Dirty Pool Podcast Ep15 – Rebecca Salam on Pinball Collectives

Dirtypool Pinball·video·1h 15m·analyzed·Aug 27, 2025

Analysis

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TL;DR

Rebecca Salam on founding Austin Pinball Collective: practical guide to building community-driven pinball spaces.

Summary

Rebecca Salam discusses building the Austin Pinball Collective, a community-driven nonprofit pinball arcade with 56 machines owned by individual members. The episode covers the practical logistics of starting a collective—finding affordable real estate, securing insurance, building a board, recruiting volunteers, and balancing the needs of different player communities (tournament competitors, hobbyist restorers, casual players). Rebecca emphasizes the importance of team effort, trust, and patience, while sharing lessons learned from existing collectives like Wormhole and managing challenges around game maintenance and member satisfaction.

Key Claims

Austin Pinball Collective has 56 pinball machines, all owned by community members, not the collective itself
high confidence · Rebecca states 'every single game in this building is from some member of the community' and mentions starting with 25-27 games, now at 56
The collective started in fall 2024 when Phil Pomeroy found a cheap office space and reached out to community members
high confidence · Rebecca: 'he called us in like the fall of 2024 and was like, Hey, I want to start a pinball collective. I found a place and the rent's really cheap.'
Membership is $60/month with access during volunteer-staffed hours (Mon/Wed/Fri 6-10pm, Sat 12-4pm); game owners get extended access 7am-11pm
high confidence · Rebecca explains the current pricing model and access structure
The collective is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a board including Phil, Rebecca, Cayman, Ryan, and rotating members
high confidence · Rebecca: 'We're registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit' and lists initial board members
Building the collective required navigating lease agreements, insurance, game loaner agreements, and membership contracts
high confidence · Rebecca discusses 'between the leasing, the insurance, and then also making sure that you're covered in regards to like game loaner agreements'
The collective hosted a four-tournament, three-day Bells and Chimes event with women traveling from St. Louis, Colorado, and Florida
high confidence · Rebecca mentions 'we hosted the Austin Bells and Chimes this weekend to run our like the summer school event where we had four tournaments over three days'
Wormhole in Houston served as a model for the Austin Collective's curation approach (rare, well-maintained games)
high confidence · Rebecca: 'People really liked seeing the Wormhole down in Houston...and so really I think it's a matter of how do we get as many machines in as we can that all play well'
Key volunteers include Jordan (maintenance), Chris (tech work), Brandon (emergency repairs), and Ted (restoration specialist)

Notable Quotes

“We did this really, really, really fast. Um, you don't have to go this fast. You can slow it down.”
Rebecca Salam @ mid-episode — Key advice to potential collective founders about timeline and not rushing the process
“It's like we were trying to build a plane as it was flying.”
Rebecca Salam @ mid-episode — Metaphor describing the chaotic startup process of the collective
“You need a team of people. I did not do this alone in any way, shape, or form.”
Rebecca Salam @ mid-episode — Emphasizes collective effort and distributed responsibility in founding the space
“We have a lot of people who really want to have a place to come together, and what that looks like for everybody is a little bit different.”
Rebecca Salam @ mid-episode — Articulates the challenge of serving multiple pinball community segments (tournament players, hobbyists, casual players)
“If you're not getting what you want out of the space, that's okay. You know, we're still figuring out even what we are as a space.”
Rebecca Salam @ mid-episode — Shows transparency about ongoing challenges and flexibility with member expectations
“Everybody needs a Brandon. He's like the nicest person alive.”
Host (Jeff Dodson) @ late-episode — Emphasizes the importance of key community volunteers in collective success
“Not every tournament needs to be WPPR points, right?”
Rebecca Salam @ late-episode — Reflects philosophy of inclusive tournament formats beyond competitive circuit play
“Honestly, just try it. Just do it. People will show up.”
Rebecca Salam @ closing — Direct advice to women interested in starting pinball leagues/collectives

Entities

Rebecca Salamperson Austin Pinball Collectiveorganization Phil PomeroypersonJordanpersonChrisperson Brandonperson Buffalo Billiards

Signals

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business_signal: Insurance and zoning regulations present significant barriers to collective formation; potential limitation on home-based collectives
high · Rebecca: 'getting this—insurance issues, because getting this—if you're going to like do it above board with all the paperwork' and discusses lease/insurance as key requirements
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community_signal: Diverse pinball community segments (tournament WPPR players, hobbyist restorers, casual players) coexisting but requiring careful balance in collective operations
high · Rebecca discusses 'hardcore WPPR hungry tournament folks,' 'people who are way more into the hobby side of the game, like fixing and restoration,' and 'folks who don't like IFPA stuff at all'
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community_signal: Buffalo Billiards closure created community void that motivated alternative venues (Collective, Bender Bar) rather than consolidation to single location
high · Rebecca clarifies 'We have like another bar down in South Austin called Bender Bar, which we kind of also turned into like another home bar' when asked if closure necessitated collective
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community_signal: Austin Pinball Collective established as major community hub post-COVID with nonprofit infrastructure, hosting multiple tournament formats and league play; serves as model for other potential collectives
high · Rebecca discusses 501(c)(3) status, 56 machines, four tournaments in three days, multiple league hosting, and drawing inspiration from other existing collectives (Delaware, Richmond, Wormhole)
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community_signal: Women's pinball growth with Bells and Chimes Summer School event drawing participants from multiple states; expanding accessibility for female players

Transcript

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fix it all in post. We We can fix it all in post, right? We We can fix it all in post, right? We can fix everything. We can We can fix We can fix everything. We can We can fix everything in post. It's going to be We're going to try. We're going to try We're going to try. We're going to try for sure. All right. Hello everybody. Welcome to episode 15 of the Dirty Pool podcast. I know it's been a hot minute since we've been here. Uh and I'm back and I'm hoping that the internet stream is going to uh be good. Right now it's behaving. We're looking good. I got to be honest. Excellent. Excellent. Today's episode is as usual. I'm trying Today's episode is as usual. I'm trying to do something a little different every time. I am joined by Rebecca Salem with a A. By the way, if you're on YouTube, don't don't believe what you see. Oh don't don't believe what you see. Oh man, our our our mask is messed up, man. All the all the tub guy memes are going to be too big, but that's okay cuz you're listening on a podcast later. Anyways, today what we're talking about, Rebecca does a lot of cool stuff. Here's two of those things right off the bat. Custom 3D printed trophies for tournaments. How neat is that? And one of the reasons that we're talking about that is because we're talking about building pinball collectives. How to start groups of people that want to go and play pinball at a location. Have you wanted to start one? Maybe you've been too afraid to go to your local arcade and be like, "Hey, can a bunch of me and my weird friends show up here and play pinball?" We're going to talk about how to do that with you. Hello, Rebecca. Hello. How are you? Hello. How are you? I'm here alive. alive. That's good. That's I am also alive. Uh That's good. That's I am also alive. Uh we hosted also good we just finished hosting a four tournament three-day a four tournament three-day event uh here at the collective which is behind me. Um but you can't I love your lineup of games by the way. I love your lineup of games by the way. Oh, did you check us out on pinball map? Oh, did you check us out on pinball map? We have 54 actually. I think now we have 56 actually. I think now we have 56 because someone brought in two games because someone brought in two games last night and like just like someone snuck in and put like just like someone snuck in and put a game in there. You just came in. You were like what's this? I'm not going to lie, that has definitely happened. Like I have shown up here and I'm like this is new. Um but yeah, no like I'm happy to like talk about our model, how we started, where we are, but like yeah, no, I am here at the collective. Um the air conditioning is running. We are happy. Um but yeah, like what you can't see is that the games go all the way down this wall and then they curve around and they go like all the way even back there. So I think there's like 13 games over here. We've got like 13 games over here. I've got like 14 games over there, like five games over there. Like they're everywhere. It's like they've like they're like slugs. They just like meet and then reproduce and then multiply. I mean, anybody who and then multiply. I mean, anybody who started collecting pinball machines know that they just like suddenly start spawning new machines uncontrollably, right? They do. They do. They do. This has They do. They do. They do. This has absolutely enabled everyone. H for people that don't know what a for people that don't know what a collective is, right? How do you how do you get people together to start something like this? cuz you need space, right? You need games. Like there's a lot of requirements in order to be able to have this kind of thing, right? Yeah. And so I would say so the idea Yeah. And so I would say so the idea people in Austin have been like knocking around an idea for of a collective for years. And the biggest thing has really been like the challenge of finding real estate. Um the guy So the way that this started for me was um actually a couple years ago we sold one of our games to one of our friends Phil Pomeroy and he called us in like the fall of 2024 and was like hey I want to start a pinball collective. I found a place and the rent's really cheap. And this is like postcoid society so like you can rent office space for like a disgustingly low amount of money. Um, so we are actually in like an office building. Um, we've got like a financial literacy place like next door. There's a cafe downstairs. Like there's a government office a couple doors down. Nothing says legit like having your Nothing says legit like having your pinballs in a real like real corporate, you know, zoning area. Yeah. No, it is the most bizarre thing. Yeah. No, it is the most bizarre thing. Um, like there's a chiropractor down there. Um, it's it's bizarre. And so essentially he was like, I have a really good deal on rent. I want to help do this. And so then it turned into a like and we were like this is insane. Yes. Um and so what ended up happening is it spread kind of through like word of mouth and a lot of phone calls. And I wouldn't say and like I definitely did not do all of the work. I would say like it was like a full-on like team community effort like people were calling people um trying to get like everybody's trust and buy in um and basically saying like hey cover rent and where do the games come cover rent and where do the games come from? I mean, I'll be honest. Originally when I first saw people, these are all games that come people, these are all games that come from community members. Yeah. No, like I mean people, but yeah. No, so every single game in this, nothing is actually owned by the collective itself. Um, every game in this building is from some member of the community. Um, so Jordan and I have four games that are here. So like Game of Thrones is my baby that I will never sell. Um, and wow, you're in the minority of liking wow, you're in the minority of liking Game of Thrones. I feel like the premium is an underrated title. I am not I have a pro. I am not a big fan of the premium but I also got Stockholmed and um when COVID started the only game that was basically left to rent from Buffalo Billiards, may it rest in peace. Um was Game of Thrones and it was set up so hard. There were no rubbers on the inlanes or the outlanes. It had lightning flippers. And then all I did for like the first four months of CO was like go do my social work stuff and then come home and play Game of Thrones. Like that's it. That's all I did for 4 months until George. I miss for that. I miss for that. Yeah. The whole other part of co not so Yeah. The whole other part of co not so great. But yeah. Yeah. Then I had to give it back. And Yeah. Then I had to give it back. And then when one of our friends George in Colorado was like, I have a Game of Thrones. I was like, dibs, it's mine. I don't think he actually even had it in his house yet. So, we drove to Colorado a couple years ago, got this Game of Thrones. I will never ever sell it. Like, it's just never going to happen. It's so It shows that there's there's It's so It shows that there's there's stuff about games that uh that build memories that you're just like, I need this game because of of a million different reasons. Also, the fact that Also, the fact that it taught me how it taught me rules. it taught me how it taught me rules. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it does have fairly deep rule set. Like, it does have fairly deep rule set. It's John It's John Board, right? I'm It's John It's John Board, right? I'm I'm going to get yelled at by Chad. No, it's a Steve. It's a It's a Steve No, it's a Steve. It's a It's a Steve Richie game. It's Richie and then Dwight on Code. Um, Dwight on Code Legendary Dwight on Code. Have you Code Legendary Dwight on Code. Have you ever been blinded by winners coming? It's Dwight on Code. Yep. Yep. Um, Dwight's my buddy on Yeah, it's Um, Dwight's my buddy on Yeah, it's Dwight's my buddy on like anything nerd. So, it's like anytime I see Dwight at a show, he it's like, "Well, what books have you been reading?" That's adorable. Uh, okay. So, let's That's adorable. Uh, okay. So, let's reel it back to you. You're in a You're like, "Let's get an office space." And now you're like, you have to contact people that are already friends of yours and be like, "Hey, can you donate games to this space from your personal collection, walk me through anybody who's interested in even trying to start a collective, like how do you even begin to go down this road?" So, and I want to say I did not start this like I just got to be super honest about like I got brought in as like a supporter and a helper and then uh there were so and Phil did so much work at the start of this and I know that and I know he is working and I cannot shout him out enough because he did so much of that outreach cuz literally it was phone calls like calling people saying hi I have a great deal on space here's what we want to do. Um he was running Monday night meetings like every single Monday for like four months up until the day of move in. And we still do Monday night meetings. Like every single Monday if you have questions about the collective like that's the nights that we sit down, we get together and we figure out any moving parts. Um but basically he was like I have the space here's when we can move in. And then it turned into a okay who has what? When can you get it in here? Do you need help getting it in here? Like and then it turns into a okay we got to look at a lease. Okay, we got to look at insurance and like, okay, that's great. Like all these like weird crazy moving parts that we did not think about until we absolutely had to. It was um somebody and I we were talking about it and it's like we were trying to build a plane as it was flying. And so really it's been so much of like asking folks for like patience and grace asking folks for like patience and grace like while we figure everything out. And so really what ended up happening is basically we got super lucky and um I mean we also pulled from other collectives that already exist. So like Delaware, Richmond, um you know like other collectives kind of came in the folks from Wormhole down in Houston. We were talking to everybody to try to basically be like well what is your model? What does your code of conduct look like? What are your rules? What are your hours? And so we were reaching out to all those places that already existed to basically try to take their ideas and take how they functioned and then make it something that we could work with. Um and so what ended up happening is initially we were giving folks um we were giving folks like a really steep discount of like a hey you can get an annual membership for like real dirt cheap if we can have your game by the time that we're open. And so we started I think with like 25 27 I feel like it was an odd number um of basically like really lowcost like annual members which gave us a baseline of like a hey this is a real concept and after that we exploded um once people have the confidence and know once people have the confidence and know that it's like a thing. Yeah, that was really it was a thing. Yeah, that was really it was basically like we had to get people like in initially invested and then you know I won't say that we're perfect. We're definitely still trying to pay the bills. Um you know but once we had our games in or at least our start of games and people were coming in we did like a grand opening where you know I think we had like 80 people come to visit um and check the space out and people were like oh it's real. And then other people were like well how do I get my game in here? how do I become a member? Um, and so then it evolved from there and um, so we were doing $600 annual memberships for a little while. Um, because there's, you know, our lease goes for a year. There's no guarantee we'll be here past June, but so we didn't want to like do like $600 annual memberships, but now we've kind of settled in. And the model is is that um for 60 bucks a month essentially you get access like a just a regular role member you get access to the space for the open hours that we have volunteer staff which is basically like Mondays from like 6:00 to 10, Wednesday 6:00 to 10, Friday 6 to 10, Saturdays 12:00 to 4:00 and like you know if we're going to run an event and then if you want to loan a game you get access to the space from like initially it was like 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. And then we were able to work it out with insurance because insurance man I never want to talk about insurance again. Um and we're talking about how nightmare and we're talking about how nightmare insurance is and people just don't understand that dealing with the city is like always the hardest uh kind of element for these kind of endeavors. Well, and like even in getting things set up, like we had folks who were dealing with like all of the wiring issues, figuring out the power, figuring out the internet, like so much work. And I was I think at the time, I can't remember what I was doing with my life. Um, but like we had so many people involved in the setup. Um, and it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't all me. Like I like Philip literally like rented a U-Haul and was driving around the city like helping folks load their games in. It was insane. Um so to demystify cuz what I part of what so to demystify cuz what I part of what I want from this is that when people watch this it's kind of almost like a a guide in it's kind of almost like a a guide in terms of like how to help structurize and build a collective. Right. So it sounds to to me uh that you need a you need a therapist. You need a friend you need a therapist. You need a friend who's like really good at both like logistics and just not good at both like logistics and just not being afraid to like show up at their doorstep. But from an actual physical space we're But from an actual physical space we're looking at you need a team. you need a team. You need a team of people. You need a team of people. Team you need a team of people. I did Team you need a team of people. I did not do this alone in any way, shape or form. I would not like I even hesitate to say that like I did it. I am part of a team. like I got to like so Phil started this um our initial board it was like me and Phil and Cayman and then we have Ryan and then Chris like we have a guy named Chris who like helped us get us started as our treasurer and then you know people like come and go and he had to he had to go but that's okay so we're bringing in another board member um we have but let's but from the standoint we have but let's but from the standoint no that's okay it's awesome it it shows that it really does take a village to do this but for people who don't know the names For people who don't know the names of these other individuals, what what does the internal structure look like for setting up a collective cuz you mentioned needing volunteers to be at the space. You mentioned transportation being an issue. Obviously members that want to donate their games. You have a structure for if you do donate a game. Obviously it sounds like you know there's some sort of like break on on costs for it cuz like you know obviously you guys need to figure out how to incorporate the monetary issue in order to make sure that people could come in and that you could keep the doors open. I just the the building the plane thing you've gone through that, right? So, how how would you simplify what we're still building a plane? Um, we're still building a plane? Um, okay. But what part of the fuselage are okay. But what part of the fuselage are you at and and what could you tell people about how to get to that point to make their journey easier? I feel like right now we're still I feel like right now we're still working on the wings. And I think that the best thing that you can possibly do is give yourself a really nice long timeline. We did this really really f Excuse me. Sparkling water. Uh, we did this really fast. Good idea. Good idea. Um, yeah, we did it really, really, Um, yeah, we did it really, really, really fast. Um, you don't have to go this fast. You can slow it down. Step one, have a place that like is cheap. You want it cheap. Ideally, maybe you want it central. Austin's a weird city. We've got like north the river, south the river, and the people who live south the river don't like to go north the river. The people that live north of like 183 don't want to go past it. It's a thing. But um so accessibility, what if it's even in a person's home, right? I mean, it doesn't have to be a rented space. I mean, so the thing is is that um what I mean, so the thing is is that um what I've learned from all of this is if you wanted to do it in a person's home, um I feel like it's going to be something where you're going to run into like zoning issues and also like insurance issues because getting this Don't do it in a person. Don't do it in a person. Yeah. I mean, you could do it in a Yeah. I mean, you could do it in a person's home. I just know if you're going to like do it above board with all the paperwork. We're a little different. We're registered as a 501c3 nonprofit. Um so there are certain things that we have to do in order to like comply with our bylaws and our registrations with like the government. Um but what I would say is that if you Um but what I would say is that if you want to go the nonprofit route and you're building yourself a team, like you need a place, you need it to be cheap. Um you need to have someone like who's on your team who can help you navigate like all of the paperwork. um or you you got to be comfortable with figuring out the paperwork. Um because between the leasing, the insurance, and then um also making sure that you're covered in regards to like game loaner agreements, what that looks like, membership agreements, what that looks like? Um getting Has anybody been frustrated about not Has anybody been frustrated about not getting what they thought they were going to get after donating a game from their collection or something? Like how do you how do you navigate kind of like the social relations that go along with that, you know? It's hard. It's It's really really hard. Like I won't It's really really hard. Like I won't lie and say that it is easy. Um I think that when and we have had situations I think when people either aren't getting necessarily what they want and being open to hearing them out and then either trying to talk through it to basically be like, "Hey, you know, if you're not get what getting what you want out of the space, that's okay. you know, we're still figuring out even what we are as a space. Um because again, we did it so fast. Well, 53 games now. I feel like you're Well, 53 games now. I feel like you're established as I mean, that's more than many arcades even have in their collection. Yeah, we have a lot of people who really Yeah, we have a lot of people who really wanted to like come together and like I think it's just a matter of we have a lot of people who really want to have a place to come together and what that looks like for everybody is a little bit different and I think that's something that we're still working out and figuring out. Like we've got a big section of our community that are like the hardcore whopper hungry tournament folks. We've got a bunch of the we have a bunch of people who are way more into the hobby side of the game like fixing and restoration. And we have folks who don't like IFPA stuff at all. And so I think that the thing that is really hard is finding the balance of all of those things. And I don't think I don't know. I think that's something that everybody is working to figure out with like in the moment like we we got here we got all this stuff now what the heck do we do with all of it? Um how do you handle maintenance? You you how do you handle maintenance? You you know obviously I don't know people watching probably don't know pinball machines need maintenance. So you know do they are there just texts that are you know people don't mind if they work on their games? Yeah. Uh, so that's a big part of like Yeah. Uh, so that's a big part of like the game owner agreement is basically when and one of the things that we had to think about which is some folks are very like I want to be the only person who works on my game and okay that's great. And so that was a really big part of making sure that when we took in a game that we followed that we tracked it. We made sure we knew um we have we're really lucky um my partner Jordan uh who's over there in the peripheral whose eye contact I will not make. Um hi Jordan. Hi Jordan. Um, hi Jordan. Hi Jordan. Um, so we have some really amazing people who are I would say like hobbyist techs who do work on their own games who bas um and our friend Chris another friend named Chris who has brought in so many classics. They have worked so hard to basically work on their games, work on other people's games. Um, in addition to people who own their games and having them here. Um, and so like for me it's something where like I want Jordan to work on my games. It's like, come on, man. Um, but also if Chris wants to work on it, I'm okay with that, too. But some folks might be like, you know, some folks, this is their you know, some folks, this is their first game. This is their baby. They don't want other people to work on it. And that's okay. It just means that if something breaks on your game, you got to come in and fix it. Sure. It's nice that it's flexible. It Sure. It's nice that it's flexible. It seems like trust is a huge part of the process of of building up. up. Yeah, you have to have trust. You got to trust in your members, and your members are going to have to trust in you to handle everything as best as they can. And so it's a really big, it is such a big like trust exercise. It's insane. Um, but we also have a really great member of our community. His name is Brandon. He basically threw games all over like the Austin area to make sure we had location pinball after Buffalo Billiards went away. And um, he also has like he's volunteered his time. We have like the emergency Brandon which is like if you don't know how to fix it, if Jordan doesn't know how to fix it, if Chris doesn't know how to fix it, if like if nobody in this building knows how to fix it, we've got like the emergency Brandon button where we're like, "Okay, we add it to our list and every month we're like, "Hey, Brandon, this is our list of stuff we don't know this is our list of stuff we don't know how to fix. Can you help us?" Everybody needs a Brandon. He's like the Everybody needs a Brandon. He's like the nicest person alive. He volunteered his time on Sunday morning to basically help us out with finals and make sure all of our games worked um for the women's weekend. like without Jordan and Chris and Brandon and uh Neil who runs our stream and like everybody who fixes their own games and Ted who's a super cool dude who's like working on all these crazy museum pieces over on the right hand side of the building. Like we wouldn't be anything without the folks who fix stuff. I'm the one who breaks stuff. I can't fix anything. Well, I mean anybody playing a pinball Well, I mean anybody playing a pinball machine is is basically breaking it. It's just a downward hill as soon as it gets built, right? Yeah. It's just a matter of time before Yeah. It's just a matter of time before something goes down. So yeah, you so that's the other part about your collective which is you got to have people who can fix it and um you know it's been really great because actually one of our board members Ryan his xenon came in and immediately died and so it was awesome because essentially Chris who's been helping us tech all these stuff all these things has been there helping Ryan like figure out his xenon. Here's your wiring issue. Here's your lighting issue. Here's your board issue. like they've been troubleshooting it and now it's been really cool because Ryan understands more about how his game works and he's told me he's learned a lot. So like that's a great model. Sure. Would you say that the Austin Sure. Would you say that the Austin Pinball Collective kind of like came out of necessity after the Buffalo Billiards kind of like closed down like just because pinball people in the area wanted to find or make a space that they could continue playing or I wouldn't say necessarily that because I wouldn't say necessarily that because we have like another bar down in South Austin called Bender Bar which we kind of also turned into like another home bar. I think that the collective came to be because um we have a lot of people who are really just like passionate about pinball and want to share the hobby, but we also all land in different I would say like parts of that pinball community. Like there's always a little bit of there's always the overlap in the community of we all love pinball, but it's a matter of how do we love pinball? And then everybody who's here at the collective now it's a matter of the well we all want to love pinball together kind of in our own way and how do we make that work? Um and the how do we make it work is Um and the how do we make it work is everybody brings in their games and um we're trying to like meet everyone's needs at the same time. And it's been really cool to see because there are so many people with so many cool ideas like how do we do that? Diluting those down to the ones that are priority I could see being a super big challenge. I'm laughing because DJ Drag said that Zeon dying immediately checks out. Yeah. Immediately Yeah. Immediately poor two shot. Not exactly the most poor two shot. Not exactly the most consistent, right? Immediately die. I mean there's uh Rob Immediately die. I mean there's uh Rob Buyers loaned us his top score and it gas lit me for months. Everybody was like it's starting games. It's playing fine. Anytime I would play that top score I'm like it will not start. It would like I don't understand what's wrong. It took us like two months. Brandon had to come in, had to fix it, and then it was like perfect. And like I'm like, I don't trust that top score within an inch of my life. I'm like, you put me through hell for like two months. Like I feel like everybody's got cursed game in their in their collection where they every time they go play it, they just either have a bad game or it just doesn't work. Doesn't work. I just don't trust that Doesn't work. I just don't trust that top score. I'm like, I know you. It's creature for me. Every time I've It's creature for me. Every time I've tried to play Creature, either something is not working on it and or Creature just, you know, decides to to take me take me down in the dirtiest ways. Not Not fun. I've never had a fun game Not Not fun. I've never had a fun game on Creature. Just It's not It's just impolite. Like, Just It's not It's just impolite. Like, give me one good game for sure. Don't be like that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, you talk about my mic All right. So, you talk about my mic collective. No, you're good. I had another thing which was like I think the other thing is is that there is a big People really liked seeing the wormhole down in Houston. People were like, "Well, how do we get a wormhole up here?" And we're like, "Okay." Because all the games at "Okay." Because all the games at Wormhole, like there was a variety. They were all rare. They were all cool. They were all well-maintained. And so, really, I think it's a matter of how do we get as many machines in as we can that all play well. And I think we've really achieved that. And I don't think rare doesn't And I don't think rare doesn't necessarily mean fun. I think a lot of people, especially in the pinball hobby, and and not as a criticism to you. I mean, you have an amazing set of games back there. It's just that like it seems like there's like the holy grail of like, oh, this game is rare, so it has to be fun. And then when you play it, you're like, h I I think that what you just said that as long as it plays great, that's really what people want out of a pinball experience. And this has been echoed. Rachel and Kale talked about that electric bat. We bagged on the, you know, Las Vegas pinball museum pretty regularly just because it's not a good first, it's just not a good experience for people that want to know what pinball is. Great impression to have. Great impression to have. No. No. Like, not at all. Like, not at all. Yeah. No, it's not a great impression to Yeah. No, it's not a great impression to have. So, You mentioned tournaments and I want to get into tournaments because I want to get into trophies, but before we get into trophies, uh how do you guys do and handle tournaments at the collective? at the collective? Yeah. So, uh we have a couple different Yeah. So, uh we have a couple different ways. So, first it's something where we as a collective run our own tournaments. Um so, we run a monthly event on the second Saturday of every month. Um and we try to pull in different tournament directors and ask what they would like to run here in the space. Um, and so we do that every second Saturday. We also like to host, I would say, like traveling leagues. So, we have a traveling league in Austin. They're called Tilted Tuesday, and they roam around within all these locations in Austin, and we've hosted them on Tuesday nights. Um, we are also hosting like the South Austin Pinball League. Whenever they leave, whenever they leave the South, they'll come up like to this little like central east area and we've hosted that. They have to change their name to North Austin League if they travel up there or No. No. No. That's such a dumb. That's such a dumb. We don't we don't make them change it. We don't we don't make them change it. Um we don't make them do that. Um we've also hosted our Austin Bells and Chimes chapter and um we've started to add on kind of additional tournaments when people ask like they're like hey I'd like to host a tournament here. It's like great what's your format? What you need? Um when what day? Like how many games do you need? And you know we're happy to host them. It brings in, you know, new people. People get to check it out. Um, see if they want to see if they want to join up as a member and see if they want to be a part. Yeah. see if they want to be a part. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's such a great idea. Well, I mean, that's such a great idea. Traveling troops come in. You're you're Traveling troops come in. You're you're harvesting new potential uh, you know, members to help keep the doors open and new games coming in. I mean, it's that's pretty great. that's pretty great. Yeah. So, uh, uh, Phil, who started kind Yeah. So, uh, uh, Phil, who started kind of like started all this, uh, he likes to run Howdy Partner, um, which is, you know, nonFPA where it's like groups and teams play against each other to get like their combined high scores. So, we've done a couple Howdy Partners. Um, not every tournament needs to be Whopper not every tournament needs to be Whopper points, right? Nothing not everything has to be Nothing not everything has to be Whoppers. And like I love tournaments. I'm a big tournament player. Um, I did a lot of tournaments and I hit the circuit really hard. Um, and then this year I kind of took a step back just because like this takes so much time. Um, and it uh it's really cool to get to see like the variety and what matters is like you get to have fun. Um, so we um, but yeah, so basically the collective hosted the bells Austin bells and chimes this weekend to run our like the summer school event where we had four tournaments over three days. Uh women came from all over the country. We had gals from St. Louis and Colorado and Florida um who all traveled here to play a bunch of pinball over a few days and it was really cool which is awesome. We we talked a little which is awesome. We we talked a little bit about this in the in the opening too with you hosting bells and chimes. I feel like there's been an amazing national kind of like boost of just like women in pinball, more bells and chimes popping up in like every city. What would your message be to like other women that are like curious to set to start up a pinball league? Like I don't know. Every one of us has had a bad experience. Whether it be because of some bad apple, whether it be on a different side of the gender, or whether it's just a person who just is like a gatekeeping bad pinball person. How do you break through that fear and just like just do it? Like what would you what would you say to people that are, you know, women that want to start other pinball leagues? Honestly, just try it. Just do it. Honestly, just try it. Just do it. People will show up. Like that's really honestly what it is. People will show up. Start with your friends. Um I have so with with Bells and I the Austin Bell's chapter actually started like right before CO and then um our leader had to move and then we had to and we came on and like carried the torch. Um but basically it's something where just start it just try it like start it up. Talk to your friends. Have their friends talk to the other friends and what you'll find out is surprisingly like other people like pinball. They just don't talk about it. Um, we actually Yeah, right. Like people I found out that like some of my friends for years were like, "Oh, yeah, we love pinball." And I'm like, "What? How did we never talk about this? We've known each other for years." And then other folks be like, "Yeah, I'm not that good." And it's like, "You don't have to be that good." Um, so just just start it. Find a place. Um, so just just start it. Find a place. Um,

34:06

if you do just know just know what you're getting into it's just know what you're getting into it's that's just a dangerous road I can see that being a disaster flipronic says that he's itching to buy flipronic says that he's itching to buy Dune for the collective, but he spent all his money on Congo and Shadow. Two games that are on my top list of what I want to add to my own personal collection. So, Fliptronic, I get it. We're not trading them. We're not trading them. I want those games. Congress. Amazing. I want those games. Congress. Amazing. Amazing games. Uh, all right. Uh, all right. We started opened up a collective and he We started opened up a collective and he can't stop buying games. I mean, do you blame him? Let's jump I mean, do you blame him? Let's jump into We need to It's trophy time. It's trophy. Can you give us a trophy? Let's talk about Hold on. Just lift your lift your little trophy bucket up for a second just to tease it and then like and then we'll talk a little bit about the bucket. the bucket. 3D printing. 3D printing. I put them back in the bucket for a I put them back in the bucket for a second. I'm trying to not break them. I didn't know I didn't know you took I didn't know I didn't know you took them out of the bucket. I feel bad now. Oh, no. No. It's okay. It's okay. It's Oh, no. No. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's fine. Here's the box. Here's the box. There's a box. What's in Oh, can I do There's a box. What's in Oh, can I do it? Can we do it seven style? What's in the box? What's in the box? What's in the box? What's in the box? What's in the box? What's in the box? Oh, it's 3D printed. It's 3D printed Oh, it's 3D printed. It's 3D printed pinball trophies. Never mind. It is. Okay. So, um I'll start out with It is. Okay. So, um I'll start out with uh So, the way this started was um the way that this basically started was um Jordan has a 3D printer. He was building a racing sim rig and he brought it out and it was right when Jaws came out, like right when Jaws had launched. And I looked at it and I was like, I bet you like I I I want to use this to make trophies. And he was like, okay. And then um so I made these Jaws trophies. They took I was using like an old it was like the Prussa M whatever 3. So it's like older and it's slow. And so making those trophies took forever. Yes. Old and slow. Like I'm getting Yes. Old and slow. Like I'm getting there. I'm getting there. And um so it was so old, so slow. And so I was like using like Mod Podge and like blue paint and I made these like really cool Jaws trophies and I and then I won one. I should have brought that one, but um should be like the here's where we started and here's where we are now. Yeah, the journey. The 3D trophy Yeah, the journey. The 3D trophy journey. The 3D pro. I know. I'm terrible. Um so The 3D pro. I know. I'm terrible. Um so it started with that and then I just kept using it constantly. like we run our so Bell's events are the first and third our Austin Bell's events are the first and third Wednesdays and then we'll have like a quarterly event. So I just and then um I started to run tournaments with Colin McAlpine like rest in peace Epic fun and then I was like well I want to make trophies for this too and so I was running that printer like constantly and then I started buying all these crazy colors of filament and just like going to town and Jordan was just like it was like we have to get you something better and so he ended up finding like this Bamboo Lab X1 Carbon like an hour and a halfway. He's like, "It's for sale." And I was like, "Let's get it." And so I have run into road trip. Here we go. Um so we drove road trip. Here we go. Um so we drove out, we bought, you know, a secondhand uh X1C so much faster. Um sold the other printer. And I have run that printer constantly, probably from the day that we get it. I usually it's printing something every single night. Um I started making stuff for like all Um I started making stuff for like all of the Belle's stuff. I started making stuff for all the Bat City stuff and then Sure. Well, show some show some of them Sure. Well, show some show some of them off and also plug plug your plug your Instagram too because I know that you you just you have so many different ones on your Instagram. I do uh it's beckex beckrex because I do uh it's beckex beckrex because there were too many other versions of that name. So, I just kept adding Beex in front of it. A good way of handling it. I'll include A good way of handling it. I'll include this in the description, too, if anybody's curious. But, if you want to jump on live right now, go check it out. Beex. Go follow me. You can there's pictures of trophies and my cats and um Have you ever given away one of your Have you ever given away one of your cats as a pinball trophy like by accident? No, I love them too much. Um and don't No, I love them too much. Um and don't tell Jordan because he'll give away my cat um that hates his cats. Um, so but so where it started, so I've got so where I think like also like really kicked off was when Kate up in New York um when Kate Martin up in New York was like hey will you make trophies for like this Tbeca tournament and I was like sure and I was like I don't even know how much to ask for. Can will you just fly me there? So Kate flew me to New York with literally a suitcase full of trophies that I had to glue that we were gluing together in her apartment. Um and then after everything was glued, we realized uh I misspelled tournament. That's just how people say it in That's just how people say it in Tribeca, right? That like tournament, right? Yeah. Like really tournament, right? Yeah. Like really really really tournament right there. And so like that kicked it off. And then um I've done actually I'm working on these really cute little palettes for Kate right now. I need to put them in the mail. mother for her. I know. I'm like, "Hey, like my number one like loyal customer. I've made trophies for Oh, here's one that I had to win." Cuz that's the problem is is that if I get a trophy, I have to I don't get to keep it. I have to like go win it. So, like I had to come in fourth. Oh, you had to earn your own trophies Oh, you had to earn your own trophies back. That's that's earn my own trophies back. earn my own trophies back. Respect. Respect. I don't just make them for myself. So, I don't just make them for myself. So, this one is actually for uh the Bells in San Antonio. I did their winter classic ones. Um, I'm repping also my like Bell's San Antonio, uh, Houston, not Houston radio, my Bell's San Antonio shirt for the event that they pull off there. It's the biggest, uh, women's, like only tournament weekend in the world. Um, they had 88 people last year. Um, wow, what a turnout. That's awesome. wow, what a turnout. That's awesome. It's crazy. She is already planning for It's crazy. She is already planning for it. Um, this one was fun. mostly. This was one of the ones that I made for our own bells league. And I just enjoyed this one because I uh got to play with a heat gun. I love that you're incorporating I love that you're incorporating pinballs with them as well. Yeah, it's super fun. Very fragile. Um Yeah, it's super fun. Very fragile. Um and then super fun, very fragile. There are some that do not ship well and I always am like, what can I do that ships? Um and then this one actually uh Phil won and he left it here at the collective. Um, this was for one of our collective tournaments, um, that Rob Buyers ran and Amanda ran and Nadia ran and Jason ran. Um, and uh, they were little Deadpool cats. These little shits took like 19 hours to go cuz all the stupid colors. That's a lot of printing. That's a lot of printing. It's a lot of printing. It's a lot of printing. So, for people that don't know, like So, for people that don't know, like trophies are kind of like a big deal. I mean, like for for pinball, the the trophy is like almost part of the not gimmick, but like having a really unique trophy at the end of an event is uh I don't know, kind of icing on the cake I don't know, kind of icing on the cake for for a lot of pinball leagues, would you say? Oh, absolutely. I think um it's Oh, absolutely. I think um it's something where it also I think highlights I would say your crafting population. Everywhere has got somebody who likes to make stuff. And if you give them an opportunity to make something really really cool for your community, like you should do it. Yeah, Yeah, you got to do it. And so that's the one you got to do it. And so that's the one thing that like I really get to enjoy. I like to make stuff and uh I like to make stuff for my community and it's something where I can't solder for anything, but I can make really cool trophies. So, somebody else can solder and uh somebody else can do other organizing stuff, but like I am happy to make a trophy whenever I can. I mean, 3D printers are like the I mean, 3D printers are like the solderers of plastic, right? So, you're kind of doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It all just melts. Everything Yeah. It all just melts. Everything melts, you know, if you get it hot enough, right? That's very true. That's very true. Yeah. Yeah. Just put more heat on it. You can melt a Just put more heat on it. You can melt a pinball machine. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. We're in Texas. Um actually, there was a We're in Texas. Um actually, there was a dude who did win a bunch of my trophies and he left them all on his dashboard. Um, and this is all PLA, which has a pretty low like heat point, but it's also like cheap, so that's what I use. And, uh, they melt it into his dashboard. So, now anytime somebody wins it, they're like, I'm going to put it in my car. I'm like, don't do that. It will melt. Don't do that. It's It's You can cook an egg in on your car in You can cook an egg in on your car in Texas. Like, it just Yeah. Don't Don't do it. It's too hot here. That's like pretty much the preferred That's like pretty much the preferred culinary method, I think, for a lot of people. Uh, Amigga Cammy says that she's going Uh, Amigga Cammy says that she's going to have to start a local tournament just so she can make cool trophies for it. See, look at this. You sure? You sure? Cammy's from Tasmania. It's probably hot Cammy's from Tasmania. It's probably hot enough there to cook eggs on cars as well. Uh, maybe. I actually don't know what the weather's like. Cammy, can you cook an egg on a car? Let us know. Um, all right. So, Um, all right. So, yeah, everybody loves to win stuff. yeah, everybody loves to win stuff. Totally. So, from where the collective's Totally. So, from where the collective's at now, like, how do you see it even growing more? Like, is there is there a cap on this kind of stuff? Like, what is what is the next objective when you start a collective? Like, where where do you go from there? like you mentioned starting you had the really successful Bells league and like are you just trying to expand more people involved? Yeah. So I think that the way that we're Yeah. So I think that the way that we're looking at growing is so number one eventually we're going to run out of space. Um we've got I would say like big plans for our future. Um we're working on building out a museum space where we can have games of all eras um that are all ideally like playable. Um, so we've been um and one of our members uh Keeman has been like really trying to head that up with um another one of our members, Ted. And um so that's been really cool. I know that they're working on um everything kind of took a grinding halt while we were really prepping for this women's weekend. Um and I will talk about women's pinball and why it is so important after after this, but um it is so like that's a whole project that we're working on. Um, we're going to be working on bringing in more games, making more members, bringing in new members. Um, eventually we're going to get to run out of space, which will be really exciting. And then we get to have the conversation of, well, how do we figure out how we rotate games? Who has more games at home that, you know, maybe they can bring a game home, maybe somebody can bring a game in? And those are the conversations that we'll get to have in the future. Um, I hear you're getting a Congo in a I hear you're getting a Congo in a shadow soon. I hear we're getting a Congo in a shadow soon. And you know what that means? I don't know what two games are going to show up in my house next. Um like, oh, um maybe I'll get to bring Game of Thrones home or I get to bring Iron Maiden home or something. I don't know. Um but you know, we'll start looking at rotating games, you know, keeping our lineup really fresh. Um building out and doing more community events. It's like we do some board game nights, we do some movie nights, but you know, like what other things can we do? You know, educational events, teaching classes, um corporate events, uh sports and social clubs, you know, like who wants to be here? Let's open the doors. Let's let some people in. Um and so I mean holiday parties, who doesn't want to have a holiday party here? Um as long as you don't have any hard liquor, don't do that. No hard liquor. No hard liquor. Just bring it in. It'll violate a lease. Just bring it in. It'll violate a lease. No, it'll violate our lease. Don't be encouraging people to violate our lease, man. No. Why would I encourage people to go drink? No. They can have some beer. No. They can have some beer. We could have some beer. We could have We could have some beer. We could have some wine. Like you can bring like your little like Like you can bring like your little like hoop tea thing or whatever. Um but like no hard liquor. Yeah, the hoop tea thing. Bring a lambbeck. I don't know. But like Bring a lambbeck. I don't know. But like anyway, like who who knew? Um I mean we are an office building. I don't know if like the chiropractor downstairs is getting plastered on a Thursday afternoon, but um also if you hurt your back playing also if you hurt your back playing pinball, it's nice to have a a really close chiropractor if that's your if that's your go. Wow. Wow. Yeah. There's like a chiropractor and Yeah. There's like a chiropractor and like a pain management clinic. Um but yeah. No, so like what do we have in our future? We want to, you know, host like outside. We want to host people from the outside. We want to expand to the folks that are like beyond pinball. Bring in other folks. Um, how can people connect with the how can people connect with the collective if they want to and they're not local? For example, somebody who might be watching this podcast and it's like, "Man, that sounds cool. I'm going to Austin next month." Oh man. So, you can follow us on Oh man. So, you can follow us on Instagram. We are the Austin Pinball Collective. Uh, you can also check us out online, austin pinball collective.org cuz we're a nonprofit. What? It's super cool. I did not do that It's super cool. I did not do that paperwork. Uh, came in and then our like did that paperwork. It was a nightmare. Um, and uh, but no, so you can check us out online. You can, you know, we're on Google Maps. Uh, what was really funny is when we were on Google Maps, at first it was just like this empty office space was our Google picture and they had to like go in and be like, "No, let's replace the picture. We need to show that." Yeah, I got to get rid of that picture. Um, and then, uh, you know, there is, um, so there's that. You can email us uh at austinpinballcollectivegmail.com if you have questions, if you want to visit, like let us know. Um and then uh yeah, that's I would say like the three easiest ways to get us uh to check us out. Um those sound like pretty good. How did I forget the stream? Yeah, How did I forget the stream? Yeah, you got to plug You got to plug the you got to plug You got to plug the stream for sure. Twitch.tv/ Austin Pinball Collective. Twitch.tv/ Austin Pinball Collective. Our friend Neil like put this whole stream together. It's really cool. Um, he streamed all four freaking tournaments this past weekend. I don't know how he's alive. Um, which is it's a lot of work if you don't which is it's a lot of work if you don't know. Uh, two really great questions. So much work. So much work. Tenacious is saying, "When's when is the Tenacious is saying, "When's when is the next big tournament? It would be great spot for an IFPA regional." Yeah. Yeah. Um, no bad ideas. I was actually texting I was texting with Colin and I was like, "Okay, Colin, I think I'm ready for state." And he was like, "Well, state's too far away. like let's look at doing like a big like open event. And I was like okay like you know when your like heart rate goes up and you're like oh god we just finished um you're in too deep now you're committed. you're in too deep now you're committed. We're in too deep. So what so I want to We're in too deep. So what so I want to make sure that I mention like so for this women's weekend like uh Amanda who is one of our bells leaders who did like all the stuff that I didn't want to do which is basically like all of the organizing things that I really didn't want to do. Like she made the space really cool. She ran the match play like you know did all this cool scheduling rearranged the furniture and I was like just leave me alone with my games and my banks like just leave me alone with my games and my banks. I just want to do settings like I feel like Mr. Burns like right right leave me alone with my like banks and my leave me alone with my like banks and my settings and my techs and my maintenance. Um but uh so there's a really great picture we took. There's like a Polaroid of us at the beginning of the weekend where we look like happy and fun. And then there's a picture of us like looking absolutely like desiccated on a couch after like four days of doing this. And then I was like, "Oh, we're going to run another tournament on Sunday." And then I'm like, "Oh, and we're going to run another one in like 2 weeks." People are like, "Y'all are insane." I'm like, "Yeah, I think we actually are." Um, it's gotten easier though, right? it's gotten easier though, right? Compared to the first tournament you ran, compared to what you're doing now. Like I feel like it does, right? it does, right? It gets so much easier. Like and I think It gets so much easier. Like and I think that's the other thing I would want to encourage people to do is like just do it. It gets easier as it goes on. Like I did not think, you know, I would say that, you know, when we started doing um like I've done and I've been to and I've helped with like really big stuff before, but I've never done it I would say like really like not like on my own cuz I didn't do it on my own, but like in in our own space. like that's like a whole big new thing for me and it was really cool to get to do that and it's been really cool to get to do that here. Um and then you know I also I have to Um and then you know I also I have to make sure that I thank you know also like Nadia and Meredith and Valley and like I'm like I have to thank my girls. Um and I have to thank all my girls and uh thank the girls. I mean like earlier I thank the girls. I mean like earlier I got to thank my girls. It's so important that It's so important that so cool. It's been so cool and so cool. It's been so cool and but no I we do want to run a really big but no I we do want to run a really big open event and I literally was like okay Colin like last night I was like let's look at calendars and so we definitely want to pull something off we definitely want to pull something off that's big here. Um I think that we can do it. Uh I mean I know we can do I know we can do it because we just did it. Um and Tenacious says he'd help do uh volunteer Tenacious says he'd help do uh volunteer work at your next big tournament. So the community it's already expanding through the internet. Come on down. Let's I will take Come on down. Let's I will take volunteers. We'll take volunteers. Phil will train you. It'll be great. Um grown up grown up Jason also wants to grown up grown up Jason also wants to know if he can hide his games there from his wife or spouse. I mean, does your spouse like agree that I mean, does your spouse like agree that you're owning the games? Because I feel like that's like a discussion you need to have with your spouse. Communication is important. Communication is important. That's a communication thing. That's a communication thing. Yeah. You got to be a grown-up. You got Yeah. You got to be a grown-up. You got to talk to your wife about buying games. You got to do it. I got to talk to Jordan if I want a game. He's got to talk to me if he wants the game. And I told him no before. Mostly because the game Congo and Shadow then I don't think any Congo and Shadow then I don't think any permission is needed. Oh no no no no. There were the second Oh no no no no. There were the second that Oh no. The way that shadow went down is we know the guy who sold the shadow and he was like there's a shadow and I went oh god and he went message him like right now and I'm like we want your shadow. And um Congo was like we saw it we listed it and we were like go go go go. There's a list of games um of like there's like the list of games that like Jordan would want that are like the if it's the right price and where it is. So, you know, if anybody's got like a 98 Sega Godzilla that they want to sell to me for a very reasonable price, um that would be great. Um and uh yeah, so there's like the short list of games of the you buy now. Anyway, moral of the story is is talk to your partner about major purchases. There you go, grown-up. Don't do There you go, grown-up. Don't do anything sneaky. Don't send them free games for any reason. Okay? Just so you can get your more games in your basement. So, no, no. Here's what you do. Here's So, no, no. Here's what you do. Here's what you do. So, you give us two games. You give us one game for you with your name on it, and you give us one game with your wife's name on it, and then you both become members here, and you come in and you can hang out. And that's how it works. That's the way to that's how it works. That's the way to do it. There's actually what's really funny is we do have like multiple couples here. So, um, Nick and Nadia, like they've each got an EM. And then we've got our other friends, Neil and Angel, who each have a game here. And then Jordan and I also each have games here. So, really, just join a collective. It's a great thing to do with uh your partner. Moral of story. Moral of story. Join join pinball leagues. Uh, RB, the Join join pinball leagues. Uh, RB, the only thing I have to say about you spending money on that bobblehead is, holy cow. holy cow. Uh, so, uh, that's I think that's that's Uh, so, uh, that's I think that's that's pretty much all I have. I mean, other than thank you so much for taking your time. And also, I uh from what I hear, the collective is pretty close to where you live, which is very convenient for somebody who would like to go play pinball frequently and probably has the keys. I do have a way to get in the building. I do have a way to get in the building. I mean, actually, so actually all of our members here, if you have a game here, you have a FOB, so you can come in through the front door, you can get in. Um, so you have access to your game basically like anytime we have, you know, you can, which is between like seven other people's games, so everybody can. Yeah. You also have access to everybody's games. Like it takes a takes a takes a I don't know, it's a community thing. Um, but yeah, so like I have keys, but also everybody else has keys, too. Um, and if you like if you become a member and you don't have a game here, guess how you get more time here? You volunteer. Um, you volunteer 8 hours a month. Congratulations. You now have access to the space for somebody who loaned a game. Um, so and that's our M. Yeah. Wow. Tenacious. You you just read my Wow. Tenacious. You you just read my mind. Basically, the last the last question I did want to ask if you're comfortable sharing it is just if somebody was interested in doing this, like what are they looking at financially for spending to have a space that is, I don't know, comparable in size? the the you know setting up the 501c as a as a corp, getting all the necessary insurance like what what can people that want to start a collective expect on spending to kind of dive into the experience if they wanted to commit? Um, so I think as far as numbers go, I think that well, we just had to up our insurance, so I think I would say um it is about like our operating costs for the year are about I think like $70,000.

54:39

I'm not the bank person, so I would really need to check. Um, but I mean it's not cheap. Um, but I imagine offsetting that by a smaller space or there's probably definitely ways that can mitigate this. Oh, for sure. We're huge. Like we have a Oh, for sure. We're huge. Like we have a disgusting amount of square footage. Um, like I mean I will Yeah. No. Well, I mean it's one of those things where honestly when we first moved games in it was we were like looking and we were like we have so much space and now we're sitting here like 3 months later going like oh my god we need more space. Um, we like we're going to we're going to run out of room. Um, but I and I want to also just thank you for giving me a chance to get to talk about this place. Um, it is such a labor of love from like the I would say like the five of us on the board who started it, every single person who has put a game here, every single person who has fixed a game here, who has, you know, brought, you know, a random case of beer here or there, um, who's brought like furniture here. Like it is really like I I know that I am here getting to talk about it and I just want to make sure that everybody know like I'm like I'm here I get the privilege to talk about this really cool place but it's not this place is nothing without every single person who has done something to make it real. Um, and so like you're such you're such a great representative of the space. Like so thank you for giving me the Like so thank you for giving me the chance and I just want to get to use this chance to also thank everybody here who's made it what it is. And like I know we had so many things that we got to talk about today and I talk in circles. Um, and like um Jordan's walking over here. What is he saying? Does Jordan want to hop in? You keep Does Jordan want to hop in? You keep saying Yeah. Yeah. Here. Can I can I how far Yeah. Yeah. Here. Can I can I how far can I take this? Um I just want to rotate it. Um I just want to rotate it. Yeah, like go right, go left. Can you Yeah, like go right, go left. Can you can you get all Let's go on a journey. Let's go on a journey. Okay, Okay, we got our round table round table. Um we got our round table round table. Um Yeah, that came from our wonderful member Jason. He also gave us a Monopoly that I was I could not Jim Belceto that Monopoly to save my life. Um we've got uh we've still got even like the summer school stickers and signs on it. Um, and then, uh, but yeah, and then I also I want to take the opportunity to talk about women in pinball and the bells and all of that. I mean, I'm really lucky to uh, yeah, that's just part of it. Um, I'm really lucky to be part of our bells community here. And, you know, it's been really great to get to know everybody with that. And so like our leaders on that are, you know, my friend, like one of my really good friends, Valley, who I actually met through pinball. Um, and now then she adopted a cat from my parents. But, um, like Valley and Nadia and Meredith and Amanda um, who really helped. I mean, and I want to say helped, but like it was one of those things where I putting together the summer school weekend from like the collective standpoint was such a crazy challenge and like it it like I could not do it alone. I definitely didn't do it alone. Like and there were so many things that they did that I did not. And um I have to make sure that I shout them out. And I also want to make sure that I s shout out my San Antonio Bells. Like they're like our like sister city. Like you know, they've got what's brewing there. And um their community there is wonderful. I've been able to be a part of their community. Um, and like I have learned so much from them and um, you know, I'm lucky to be a part of like I'm lucky to have be a part of them and I can't wait you know when we look at like the next big thing is like on the collective radar like we've got open events and you know we want to host states here in January and for me you just like me me it's like the next big thing is I get to go to pinball expo and have fun. Um, I get to keep running stuff here and then, you know, we get to start looking at, you know, pinball rodeo in San Antonio, uh, at the end of January. Nice. I'm going to pin, too, so we Nice. I'm going to pin, too, so we absolutely have to hang out. We do. Maybe I'll bring you I started I We do. Maybe I'll bring you I started I started 3D printing these really stupid toilet magnets with pinballs in them. Uh, I'll You had me a toilet magnet. I don't You had me a toilet magnet. I don't know. There's nothing stupid about that. I can't sell you I can't tell you like I I can't sell you I can't tell you like I can't sell you more on pinball magnets. Um, but No, I'm in. Yeah. No, I just And it's No, I'm in. Yeah. No, I just And it's it's so important to have that safe space like Yes. Yes. And to have had an opportunity to And to have had an opportunity to basically make this space be what it needs to be for women's events is so important. And you know, it's so important for women to just and like our like women and non-binary folks like to for us to have our safe space where you know, we don't have to worry about all of the other stuff that happens. Nobody should feel gatekeeper excluded from the pinball experience. Feel excluded from the pinball Feel excluded from the pinball experience and we want to make sure that it's safe for everyone. And like there's always a chance. It's always funny because I feel like every now and then, especially when we're like running something and I feel like every every now and then you just got to get that one that one dude and you're just like, "Oh, I gotta go kick a dude out of a ladies event." And like it happens. It happens all the time. And it's like it'll toughen you up a little bit. like I've, you know, I've had to do it a few times and it's just like, you know, it's just part of the deal. you know, it's just part of the deal. And then you feel like you're like, I I did that. Like, yeah. Like, it's so weird. Like, it's so weird. Like, we mentioned a little earlier that, you we mentioned a little earlier that, you know, you were saying just commit to it. You know, if you're a woman that's interested in starting a bell and bell bells and cheese bells and chimes league, is uh is it okay that people reach out to you directly if they need to discuss about something like maybe they do need to kick somebody out of their league and they didn't commit to it because it is scary to have to go tell someone who's doing inappropriate [ __ ] to like shut up and get the [ __ ] out. It's scary. It's so scary. And it's It's scary. It's so scary. And it's like, man, I remember like I've I've had to have people leave and I was just like, "Hey, like this is a women's event. like you can't be here right now. And then they get all poutdy and like and it's just like sorry man, you got to go. And then sorry man, you got to go. And then what's really great is that if you do it with your like team behind you, like it's, you know, it's one of like you're in the Warriors and you just like you're in the Warriors and you just got to there's like that weird trope where it's like, you know how we we all go to the bathroom together? Like we can also all kick out a person together, too. Um like we can that's great. like we do it together and I feel like that's the big thing in women's pinball that is not necessarily like so different but I feel like it's the thing that is that we do is like we really do so much of it together like and you have to because like there's like it's that weird thing where it's like there's strength in numbers and I think that what we've seen has been through the growth of like women's and non-binary leagues is that more women are building those relationships feeling comfortable with pinball feeling comfortable with each other and then we see not just one woman from that group going to something major that's open but you see a group you see us travel together like we're not alone and I think that's the most important part about women's pinball is like you can go find your people you don't have to be alone in this like we're all here together um and if you find your people and you're comfortable with that like you'll go off and you'll go do more things together you'll build friendships like I've met and made so many new friends from women's pinball. Like some of my best friends like the entire world in the history of like my freaking life I've met through women's pinball. And I want everybody else to get to have I want everybody else to get to have that same experience. That's the theme. Don't be afraid. That's the theme. Don't be afraid. You're in a group of people. Just find other people that are like Yeah. And you know, actually, I'll Yeah. And you know, actually, I'll address that. You don't have to. You are allowed to be afraid. You are allowed to be scared and nervous and whatever, but we're going to, you know, come to something. We're going to make it okay. like we're going to we're going to make it okay. It's going to be okay. Like we're going to get there. It's going to be okay. Would I say it's fair to say like if Would I say it's fair to say like if you've had a bad experience like give it another chance to try to rebuild a better experience together with other people to try to keep that kind of whatever uncomfortable unsafe space stuff from happening again. Yeah, absolutely. And it's okay to give Yeah, absolutely. And it's okay to give feedback like and if you're not getting like it's okay to give feedback if you're like hey I went to this event and here was my issue like they need to know. People won't know unless you tell them. Yeah. Speak up if something bad happens Yeah. Speak up if something bad happens to you and this is like literally any like if you have somebody you know this isn't just a women's or a non-binary thing. Just if you have any bad pinball apple there the tournament directors and the people that run tournaments are there to listen to that or should be. And if they're not listening to it, then, you know, you know, don't go there. don't go there. What is it? What is Josh Sharp? What What is it? What is Josh Sharp? What does he say? Like, vote with your feet. Like, uh, like I feel like there's like a if you don't like it, don't go. And totally like and, uh, and you get to send a message that way. Why didn't you go? Well, because of XYZ. All right. Well, hopefully that changes. Um, and uh, you know, but yeah, I'm like, "Oh, man. This kind of positive pinball communication is about cuz it's enough of that. It's time to change the narrative. Don't be afraid to play pinball. Go out there to play pinball. Find your people. Don't gate it. Like pinball is for everybody." And um, I feel like there are so many more I feel like there are so many more things that I could say and I'm going to forget it and I'm going to be like, "Oh man, Jeff, can I come back in like two months? We'll just do a second podcast." We'll just do a second podcast." Exactly. We'll just do a second podcast. It'll be We'll just do a second podcast. It'll be great. We'll do it at Expo. So, We'll do it at Expo. So, we'll do Yeah, we'll just record it we'll do Yeah, we'll just record it live. We'll [ __ ] it, we'll do it live. [ __ ] it, we'll do it live. Yeah, [ __ ] it, we'll do it live. Yeah, we'll do it live. So, I I don't know. I we'll do it live. So, I I don't know. I guess what I would say at the end of everything is, you know, find your people, make really cool stuff, put some numbers on it so people can win it and take it home. Um, don't discount your community creatives. Um, you know, and everybody's got something to give to pinball. Everybody has something and if you don't know what it is, you just haven't figured it out yet. I contribute bad gameplay so that other I contribute bad gameplay so that other people can feel better about themselves. Chat's tearing me up for not doing that Chat's tearing me up for not doing that well right now. I'm just I'm doing it for the I'm just I'm doing it for the I really like Dune. We drove for uh my I really like Dune. We drove for uh my like birthday, my belated my belated birthday weekend um for I took a couple weeks off in June and I drove down to Barrels and we got a grand tour and Jordan and I got to hang out and play Dune and it was really cool and then we went to be and had a great time. Yeah, Yeah, that's great to hear. that's great to hear. Yeah, Mr. I do sound design on Dune. Yeah, Mr. I do sound design on Dune. I have done I have done some of that. I I have done I have done some of that. I do love Dune. I do try to I do try to pimp it when I can. I'm getting ready for people to call me a shill for it. But go play it. Make up your own decision, right? Not you, but I'm saying like anybody who's going to play Dune. Okay. So, as the sound designer, so are Okay. So, as the sound designer, so are you familiar with a game called Al's Garage? It's not Al's Garage Band. It's like Al's World Tour. The Alvin G's Al's Al's Garage Band goes on a world tour. Al's Garage Band goes on a world tour. Oh, Al's Garage Band goes on a world Oh, Al's Garage Band goes on a world tour. I was going to get there. I'm not familiar with that game. No. I'm not familiar with that game. No. What What era is it? Is it a homebrew? No, it is a like it is Alvin G's. So, you know the the mystery castle folks. Um there's also this and the thing that Dune needs and I feel like as a sound designer you can appreciate this. Okay. Okay. Um are haptic flippers. Um are haptic flippers. Okay. Okay. This game is the only game that has This game is the only game that has haptic flippers. Anytime the drums go off, the flipper buttons pulse. That's cool. you do the thumper like That's cool. you do the thumper like you've got all of the great like and the thumper noises. I think Dune needs haptic flippers. I think that's a great idea. I don't I think that's a great idea. I don't know if it's too late in the development to put new hardware into Dune, but you know, I mean like the shaker motor, that's a step towards haptics, right? You just need one of the They have You just need one of the They have shaker motors for uh racing rigs. What are they called? Butt kicker or whatever. They're just like uh what do they call them? They're like uh Oh my god. Haptic haptic modules that like vibrate. I know. I got there. I got a racing rig hiding over here. I didn't know that. Um I didn't know I didn't know that. Um I didn't know that. And now uh I'll like Jordan's about to like kick me out of the seat. He'll be like, "We got to talk about racing rigs." I have not I have not raced in quite a I have not I have not raced in quite a while since pinball has retaken over my life. So, are you into F1? Have we talked about are you into F1? Have we talked about F1? I followed F1 a few years ago, but I I followed F1 a few years ago, but I have since fallen out of it. So, well, you got to get back into it. Uh well, you got to get back into it. Uh is Red Bull still dominating? is Red Bull still dominating? No, actually Red Bull's car this year is absolute trash. They've gone through so many second drivers. Um, it's kind of hilarious. Like Red Bull is falling apart this year. McLaren is dominating. Like McLaren, there needs to be space for somebody there needs to be space for somebody other than Red Bull and Mercedes on top of the line in a sport. Well, I mean, whoever has in a sport. Well, I mean, whoever has the most money generally has the best car. Well, it's like what's nuts is that it feels like we're living in like a weird alternate dimension because Lewis Hamilton's over at Ferrari and then poor Carlos signs got kicked out and all that matters to me is that uh Cadillac is coming in to the grid and Valtry Boas and uh Czecho Perez are going to be driving for Cadillac. Like they just got their picture taken today. I'm very excited. Um because um like both of them were at one point also my favorite drivers. My favorite driver is Vry Botos and I will I will fight someone on that. Um anyway, you should get into F1 so we can we can you should get into F1 so we can we can talk about it. There's like a weird nice little subsect of pinball that is also into F1 and one Mike Mc Yeah, Yeah, vinyl collecting like retro gaming. vinyl collecting like retro gaming. There's like all these weird skateboarding. There's all these like secondary hobbies that I think are like very like pinball adjacent, right? Like people are just like if they're into this, they're also into that. They're also into pinball. Uh bad movies They're also into pinball. Uh bad movies I also discovered was one. So when we started our bells chapter, um it was something where like I ended up pulling a bunch of folks from our like this little community of movie mockers and that was how we found some of it. They were just like, "Oh, we're into pinball." And I'm like, "What? No way." And so like those folks came on over and so we have a bunch of folks who also really love bad movies. And then you've got you've had Manu on and Manu is also all about the bad movies and so and he is all about it. Um we watched this like weird Mad Max that we watched this like weird Mad Max that wasn't Mad Max last time on his uh you know Mr. Palt by the way. Shout out to man. But the one that reset the counter if But the one that reset the counter if I'm correct. Battle. Battle. Battle. Um Battle Trek reset the Battle. Um Battle Trek reset the counter. But he lets me do weird dumb movies on his channel, too, which is super fun. Uh, he let me make fun of cop he Yeah. Community. Um, you know, he I we had his stream watch Coprock. Um, we watched an episode of Coprock. I do feel like I need to watch 10 I do feel like I need to watch 10 episodes of Coprock now after job of selling it. You need to watch Coprock. It's amazing. You need to watch Coprock. It's amazing. And watch. It's amazing. You should. You should. Um, I don't know You should. You should. Um, I don't know if it's I think it's on YouTube. I'm not sure. I had to buy the DVD. Um, and then I gave it to my friend when she got married because that's a great wedding present. And yeah, fantastic. I'm likeing so like yeah, fantastic. I'm likeing so like happy congratulations on your wedding. Take this coprock DVD. And so I had to I bought I've bought episodes of copro not just once but twice. Um, and so that just shows cop commitment. that just shows cop commitment. I'm just committed to cop rock. Like the I'm just committed to cop rock. Like the collective that's great. How committed I am to the collective. Eh, I don't know. But cop rock commitment. Copro's for life. If this all went away, if the awesome If this all went away, if the awesome pinball collective disappeared, you'd still have cop rock and that's really what matters. I don't need like if pinball went away, I don't need like if pinball went away, if I didn't do bells or if I didn't do the collective like or if I didn't do like the rodeo or like travel pinball trophies. Yeah. Or 3D printed trophies. Like at Yeah. Or 3D printed trophies. Like at the end of the day, my life just boils down to like my commitment to watching cop rock. Like that's that's all that there is. So, well, on that note, well, on that note, anyway, yeah, anyway, yeah, I want to again I want to give a very I want to again I want to give a very on cop rock. on cop rock. Yeah, we're going out on cop rock. How Yeah, we're going out on cop rock. How could you not? Uh, I want to give another thank you again. Heartfelt thank you for giving sharing your time and your experience with the collective and sharing all of the necessary knowledge for everybody who's now terrified to go start their own collective cuz it sounds like it's a hell of a lot of work. It's going to be okay. It is so much. It's going to be okay. It is so much. It doesn't sound okay. This is not fine. It doesn't sound okay. This is not fine. This sounds like a nightmare. It It's gonna be fun. I promise. It's just It's gonna be fun. What matters is if you want to do it, do it with a team. Do it together. Don't do it alone. Don't do it alone. Don't do it alone. I mean, it's Here's the thing. It takes one person to have the hairbrained idea and be like, "Yeah, let's do it." It takes one person to start it and then it takes the rest of everybody to make sure it goes. And I was lucky enough to get to be one of those bonus people who was like, "Yeah, sure. I can help you out. And so, like, so here's the thing. You have a you have an option, people of the internet. You can be the one person who decides, "Fuck it. We're going to start this. We're going to do it." Or if you get approached by a person who says, "I want to do it." You have two choices. You can be like, "Nah, man. You're crazy." Or you can say, "Yes, I'm going to help." So, be a person that says, "Yes, I'm going to help." Be a me. Say yes to helping. Then, when somebody says like, "I want to set I want to have a bonfire in your living area." You can be the person who says no and do risk management. But like at the beginning, say yes. Say yes. Try it. The worst thing that happens is it doesn't work. Is Is that true about Mark Seiden Is Is that true about Mark Seiden wanting to make a cop rock pinball machine? Please tell me that's true. Yes, it's true. It is. No, it's 100% Yes, it's true. It is. No, it's 100% true. I have Are you serious? Well, I have Mark Are you serious? Well, I have Mark Seiden's coming up on the podcast. So, uh I'll ask him about that next So, uh I'll ask him about that next week. Ask him. Ask him. I love Mark and I love Ask him. Ask him. I love Mark and I love Aaron and I had so much fun when they came in to town for uh TPF and I was so excited to get to hang out with them and have a great time. They're wonderful people. I love them so much. I've heard Mark can tell a story so I'm I've heard Mark can tell a story so I'm I'm curious. Uh we'll see how that one goes. Yeah, I'm sure he can. He I mean he can. Yeah, I'm sure he can. He I mean he can. He's great and Aeron's great. They're great. Like it's really hard because I'm just kind of be like, man, everybody's great. Like Yeah. Um, like everybody's got something and uh I think that's what matters at the end of the day and for them it's going to be they can do and contribute. Confirmed right now. JJP's next game, Confirmed right now. JJP's next game, Coprog. Oh my god. Please, let's start that Oh my god. Please, let's start that rumor. Let's see how that goes. Please uh everybody go and follow uh Please uh everybody go and follow uh Rebecca on the Austin Pinball Collective uh social medias, email them, send out messages, do all that good stuff. Uh please check out Yeah. And then check out my Instagram Yeah. And then check out my Instagram and all those other good things. If you're already following me, fantastic. But if you're not, maybe think about it. Think about it right now. Um, as we do, if there's any anything Um, as we do, if there's any anything else, Rebecca, you want to plug, we're going to go raid because that's what we do. We raid people. Oh, man. Um, I don't know who's live Oh, man. Um, I don't know who's live right now. Oh, we'll find somebody. That's okay. Oh, we'll find somebody. That's okay. I'll take care of that. Oh, our channel. Um, I was like, we're Oh, our channel. Um, I was like, we're not live right now. Um, things that I can plug. Um, hair plugs in Turkey. You can do that. Um, but uh, oh, plug uh, drains. Um, but also uh, you can find Jordan and I whenever we stream um, on our Flipronic channel on Twitch. Uh, you can, um, find me on Instagram at BeexBex Rex. You can follow our amazing Bells chapter and all the crazy things that we do at Bells and Chimes Austin. Um, you go follow all these things if you're watching right now. Go follow all the things. Go check out Go follow all the things. Go check out the collective at Austin. It's like Austin Pinball Collective like.org. org, uh,gmail.com, on Twitch, um, on our socials, and I'll put all this in the and I'll put all this in the description, too, so people can find Google us a few times. Come visit us. Honestly, that's the big thing. People come to Austin all the time. Come visit us. Come play pick with us. Um, and at the end of the day, like, we got and at the end of the day, like, we got a donate button. You can do that, too. But like, really and truly, I'd rather have your money if you come visit us and buy a day pass. Um, come hang out. Actually play pinball. Actually play pinball. Oh yeah, we're here. Uh, Uh, thank you everybody for joining and thank you everybody for joining and watching and asking questions. Uh, if you're watching this on VOD later, uh, I don't know. Thanks. Come check us out. All praise the Great Pyramid. Rebecca, stick around so we can chat afterwards. All praise. Sounds great. Sounds great. Bye, everybody.