Tucson Pinball Podcast – Episode 74 – Revving The Engine

Tuscon Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·37m 31s·analyzed·Dec 1, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.029

TL;DR

Operator relocates location after losing major venue, pivots marketing strategy to rebuild player base

Summary

The host discusses losing his largest pinball location (TISC ice hockey rink) due to tribal land reclamation for casino development in mid-September, forcing relocation of 10 machines. He moved 6 games to Hot Rods bar upstairs (available only during tournaments/practice) and kept 4 downstairs, reducing always-available machines from 14 to 4. The episode focuses on his strategy to rebuild the player base through new location marketing, sandwich board signs, social media advertising targeting gamers in Rita Ranch/Veil area, and optimizing game placement and tournament scheduling.

Key Claims

TISC hockey rink received email mid-September 2024 that the Tohono O'odham tribe needed the land for casino development
high confidence · Host directly describing the closure timeline and reason
Went from 14 always-available machines (10 at TISC + 4 at Hot Rods downstairs) to 4 (only downstairs at Hot Rods) due to upstairs availability restrictions
high confidence · Host explicitly comparing machine availability: 'went from fourteen games to four'
Upstairs games at Hot Rods can only operate when the host is present (tournaments or practice sessions)
high confidence · Host stating agreement terms: 'the agreement we have currently is that the upstairs games can only be on when I'm there'
Moved tournaments from Thursday evenings at TISC to Saturday afternoons at Hot Rods to compete less with weekend family time while reaching broader audience
high confidence · Host describing new schedule: 'Thursdays and Sundays' operating hours with 'Saturday' event timing goal
Hot Rods has approximately 3,500 Facebook followers/likes, compared to Tucson Pinball's ~500
high confidence · Host: 'Hot Rods has 3,500 Facebook follows or likes... I think we're at like 500'
Rita Ranch and Veil area has population around 30,000 people with multiple high-traffic intersections
medium confidence · Host estimating: 'veil's about 30,000 people... Rita Ranch is probably in that same ballpark'
Donated Deal or No Deal ticket redemption game to local kids organization, configured it for free play
high confidence · Host: 'the Deal or No Deal, I donated to a local group that works with kids'
Has started targeting social media ads toward Rita Ranch/Veil gamers (video games, board games, pinball interests) but hasn't yet converted ad viewers to players
high confidence · Host: 'I haven't met anybody yet that said, Oh, I saw your ad and you know, I'm here playing pinball now'

Notable Quotes

“How about we do something nice and easy and talk about me losing my largest location. Okay, so yeah, it's kind of a bummer story”
Host @ Opening — Sets tone for episode; establishes major operational disruption
“So basically the ones that are available at all time, I went from fourteen games to four. So that's gonna be a noticeable reduction in coin drop, which is unfortunate.”
Host @ Mid-episode — Quantifies the financial and operational impact of the location loss
“if I could figure out how to find all the pinball players in Tucson and let them know that we have stuff to do and come on out to a tournament... we'd probably double or triple our typical headcount”
Host @ Marketing strategy section — Identifies core challenge: latent demand exists but discovery is difficult
“I see your Facebook marketplace listings. I know you're out there. But a lot of people are just more on the casual side”
Host @ Community outreach discussion — Acknowledges hidden player base and casual player segment
“the goal is not that the headcount average increases because those people are able to play more consistently... Another target is to also just increase the player base”
Host @ Venue strategy analysis — Clarifies distinction between retention and growth objectives
“I have all my games set up in an alternating fashion from modern, classic, modern, classic... I'm willing to bet Godzilla earns more than Dolly Parton”
Host @ Game placement strategy — Shows strategic game curation based on financial performance and player diversity
“Hot Rods has 3,500 Facebook follows or likes... the difference between 500 and 3,500, that's a big difference in reach”
Host @ Marketing leverage section — Identifies major asset: existing venue audience that could be leveraged for pinball promotion
“eventually you just get to a point where you have enough people that are showing up and they're bringing it up in conversation to their friends. And it just kind of self-sustains.”

Entities

TISC (Tucson Ice Sports Complex)venueHot RodsvenueTohono O'odham TribeorganizationRita RanchlocationVeillocationHoward HughespersonJohn HaypersonHarold ViensapersonBud Fosterperson

Signals

?
operational_signal: Major pinball location (TISC hockey rink) closed mid-September 2024 due to tribal land reclamation for casino development; operator lost 10 machines at primary site
high · Host: 'in mid-September of this year, it actually happened... the tribe has said we're needing the land at this point'
$
market_signal: Relocation forced consolidation from 2 venues (14 always-available machines) to 1 primary venue (4 always-available machines), reducing coin drop and player accessibility
high · Host: 'went from fourteen games to four. So that's gonna be a noticeable reduction in coin drop'
?
venue_signal: Established partnership with Hot Rods restaurant/automotive shop for pinball operation; expanded from 4 downstairs machines to 10 total (4 downstairs + 6 upstairs tournament-only)
high · Host: 'they said, you know, we can put six games up there... I moved six games over there'
?
community_signal: Shifted tournament schedule from Thursday evenings at TISC to Saturday daytime at Hot Rods; expects increased volatility in attendance but potential for broader audience reach
high · Host: 'I used to run my events at TISC on Thursdays... So that's great. I'm competing with everybody else's personal hobby time or family time or whatever'
?
operational_signal: Implemented alternating modern/classic game placement at downstairs Hot Rods location; willing to relocate underperforming classic machines (Dolly Parton) to optimize revenue from higher-earning modern titles (Godzilla)
high · Host: 'as much as I love Dolly Parton, I'm willing to bet Godzilla earns more than Dolly Parton. So just from a financial standpoint, the games that are always available probably should be for higher earning games'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.113

0:00

Wayne's World, Wayne's World, party time, excellent! What's up everybody? Welcome to episode 74 of the Tucsonpinballpodcast. Welcome to Wayne's World. So it's been a little while. How about we do something nice and easy and talk about me losing my largest location. Okay, so yeah, it's kind of a bummer story, but here we go. So about two years ago, and I did a show on this, the hockey players, not the business partner that is Tucsonpinball, but the hockey players at TISC got an email saying the tribe owned the land and wanted to build a casino there and they were going to tear down the building at some point. So we kind of kind of knew this was coming. But in mid September of this year, it actually happened. Again, the hockey players got an email saying it's time. The tribe has said we're needing the land at this point. Like I don't even know the backside stuff obviously because it's none of my business. But yeah, so that happened. And yeah, the building was going to get demoed at some point after, you know, the rink officially closed. So we got that email mid-September and we finished out the seasons and yeah, just kind of waited. And they we We almost had enough time with that notice to Re up all the different seasons the different leagues for hockey that was going on Because they're they're quick enough that it almost would have fit but just just enough time and not not let it all work out as far as timing goes and You know so as soon as I got that email obviously I'm just like hmm I guess I need to find some place to put Ten pinball machines and a bubble hockey and decided what to do with all these ticket games not all these but like the few Ticket games I had there spoiler alert on that two of them are just gonna they yeah two of them are going away and one of them the deal or no deal I donated to a local group that that works with with kids and there's a way to actually set it up to not use tickets and or set the ticket value super low but I think we found both options but I had enough spare tickets left over that I just gave them a bunch of tickets as well so now Now that's in a place getting used set to free play. That was another setting we found that was pretty awesome. And it's going to carry on bringing joy to the kids having fun with it. So anyways, so back to the 10 pinball machines. Those had to go someplace as well. Yeah, so pulled all the games out, not at once. And just try to bring them back to the house and put them in all the corners that I could and asked pretty please for other spots harold viensa, I'll be there for hockey and I'll be like, I think I'm going to grab a game today as well. So Yeah, so that's unfortunate and the the closing date was officially October31st and we are now you know near the tail end of November and I drive by there on the way to Ben's Weekly League off of INA and I-10 and I always look over there and they're still going on the the main casino building, but they are not やなankiGeneral Bryantveck What is the mooner day? What is does T하신uz? What is weeweee questa olaj? What is this? The grid of the Hor equivu olajuРiques. 用口螺ffer bacteria segmented text I'm losing my main location and there's 10 games there and I really need 10 games here if I want to move these things over. And so we chatted and Hot Rods, fortunately enough, has an upstairs area. There's a bar up there and it's got a pretty big seating area. It's I mean I used to go there for happy hours for work prior to COVID. Post COVID it's not been used very much, unfortunately. But anyways, they have an upper level. There's square footage, which is really all I need at this point. We're just trying to trying to make it work. So they said, you know, we can put six games up there. We kind of looked around at the different options for where things could go. And that's what I ended up doing. I moved six games over there. And we just kind of kind of rolled into that. So pre COVID the bar area. It was I don't want to say it was open all Hal 小心 heh Thederyn Find crate fantastic rev Wall ye changes te ve ad men With the following rumors regarding the fascinating I got it in, there was not enough room for me once the game is in. So I kinda had to get in and then kinda start the game on the cart and then push it sideways practically to get it alongside me so I could push the button to go up to the next level. It was probably pretty funny. I don't know if there's security footage in the elevators but if there is it's probably one of those funny ordeals to be like... I'm like, wow, this is actually gonna fit. So that was that was quite amazing. So anyways, there's six games upstairs. Post COVID. Yeah, I don't know that that rooms been used outside of what we use it for. I don't think it's been used more than like, two or three times that I'm aware of. I'm sure it's been used more than that, but I'm not there every day that they're open. So I don't really know. I'm just kind of guessing and they would sometimes be like prepping a day ahead of time with you know, OTS, Okay, so typically, you know, wouldn't be a problem. Games are there. Okay, whatever. Well, the agreement we have currently is that the upstairs games can only be on when I'm there. And whether that's running a tournament or I've started doing some practice sessions, the day before tournament, like I'll go there. When I get off work, go there from six, they close at eight, so six to eight little practice session and I could use the time to work on games probably even if it's just a clean stuff or, you know, work on stuff. You know minor things that have been bugging me not nothing major. Um, there might be major stuff, but hopefully not so the picture of everything went from We had ten at TISC and four at Hot Rods to now there's four at Hot Rods plus the six upstairs so Basically the the ones that are available at all time. I went from 14 games to four so That's gonna be a noticeable reduction in coin drop, which is unfortunate Draw AKA Indust, clip laboratoryceptivesnays covenant Together Interactive convection StirPew sheet, cutscenesßerdemplant軽ب kettle, the cargo I think one of the biggest adjustments for the group that was playing at TISC besides the change in where we actually hosting these events because it is a further drive for most people It not for me It closer to my house But it definitely an increased travel for a lot of the players that we had at TISC And I understand that a bummer I go to Ben thing on the northwest side and I live southeast Tucson So I understand what it like to drive opposite corners JAиш화를,

9:59

Z leading Taiwanese summer team Noskoge gang于 Marshall版III puibranak A An RESPONSIBLE Put your because I think the Why I in the night like you can you can see it but it's not exactly in your face advertising so and it's not it's again it's not my business so I don't really know what what they were doing pre code compared to post code it or if they've changed anything or if they you know recognize that they need to change something or you know whatever I don't know I just know what I see and you know some nights it's really active Unusual situations occurred and all Thai buildings are Just like I've said for the last several years that if I could figure out how to find all the pinball players in Tucson and let them know that we have stuff to do and come on out to a tournament and come hang out with pinball people and get some drinks and chat and just hang out with friends, you know, we'd probably double or triple our typical headcount just because they're out there. I know, I know you're out there. I see your Facebook marketplace listings. I know you're out there. But a lot of people are just more on the casual side and, you know, and that's fine from And, it's just like, hey, there's a lobby in southeast Tucson with four games to go play. Go play them, please. So, but anyway, so, okay, Thursday through Sunday, noon to eight. We, I used to run my events at TISC on Thursdays and we would start at about 6, 6.15, if I'm being honest. First IIIin intersection of Dest anar defe contestants Nice and not just for playing billy packers but as an artist and Annie tien whom is going to be authorizing our book one of our on streaming accountsjuteraơ and see if it's possible to order it two weeks before making it a fair at the moment instead. Not that anybody else is showing up quite that early, but let's just say practice from 12 to 1 and then we start the events at 1 and then we'll typically go till 4 or just after 4. So that's kind of the goal. So that's great. I'm competing with everybody else's personal hobby time or family time or whatever, right? Like you're competing with the weekend and the weekend is a heavy hitter. Um, so I expect a little bit more fluctuation in who is all attending like maybe not such a consistent level of, you know, the same person is there every single time because, you know, that same person might have stuff to do every other week or, you know, whatever. And on a Thursday night, it's it's a little bit easier to kind of pencil that in and be like, yeah, I can probably do that most weeks. Um, whereas Saturdays it's like, Oh, sorry, I'm out of town or I'm going to this thing or that, you know, there's a concert or, you know, whatever. So you're I'm not sure if you're kind of competing with that. So I do expect a little bit of more volatility in everybody's attendance, but I'm hoping that because it is a Saturday that that opens the availability to a broader group. So, and that's kind of what we've seen right I've been able to hold a few events so far and attendance has been a pretty close to what it was on Thursdays. So, so, so far with again with with a very, very Diden't notice correlation, couldn't Pinball, But no, the goal is not that the headcount average increases because those people are able to play more consistently. I mean, that would be ideal and that would be great and appreciated. But another target is to also just increase the player base. And now that I've moved into a closer area to where I live, I know the area a little bit more. I know the neighborhoods a little bit more. And I have a couple ideas on on what to do with that. So We're going to get into that. So this is the plan. And the first step of the plan is probably, it has nothing to do with headcount, but it's going to go probably a noticeable way further than not making this adjustment. And so right now, the lower level, again, four games, if you've been there a million times, I know you know this, but if you've never been there, and you're trying to picture this in your head, it's like, It's the lobby of a restaurant and it's car themed. There's NASCAR body panels hanging on the wall 30 feet in the air. It's quite a spectacle. Actually, if you're into cars, it's really cool because they've got a glass wall garage behind the restaurant area and there's people in there doing stuff. To somebody that's never been there, the line I somehow got into using was they can do anything from change your oil to build you a Shelby Cobra replica. And they have a lot of stuff they can do. They've got sandblasting and powder coating and an oven for that and they've got a little machine shop and they've got a clean room where they do engine rebuilds and they've got some franken cars in there that they've been doing some bodywork on and they've got some really vibrant paint jobs that they've done and it's pretty sweet. And every now and then I'll go in there and there's like seven motorcycles off on the right hand side and it's like did somebody just like decide lake handrailsей вид Nicole Kay necesario, I have all my games set up in a alternating fashion from modern classic modern classic modern classic And that was something that I started doing at TISC because for the group match play I alternate which genre or which age range or whatever you want to call it we use every round right So the idea was that you would not be playing next to a game that another group was on because they would be playing at a minimum two games over So and it more of just like kind of a spatial consideration and Bart Malone Lord marquee removes d Michael Horum, � calmlh, Sam Thank you for viewing I think what I'm going to do is move that to be modern, modern, modern classic. And the reason why that fourth classic is there is because it's under the stairs and a modern game won't fit. The sharpshooter 2 that is currently there has let's say it's two or three inches from the top of the head of the game to the bottom of the step and it's just solid steel tubing and the game will give way before the stairwell and so yeah so best case scenario is we're gonna get three moderns in there and as much as I love Dolly Parton I'm willing to bet Godzilla earns more than Dolly Parton so just from a By financial standpoint, the games that are always available probably should be for higher earning games I think We might have to do a classic upstairs, and break the habit that I've been working to maintain as a game developer. But I reckon we are going to leave it to go with that. That's good for stuff that will always be on and available as long as Hot Rods stuff does provide that.

20:27

So some of the other things that I have either started doing or want to do I want to advertise so the area that hot rods is in it's called Rita ranch and that goes back to Howard Hughes and I think it's Rita Hayworth maybe? Anyways so Howard was dating Rita and Howard yeah that Howard Hughes the crazy inventor guy with the giant water airplanes and different stuff. The Start of the Factory in Tucson and They got bought out and now they make missiles So yeah, so Rita ranch he named that Rita ranch after his girlfriend Rita And so that's the area of Tucson that this is in and so when I say Rita ranch That's kind of what that means so veil is outside of Tucson city limits, and it's an unincorporated area. It's not a town It's not a city. It's unincorporated And, I think Instagram just kind of tags along is that you can target different locations and also individual interests, right? So recently what I've started doing now that I know that we're going to be a little bit more involved at hot rods and have more than just the the novice tournaments there. I've been doing some ads in this area. and targeting people that have video game interest or computer game interest or board games or just kind of anything that's gaming. And if I'm lucky, they'll have pinball as an interest. If they have pinball as an interest and I don't know them yet, that's unfortunate and I don't know why. But the nice thing is you can make a list of various categories that you want to try to reach out to. And so we did that and that's been fairly successful at least on the social media side. I haven't met anybody yet that the sorry about that. I haven't met anybody yet that said, Oh, I saw your ad and you know, I'm here playing pinball now. But you know what, with enough time, I'm sure that'll happen. There's also it's man, what is what is the I don't know what the the population of Rita ranches I know veils about 30,000 people and it's mostly a community. and the other neighborhood. Rita Ranch is probably in that same ballpark and there's plenty of high traffic intersections that everybody uses to get in and out of the area. And there's fortunately not like a million of them. So another thing I want to do is I want to make some sandwich board signs and put them at those intersections and then move them around every few days. And I have some leftover material from another project and I have a cricket and I can make these for practically free and if they get stolen or destroyed whatever you know at least we least we tried and you know if it if they last a day or a couple hours and then they disappear and it's like okay note to self that's not going to work so just stop wasting your time on that but if it turns into a successful thing or something that at least they they survive at the intersections for a couple days and gives me time to move them around sure I'll do that as well another thing that I've done in the past but I haven't I have done a press release a few times for the city championship and sometimes we get some interaction on that. And Bud Foster came out to interview us one time on a Thursday before we were going to do city just so he could have the story ready for the day we were doing city championship. and then been interviewed at a couple other places as well. So we've been on the news before and it's just it's really hard to maintain an email list of people that will still be there like the following year, right? Like there's a couple names that are just they've been there long enough that like you can just reach out to them and see if there's any any traction with that. I got interviewed a couple years ago when we were at BlackRock and I went to email the guy next year because he's like, oh yeah, reach out next time you're going to do something, you know, for whatever it was. And I emailed it the next year and the email no longer worked because he moved to somewhere else. So I think there's enough motion between, you know, where people are and where they go year to year that it's kind of hard to kind of maintain a rolodex, which nobody even knows what it is. Accountant Pr equivalent of himself, Accountant For Best of The Best, Accountant Pro giver순.com. cane de co Stevie, It's it's weird cuz like you'll be talking about it and then nothing and then you'll talk about it again like a couple years later and they'll be like I love pinball, you know, it's like why didn't why didn't you mention this like two years ago when we first brought it up? So we actually just had this happen We we were out to eat at a restaurant and we saw some folks that we hadn't seen a little while and we were kind of talking about you know the kids and sports and life and you know, whatever and You know, then I said, oh, yeah, I moved some pinball machines over to hot rods and that it is out o N super external 깔�akschę MT bı creature, Walter Look حساب,DD jejkin provincial yeux, CheckmateFMimated lonie, ول치는niev especie cheapd feedingblelegej Elloguynb eqlegy, loliahkillarring, Lack drawn, euawuinu-, хочетproof需要harmonatey чисioタ brakeộمoronga habrysEnderskiy blackwater, gpoyart przedsiębior Assistant03 sheet на jueй патратм, Г beginner Тат habitat African Population loselight on pre Olympian conven bonsai pem хаьк cookies presto Mr. Pizza, Mr.深, Nohann Rico, Gavin Reynkies, Seltzer, Eric K resign, David Van Es The thing Still does not dislikece Thanks to George Nickly for Ning Gast English A 911 English 08 2004 To be easy with the shapes we working on Afterrad vegan There a lot of lead in to actually get somebody hooked and come out to an event So at least locally I don know if you got it figured out in your area let me know because I haven You know obviously the goal is to get like what John calls it is critical mass And eventually you just get to a point where you have enough people that are showing up and they bringing it up in conversation to their friends And it just kind of self sustaining And then you you get to that level where you like this is exactly więcej Siber disappointed applaudimento........... core at pine lane and we play five games and and we we do it again next week and you know you practice before and after whatever you want to do in you know we're just here to play games and it's on it's on our calendar and it just it's an excuse to go play games because it's on the calendar i'm saying thing up at electric bat you know they've gotta a weekly league that is absolutely insane and I think they are there probably like the the glowing banner or the marquee sign of like 2 ?? ben b enjoyable avatar Wait a min I'm still here. VAH. Getting a call from dinkeyforcement.com and Say chan wedd was famous. G Навoker, Netball cocktail and Kingem radio name bagger point opening. Thanks to Ili Open materials for 레�ityContent 在 driveway Tiger statistist1 Thank今天的 öl conversation at TDoyallininespnobницы. headedby manus egyob можно Link in description Forinesjs Seok transmittedXbox Special Ariel vom descantsz conversation n line says wh learnsuu that unbeknownst pneumonia N night someone that's coming eventually Because I've just got some other project and also, you know closing down TISK is kind of took over a lot of stuff. I had a couple of repair projects I was working on and then it's like oh just kidding have to go close down a hockey rink with 10 games and find places to put all those and make sure they're set to go back out. But definitely, definitely a distraction for the last two months or so. But I need more shirts and I get asked you know about people from people that want to buy the shirts. I also don't wear Tucsonpinball shirts all day every day, but I do on occasion and if I'm going shopping in the Rita Ranch area, I will wear one. Going to Walmart, going to not Target, Target is a little further away, but going to Walmart, going to Safeway, we have a Home Depot now, go to Home Depot. Any errand running that's going on, I mean the bank teller at Wells Fargo a couple months ago was like, pinball? Pinball? He lives in Tyrol- Clo yolk Ry!. So I have more to wear this kind of out and about in daily life and be my own billboard I guess so yeah definitely need to get that back on the list. Another thing that I noticed on accident was that Hot Rods has 3,500 Facebook follows or likes or whatever whatever they are. Because I think you can do both you can do you can like the page or you can follow the page and it's typically a pretty close number garmen People