:01
    I actually got enough kills to kill Yagov and get the extra ball award, which I believe it was worth, I want to say 300,000 points. I could be wrong on that. I don't remember. It was just huge and chat was going crazy. yeah and then when I start my second multi-ball I get the fighter jackpot it was roughly about I think 800 850 000 points puts me over three million and then I hit the kill target then I hit the kill target again with the other ball and it tilts yeah and I just remember going what you know my arms are up everyone's going the crowd in the background you know lets out lets out that big oh yeah and chat was just screaming robbed robbed robbed my boy got robbed that's not right that's some bs and stuff like that i just chatted wow because it was wow worthy right it was just i know i did make a big move earlier but you can tell that i i barely even moved i just hit the car getting it tilted yeah and i actually saw uh andy rosa in chat he said something like he had a f14 tomcat that had a switch matrix issue that if you had a target with tilt so not saying not saying that right not saying it but i mean if i didn't have a good score but i was at three and a half million i was not upset at all i know even though it kind of shafted me on that but it was just i was sitting pretty with three and a half million i was like i'm not mad at this at all you know any other time i would get upset but now i think that's a great attitude with it right we were like okay shake it off shake it off and yeah i i will say uh that high stakes final four uh was probably the most locked in i ever was i think the only other time I was locked in that much is the IFPA pinmasters. Once I get in that groove, I feel like there's barely any stopping me. It takes a while. That's what I like to consider myself. I like to consider myself one of those momentum-based players. I always think if I'm in a tournament qualifier, the first round to me is the hardest round. But when I win that round, I've gained some momentum, and then it starts spelling trouble for other people. But there's a lot of players who are like that with the momentum-based players. That's no matter what sport it is, right? If me and you go tee it up today in golf, okay, and I bogey, bogey, bogey, I'm going the wrong way, right? You don't want to start off With a nice little par or a nice little birdie And you want to keep that momentum For 17 more holes after that So I mean it's just I don't care what sport it is Momentum is so vital right Yeah that is absolutely right So you wind up putting up 4.15 Million Eric Stone did not catch you And that was it It was really unbelievable What goes through your head when it's over and you win? What's going through your mind? As soon as I see Eric, he drains out the left out lane with the kickback. He turns around, immediately goes and gives me a hug.
    23:38
    And I just walk up, play my ball out like a little victory lap and stuff like that. And I'm not hooting and hollering. I'm not saying awesome. You know, I'm giving people fist bumps and handshakes and hugs and all that. But it's just I just couldn't show emotion. I don't know if I was just locked in. You were so locked in. I was so locked in. I couldn't I couldn't even crack a smile. I couldn't even, you know, hoot and holler, celebrate. You know, I was just you can see me walking in the background. I'm just walking. Yeah. You know, somberly. I'm just going in front of the screen I'm looking at the screen watching Escher play his last ball and everybody's saying, way to go Dalton, way to go Dalton, give me handshakes and all that, I'm like, hey man, appreciate it I haven't hit you yet, right? Really, maybe? That's what I was telling them I was like, it hasn't set in yet it hasn't set in yet, it's like, I don't know if I'm on an adrenaline crash or just need to get out of that locker room. No, that's what's happening. You're on an adrenaline crash.
    24:50
    And when did you sleep pretty good that night? Yes, I did. I did sleep pretty good that night. Then the next day we boarded the plane, headed home. So your dad came with you? Yes, he usually comes with me on all these tournaments, you know, all these out-of-state, across-the-country tournaments like Chicago and, you know, District 82. He's there for me. He's like my corner man so to speak That is so fantastic To have that support With you To be able to go there and know that you've got someone To talk to You know In between balls some people listen to music Some pace around Some people live chat on Twitch As they're playing how is that possible How do you do that It's just People in chat, you know, they're saying Dalton's in chat? Wait, is Dalton Pinball that guy who playing now Exactly That what they saying And I seen you do it multiple times So I you know I seen it Right But well I like to think of it It's like if you haven't seen a baseball game where they have the players mic, you know, it's like I'm doing a firsthand firsthand reports of what I'm doing and stuff. Do you think that calms you down a little? Maybe. Yes, I would actually I would actually agree with you there. It does actually help me calm me down. And it takes the stress off of the game at hand, you know. I mean, I'm still focused on it, but the pressure just dwindles down, you know, when my mind is taken off of it. So who is the Twitch chatter named Dalton's number one fan? Is that your mom? That is my mother, yes. How awesome is that, right? That your mom is on chat. She's rooting for you unbelievably, right? And it's infectious. I think people, I love that she Twitch chats, it's hilarious It's hilarious Yeah, she's the She's the chat representative Of the Dalton, you know Well congratulations man I think that's just fantastic We're going to keep going and talk a little Delve into how you got into this and stuff But I wanted to get, you know, talk about Indus right off the bat And congratulate you again What an accomplishment Hey, I really appreciate it Yeah, first in-disc, and my name's on the banner already. I'll take it. And there's also one more thing I got to mention about the high stakes. Oh, please.
    27:23
    Before, I didn't even pay my interest at the high stakes when I got there. Me and Dad, we were just eating lunch, and I got a message from Victor, better known for Pinball Monk, you know, the mods and the Flipper fans guy. he sent me a message he said I want to pay for your high stakes entry and I just said I really appreciate it that's a lot of money and he said just don't worry about it if you're balking at it I'm going to pay your high stakes entry because I have a good feeling that you're going to shake things up needless to say the investment paid off Are you kidding me? What a great story. It's just, and then I just told him after, I was like, I guess the investment paid off. Once again, I cannot thank you enough because I know $500, you know, to some people $500 is merely a drop in the bucket. But $500 to me, you know, that's a lot of money. It's a lot of money to anybody. And I just, I probably would not have won the high stakes if he didn't pay my high stakes entry. And I really do appreciate him for that. So, Victor, if you're listening, man, I really do appreciate it. And thank you so much once again. Oh, my God. That is an awesome story. Thank you for sharing it here on our podcast. Yeah, absolutely. Really appreciate it. All right, so let's go back in time. Not that far. It's generally 23. When did you start playing competitive pinball?
    29:00
    I started playing competitively back in 2018. So, you know, coming up on six years now. I mean, if you take away, you know, the suspended years for COVID, you know, mainly about four years ago. But since 2018, you know, early February 2018 was my very first IFPA tournament. But I actually remember playing pinball, you know, when I was a kid. I vividly remember the very first machine I ever played. I was about like three or four years old. It was Simpson's pinball party. Wow. You know, I didn't do too good on it, but I just remember, you know, Homer Simpson's head and the call outs. And I can remember, you know, Ripley's Believe It or Not. Then we'd find movie theaters. Me and Dad would go to movie theaters and find pinball machines. That's usually the newest releases. I can remember playing Tron at the movie theater Game of Thrones, Avatar, Kiss, Aerosmith Ghostbusters, we would just go to the movie theater not even go see a movie, just get a bucket of popcorn and some drinks and just play that pinball machine as long as we wanted to mainly and I can also remember I had a Nintendo Wii for Christmas one year and I actually got the pinball hall of fame williams collection it had you know taxi firepower black knight fun house you know all those you know legendary williams titles and also the gottlieb collection with big shot genie and black hole and heat off you know just to name a few and it wasn't until late 2017 uh we found out about this place in ackworth georgia or it's in ackworth georgia out but it was in Kennesaw Georgia at the time it was called Portal Pinball Arcade and we decided to go there it was very brand new not even half a year of opening and we just were just amazed at all these pinball machines you know you got one wall of the modern stuff then you got one wall of the solid states and EM stuff right over there and it's just wow that's a lot of pinball machines and Brian Broyles, the owner, he noticed us. He's like, you should come and play in some tournaments. I was like, okay, when's the next tournament? He said, February 2018. That's our next month of tournament. Come on out. That was my very first IFBA tournament. I think I finished like 14th.
    31:36
    Contrary to what others think, I wasn't what I am now back then. It does take work. I always tell people going off a little bit, people tell me, how did you get so good? I just tell people, I was a learner. I had to start somewhere. Anybody can learn this. You've got to practice. You've got to study. You've got to understand how these things work.
    32:02
    I just tell people, I was once like you. I was a learner. I learned from the best in Georgia. There was four guys I want to shout out when I was in Georgia. starting out you know had brian broils the owner of the quarter pimp arcade uh another guy named chris compton uh he was he always used to travel back then i he played in a tournament last time i saw him we were at a tournament i won we had to play dolly parton we had a beat on we had a big game of dolly parton going on we're talking about like a couple hundred thousand yeah but but he was good he was the one who told me about you know these out of country or not out of country out of state tournaments you know and traveling stuff he used to go to i remember he used to go to city champ and you know some pinbergs and stuff like that but he was one of my biggest help and third guy uh scott kuthais was his name he he was also a big help and you know understanding how flipper skills and transcribing it to different machines and another guy uh his name is ray smith that i really haven't heard a lot from him lately but i'm still i'm sure he's still in the pinball community but those four guys brian chris scott and ray those four guys helped me get an understanding early on you know flipper skills you know look at what pop is travel to other states and play in Another tournament out there and just Set my mind to it you know It's good first of all Good Oscar speech you know Second No but seriously I think that this community More than most Other hobbies or sportish You know sport communities Is very inviting Dalton It truly is you know It really is When you come in new And you're not changing the lanes up top Right. Let's say you're not changing. You're not spelling whatever up top. And they say to you, hey, man, you see this flipper right here. When that ball comes through there, change it so that you can spell this and get your multiplier.
    34:22
    That was the first thing a guy named Chris Powell told me. And I've been hooked ever since. Right. Trying to learn these things. So it's just an unbelievable community. community and you know they were so good it really really is so prior to this weekend what was your best finish at a major event? Prior to Indisc it probably been the IFPA Pinmasters which I won earlier back in last March and that was actually my very first Pinmasters too I won my third Georgia State Championship and got to go to District 82 that was actually my first time at District 82 as well and I did good where can you go new now? this is what we need to figure out here let's see did you get a spot at TPF this coming in March? I don't think I did unfortunately that could have been brand new for you we could have rode this new street yeah but I can remember going back to when I started out I actually did well enough once I got about July I won my very first tournament I won my very first tournament and then I just started getting good getting good getting more better and just I started winning you know more of these weekly tournaments back to back and all that and I actually qualified enough to play in the Georgia State Championship that year. Okay. And I made it to the finals. And you know who, I'll just, I'm going to quiz you. Take a guess who my finals opponent was for the Georgia State Championship back in 2019.
    36:18
    Keith Allen. No, not Keith Allen. Eric Stone. Oh, get out of here. I'm not kidding. Eric Stone, he was – Eric Stone, you know, some people, you know, he's always – you know, he's very live wire competitive when he plays for sure, you know. But when you get to talking with him, he's truly one of the best guys out there. And he – Eric Stone was like the first big name, you know, pro player that I got to be around because he won the classics and the main division of Penvasion that first year of my career, and he got to qualify for Georgia, and he drove up from Florida to play in the Georgia State Championship.
    37:05
    And I just, I remember I was such a nervous wreck because I just had all this pressure on me. It's like I'm the last Georgia guy, and I got to defend against the current number four in the world at the time. And I was like, oh, man, I am very, very nervous. But I just I was happy to be there playing the state championship. And long story short, I actually beat him and won the state championship. Wow. And I actually got to go to Las Vegas to play in the North America championship and represent Georgia. and I remember after the tournament was over Eric Stoney came up to me and talked to me a little bit he was like you're good, you're locked in, you're going to be good years from now and he gave me this little card I got to find it but here I'll be right back you mind if I step away for a second? Not at all not at all, we'll edit this no problem alright here I found it here it is right here I found it but he gave me this card the Walter Day Superstars of 2017 it had him on it I'm going to hold it up to the camera here it may be hard to see but he signed it for me he gave it to me right after the state championship and I still got it and You know I played with him just this Sunday in the high stakes You know we come in full circle like you said earlier And he came and gave you a big hug right after you beat him That the beauty of all this pinball stuff you know I mean, competition's there, don't get me wrong. You know, there's, you know, when it matters the most, you know, when the pressure's on, there is competitive spirit to be found in each and every player. But once the competitive nature's done, when the tournament's over, when the dust settles, we're just like one big family you know yeah and it's just we like to just we like to just hang out you know talk about what's going on you know we're just we're just friends we're like a big giant bunch of friends playing pinball even if it just says world championship we're just friends playing pinball that's all we are so where are where are you playing the state championship I'm going to stay in Georgia Because you're qualified for a few Yeah I actually got some emails It's like I got an email for Illinois, Wisconsin Tennessee, Alabama South Carolina So when is Georgia? When is it? It's going to be January 20th I believe that's when The IFPA state championships They're all held on the same day I think I didn't because ours is the 20th as well. Yeah. So are they yours going to be streamed? I believe so. OK. I believe Insomniac's pinball. OK. They're based out of the near the where this location is going to hold the state championship. Sterling Martin's Balls of Steel. It's in Richmond Hill, Richmond Hill, Georgia, which is almost near Savannah. So it's going to be a long drive for me. It's about a four hour drive. I live in northwest Georgia, and it's going to be a long drive, but I've got to defend my title. You've got to defend and then hopefully get to nationals. Where's nationals this year? I believe it's going to be held at District 82 again this year. Great. I think District 82 is going to be the home for it now, which ain't bad because that's really a textbook. I have not been to DA2 And that is on my list Of things I have to do Oh it's a great place We went there For pin masters and nationals It was just a great setup They had Nothing but great things I was hearing Don you gotta get up the district Get in line for super suits I was like I know That's a long flight and that's a lot of money And it's a long drive But when I actually got to District A2 I just remember I was like I've heard And seen the good things about it And now I've experienced the good things about it And I will be back Well before we Shut this down when did you start Your stream Dalton Pinball On Twitch Excuse me but I started my stream Back in Where do you stream out of as well What location do you know I stream from Portal Pinball Arcade. That's where I usually stream from. Thursday night, I used to do it Tuesday and Thursday nights. I started doing the streams from Portal early 2021, like March 2021, you know, when COVID was rampant, you know. Yeah. It's the second year of COVID, and I just hear people, it's like, Dalton, you need to get a streamer rare. We want to see you play. And I was like well we'll figure out something And 2021 I set up a rig I made it out of PVC pipe And a couple of Logitech web cameras and a laptop Awesome And you know people tuned in Absolutely Next thing you know I become an affiliate And going almost two years Almost three years strong Of streaming So congratulations on the stream It is awesome It's not easy I love to commentate That's really my bailiwick But it's not easy to commentate And play pinball At the same time There's very few people that can do it really well And you're one of them So congrats on that I appreciate that I like doing commentary whenever I can I like you on the mic too I think you do a really good job I appreciate that I tune into the big ones And you're up there And your knowledge of the games is what's so great, right? Like I can call play-by-play, and I'm good at moving it along and pointing to Steve Bowne. Steve, what would you do here, right? But I have to, you know, that's the Al Michaels role, if you will, right, to Joe Buck. I'm not Troy Aikman. I can't give you the information on F-14 Tomcat as like you can and Steve Bowne. It's just that knowledge is just really impressive. Yeah, it really is. I'm trying to – I'm learning more and more as I commentate on how to commentate. But I just – I try to give it my best. I really enjoy doing it. You do great. I appreciate that. People tell me, it's like, oh, man, I love your commentary and stuff like that. And it's just – it really puts a smile on my face. you know it you know it is nice we look all of us when we're doing this we don't get paid you know you got paid this weekend but we don't get paid for dalton pinball on twitch right we don't make any money on the wormhole channel we're just doing this because we love pinball and want to spread it and uh i just i love i love it so that's why yeah podcast yeah you know you know streaming you know Streaming's hard, and any support that comes to the channel, it's never necessary, but it's very greatly appreciated. Absolutely. I do this a lot just because I just love to play pinball, and I just love the community of the pinball people. Yeah.
    45:04
    Where did you come up with the phrase, do a tap pass? Okay, so. Please, before we leave, I can't leave you without do a tap pass. Okay, the do a tap pass, I just remember, I can't remember.
    45:21
    I think we were playing Paragon one time. Tap pass worthy game. Someone was on the left flipper, and it's like, how do I get the ball over? Let me get the ball. I just say, do a tap pass. And it's like, huh? I was like, do a tap pass. It's where you gotta You know just tap the button And the ball just bounces right over And Then on stream You know Just doing post passes and all that Then people just start saying Hey can you do a tap pass right fast And I'm like oh do a tap pass Okay there's your tap pass And needless to say It just stuck That's all I can say It's almost like you know I wish the pinball community was like 10 times the size so that you could trademark that and make a couple of bucks off of it.
    46:13
    It's like the skateboarders have the do a kickflip, you know, stuff like that. That's about the best way I could describe it.
    46:24
    It's just like, hey, do a tap pass. I mean, every time there's a tap pass shot on our stream, someone in chat says do a tap pass, right? and then we smile thinking that dalton is somewhere smiling and it is just and and you see it and it's not just our stream and you go to all these streams and you watch their league and someone will say do a tap pass and that is just it's really really cool that's why i wish it was we're just so much bigger is that you could you could reap the rewards of that but it's really oh yeah i i love it i love how it's just became you know it's almost like a meme of some sort you know It is. It's like a gag. It's really funny. That is so cool, man. Well, congratulations once again. What a fantastic display of pinball. I really appreciate it. And not only do I love the way you play, I really love your demeanor. I love your positive attitude.
    47:19
    You're a really joy to watch. And I wanted to do this podcast to let other people that have not met you see you and really appreciate you. Hey, man. Hey, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to be on here. I really appreciate it. Really love your streams. Y'all have some top-notch work y'all guys do. I really want to make it a wormhole one of these days. Well, you're going to. We'll do it. We have 200 pins that we choose from, those that are new to us. And we put 23 in here.
    47:53
    We haven't made a change in a little bit because we're dialing them in. The techs are coming. We have tech night on Wednesdays. So I'm going to be here all night just cleaning and helping, because I don't know what the hell I'm doing tech-wise. But we just want to dial these machines in for our state finals, which we're going to be streaming as well. And then we've got the women's finals the next day. Oh, yeah. January 20th is one of the greatest days for tournament pinball on Twitch because you have just an endless amount of streams for state championships. You know, it's like, you know, you got the March madness. It's January madness. You know, you guys like, all right, we got on one monitor. We got Texas on one monitor over here. We got Wisconsin on one monitor over here. We got New York. That's what I want to happen. I really do. And I hope we're up on that monitor, you know, because so many monitors. And I can remember the place we played for state championships last year. We had the Fox Cities Wisconsin championship on stream, which is super cool. Yeah, they do a great job. My gosh. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Tom and the crew, they're always cool. They always do a great job. I mean, you do too, you know. We're getting there. Yeah. We're getting there. So this is going to be up tonight, Wednesday, January 10th, and not only on our YouTube channel, but it's also going to be downloaded wherever you get your podcast media from. And our next stream will be the 20th for our state championship. And I do want to send you an invite in 2025. We are opening a pinball museum here. It'll have 125 pins, some very rare. Out of the 60 pins, excuse me, out of the 200 pins in the collective of Tim and John's collection, 60 are from Europe.
    49:48
    Wow. So when we started the podcast, you said, is that a German kiss to your left? And I said, yes, that is a German kiss. we have Andromeda here we have a warlock behind me is a cosmic princess is a stern Australian made cosmic princess oh wow and that is really cool and then a barricora here and then trailer has the light next to the excuse me the rig and trailer is a Spanish game you can go back we just streamed it on Monday And that's a Spanish game that has a really cool play full. It's got an arm of a guy driving a tractor trailer. It's wild.
    50:34
    So we're pretty dialed in for our state championship, too. Yeah, there you go. All right, Dalton, sorry to take too much of your time. I took too long. I'm sorry. No, absolutely. No problem at all. You're an absolute pleasure. Dalton, congratulations. Again, high stakes champion In this 2024 Dalton, thank you so very much Thank you, thank you everybody Thank you everybody for tuning in Yeah, be sure to You can catch me on the stream You mind if I shut myself out? No, give it your shout out We want to know about Dalton Pinball Yeah, Dalton Pinball on Twitch Main schedule is Thursday nights From Portal Pinball Arcade 6 o'clock p.m. Eastern 5 o'clock p.m. Central we stream for about two hours on one game so just come on in and you might see a tap pass or two you sure as heck will man thanks so much I appreciate it alright thank you very much bye brother