052: So you think you want to start a pinball collective

TL;DR

PRPHQ operators share lessons from building a 36-machine pinball collective in 6 months, highlighting costs, volunteer dynamics, and why it can't succeed alone.

Summary

Key Claims

• PRPHQ started in November 2025 and officially opened memberships in December, growing from 16-17 to 36 machines

  high confidence · Stephanie and Mike discussing timeline and current machine count

• Monthly membership fee is $30, comparable to Netflix, and league/tournament attendance is 20-30+ players

  high confidence · Stephanie and Mike discussing membership pricing and tournament attendance numbers

• Running the collective requires approximately 50-60 hours per week of combined volunteer labor across machine maintenance, cleaning, and event management

  medium confidence · Mike and Stephanie estimating total volunteer hours including Jeff's tech work, cleaning, repairs

• Snow removal costs approximately $250 per event and the facility experienced 5 snow events in the winter, totaling $750-$1000+ unexpectedly

  high confidence · Stephanie discussing surprise expenses, mentioning two big snows in one month cost $500

• Gas heating bills for the limestone building were $235-240 in a single month during cold weather

  high confidence · Stephanie discussing utility costs prior to recent price increases

• The facility was formerly a turtle hatchery and is located in a converted 1800s train depot building that was physically moved via mule and pulley

  high confidence · Mike and Stephanie describing the unique building history and current location

• Some hardcore pinball tournament players from Champaign and Peoria have not joined despite heavy tournament participation, surprising the operators

  high confidence · Stephanie expressing surprise at non-membership of regular tournament players, despite low cost

• The collective was sparked by Zach Morey's suggestion to formalize existing community pinball gatherings into a collective model similar to ORD in Chicago

  high confidence · Mike and Stephanie recounting the origin story and Zach's role

Notable Quotes

• “The problem we were trying to solve was we kept losing our locations for pinball tournaments in central Illinois between Bloomington lost our main place and for a year Mike and I were driving about an hour west to Peoria”

  Stephanie @ early segment — Explains the core problem that motivated founding PRPHQ—venue instability and long travel distances

• “You can't do it by yourself. No. You need a village. Yeah. You need a village. You need at least a few people.”

  [name withheld pending review] @ mid-segment discussing time commitment — Core lesson emphasized multiple times: collective operation requires distributed volunteer labor

• “This is a passion project. This is like this. And I hope that this podcast doesn't come across as like we're complaining about any of this because like we signed up to do this and like this was never meant to be. It's meant to be a pinball collective, a community space, like a third space for our friends to come together and play pinball and hang out together.”

  Stephanie @ closing financial discussion — Clarifies foundational motivation is community, not profit; reframes cost discussion as transparency, not complaint

• “Is this something someone should do to make money? God, no. No. No, this is a passion project.”

  Mike @ final question segment — Explicit warning that pinball collectives are not viable profit ventures

• “It's like a little bit of a speakeasy. ... I know we both really want to, like, we're like holding ourselves back from promoting this bigger in a way.”

  Stephanie @ membership discussion — Reveals intentional restraint in marketing/growth—collective maintaining organic, tight-knit community character

• “We have found several new members that, like, I really never anticipated that would be members, like just people that disappeared out of the ether, sort of, where they found it on pinball maps or whatever, and now they're members.”

  Stephanie @ membership discussion — Notes unexpected discovery through Pinball Map; membership spans both known community and discovery

Entities

Signals

• ?

  community_signal: PRPHQ established as formal pinball collective addressing venue instability in central Illinois; model driven by community problem-solving rather than commercial venture

  high · Stephanie explains: 'The problem we were trying to solve was we kept losing our locations for pinball tournaments in central Illinois'; founded after losing Landmark Lanes to building sale

• ?

  venue_signal: PRPHQ expanded from 1 suite to 2 adjacent suites within first month; rapid expansion to accommodate machine growth and buffer against neighbor conflicts

  high · Mike: 'We decided to take over the space next to us because it became available... Part of it was for more space for more pinball machines because we were kind of a little nuts to butts in the original suite'

• ?

  operational_signal: Collective operates on distributed volunteer labor with specialized roles: Jeff and CJ handle complex repairs, Kevin and others do maintenance/cleaning, Shelly manages logistics—estimated 50-60 hours/week total

  high · Mike and Stephanie discuss requiring 'a village' with specific skill tiers; Jeff provides unpaid tech support; estimated 50-60 hours/week when summed across members

• ?

  product_concern: Heavy public play is causing rapid rubber degradation; three rubber failures in 1.5 weeks (Walking Dead, Fall of the Empire, Black Knight SOAR) versus typical slow degradation at home

  high · Stephanie: 'If it's just a home game like that takes a long time before you get enough plays to where the rubbers are just snapping in half, typically... we've had like a rubber on The Walking Dead broke and a sling rubber on FALL of the Empire broke'

• ?