Episode 401: Abe Flips

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·13m 2s·analyzed·Jul 31, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Abe Flips launches wildly successful Kickstarter for 'Mastering Pinball' 90-min instructional video.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Abe Seidler (Abe Flips), an Austrian pinball content creator who recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for a 90-minute instructional video titled 'Mastering Pinball: In-Depth Skills and Strategies.' Abe discovered pinball in 2019 through restoring his grandfather's Williams Fire machine and went on to create highly-regarded tutorial videos during COVID. The Kickstarter campaign exceeded its $8,000 goal within days, reaching $16,000 with stretch goals included by day three.

Key Claims

Abe Seidler discovered pinball in 2019 when his grandfather gave him an old Williams Fire machine from his cellar
high confidence · Direct statement from Abe about his origin story; verified personal narrative
The Kickstarter campaign for 'Mastering Pinball' reached its $8,000 goal on day one and $16,000 with stretch goals by day three
high confidence · Abe directly stated the funding milestones in response to Jeff's question about campaign feedback
Keith Elwin's 'Pinball 101' instructional material is approximately 20-30 years old, released on Betamax
high confidence · Abe stated this as context for why new tutorials are needed; humorously noted the age/format
The 'Mastering Pinball' video is approximately two-thirds completed as of the interview date
high confidence · Jeff mentioned Abe had already recorded two-thirds of the content
IFPA 20 (20th IFPA World Pinball Championship) will be held in Austria around June 2025
high confidence · Jeff stated this directly; aligns with the video release timeline

Notable Quotes

“I always wanted to dig deeper and know tiny things, which are very important, I know now... I felt there's a need for deeper tutorials”
Abe Seidler @ ~10:30-11:00 — Explains Abe's motivation for creating detailed instructional content; demonstrates his philosophy of breaking down implicit knowledge
“on day one we got the goal of eight thousand dollars and on day day three we reached sixteen thousand dollars with all the stretch goals included so it was a roller coaster for me”
Abe Seidler @ ~13:30 — Documents the exceptional success of the Kickstarter campaign; shows rapid community adoption
“I think it will be a state-of-the-art techniques video. And Pinball 101 is a little bit old right now... I think a new tutorial is good and it will be very deep”
Abe Seidler @ ~15:00-15:30 — Articulates the value proposition of the new video as modernization of aging instructional material
“somehow they weren't able to explain stuff. So like you said, they just play and know what to do. So it wasn't me to find all the explanation for that”
Abe Seidler @ ~21:30 — Identifies the gap that Abe Flips content fills: translating implicit expert knowledge into teachable concepts
“why it's important for virtual pinball is really the physics of the ball... when you play new tables, some are programmed very well. So it's very hard to distinguish between a real machine”
Abe Seidler @ ~26:00-27:00 — Indicates the 1000 FPS camera work has applications beyond physical pinball players; relevant for virtual pinball physics programming

Entities

Abe SeidlerpersonJeff Teolisperson Abe FlipsorganizationJohannes OstermeyerpersonScott Deniseperson Pinball Profilemedia Keith ElwinpersonWilliams Firegame

Signals

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community_signal: Kickstarter campaign demonstrates strong community demand for advanced pinball instruction content; exceeded $8,000 goal on day one, reaching $16,000 with stretch goals by day three
high · Abe stated: 'on day one we got the goal of eight thousand dollars and on day day three we reached sixteen thousand dollars with all the stretch goals included'
?
event_signal: IFPA 20 (20th IFPA World Pinball Championship) scheduled for Austria in June 2025, coinciding with 'Mastering Pinball' video release and providing major visibility event for content
high · Jeff stated: 'the world comes to your neck of the woods. In Austria, IFPA 20 is going to be there'
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community_signal: Abe Seidler transitioning from niche tutorial content creator to major educational content producer with celebrity collaborators (Johannes Ostermeyer, Scott Denise, Jeff Teolis)
high · Kickstarter features high-profile collaborations; Jeff noted Abe's rapid rise from learning pinball in 2019 to master-level content creation
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announcement: Abe Seidler officially announced 'Mastering Pinball: In-Depth Skills and Strategies,' a 90-minute instructional video with high-speed 1000 FPS cinematography targeting June 2025 release
high · Direct announcement by Abe with Jeff confirming details; Kickstarter campaign already live and exceeding funding goals
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technology_signal: High-speed 1000 FPS slow-motion cinematography being applied to pinball education and physics analysis; potential applications for virtual pinball physics programming

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.039

0:00

it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teels you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we've got a great facebook group as well we're on twitter instagram x at pinball profile if you want to email pinballprofile at gmail.com you can do so and if you'd like to show your support. It is not necessary. It is certainly very welcome. And I can't thank you enough. Great people like Rodney C, Lua W, Tony V, Bart V, and others. That's at patreon.com slash pinball profile. Again, thank you for your support. So you may have seen this little Kickstarter campaign that has just exploded. And I'm not surprised because of the high quality of the videos that you get to see all the time from our next guest. You know him from Abe Flips. It's Abe Seidler. Abe, how you doing? Hey, Jeff. Thanks for having me. I'm very hyped. I bet you are because in pretty much one day of you announcing this Kickstarter campaign, it exploded. And we'll talk about that. The story of how you got into pinball is kind of fascinating because, you know, a bunch of us have been playing pinball for years and years and years. you really discovered the hobby in 2019 what got you into pinball yeah as a kid i was playing a little bit and i was really fascinated there's just not many pinball here in austria and it was very expensive for us to play so i was very excited when i get a coin from my mother but i always felt bad because one game is so expensive i knew that and it was in my mind for yeah quite a long time but you know since there are no games here I kind of forget about it and like in 2019 my grandpa got an old machine from his cellar here to my place and it was a Williams fire and it didn't work well so I've had to work on it and my son was watching me and it was exciting to get it to work as soon as it worked it was just amazing you know shooting the ramps and stuff and the mechanical excitement it's really great so yeah that's how i get into got into pinball and later i bought a stern with my son it was the ghostbusters machine and that was just the best thing happened yeah and then covid hits and i was alone at home with my son so i got no contact to other pinball players and I didn't knew nothing about anything. That's just five short years and yes it went from Williams Fire to Ghostbusters Pro then COVID and luckily in Austria you've got a great distributor there in RS Pinball and Stefan Riedler. There is more exposure now but yeah COVID kind of shuts you down and what amazes me is that you got really good at pinball and you decided to make these videos during COVID and they great In fact I seen every single one of them Probably a lot of top players have as well and even casual players What your video background to make you go and do something like this I wanted to get better and I was asking on Pinside questions you know, technical questions, how to play and stuff. And the answers weren't very satisfying for me. I always wanted to dig deeper and know tiny things, which are very important, I know now. so I bought a pinball 101 from Keith Alvin and it was great but still I didn't understood how to and everything like that so I felt there's a need for deeper tutorials and that's where I get into it and I dove into it and I talked to people I got on tilt forums and talked to the best players in the world that was amazing I got good feedback from them and yeah so it all started I felt like there's a high demand on tutorials for sure and the original Abe flips how-to videos whether it's nudging drop catching whatever skill set you have alley passes they're very short you know between two and three minutes and you can get a real good tip and and some lessons to practice which I've done by watching you too I just didn't know that you were so inexperienced and you got so good so quickly. I remember, in fact, seeing you at Pinclash, Carl D'Angelo's wonderful thing that he did doing COVID and you excelled at that as well. But now this is a whole new level. You've got this Kickstarter campaign, you're making a 90 minute video, and I'm sure you're surprised day one, the feedback on Kickstarter is just overwhelming. And this goes until early August. Tell me how you feel about the feedback of this Kickstarter campaign. yeah it was amazing i mean on day one we got the goal of eight thousand dollars and on day day three we reached sixteen thousand dollars with all the stretch goals included so it was a roller coaster for me i got a lot of messages and i tried to be active on the forums and the feedback was just great i think also because of the collaboration with with johannes Ostermeyer, Scott Denise, and you for the voiceover. That was awesome. And I think, yeah, that got people hooked. So I'm excited to make this happen. I was very flattered to be included in this, and for my small part. But what you do, you got Johannes, you got the cyborg there, the two-time champ. I mean, I would love to see what he's got to offer. And of course, Scott Denise's music has always been wonderful. So a dream team for this 90-minute Kickstarter video that you've got that's going to come out in probably June of next year. But you've already been working on a lot of it. And I know I think you mentioned two-thirds of it's already recorded. Yeah. Tell us about why this video is going to be so important for people to have. I think it will be a state-of-the-art techniques video. And Pinball 101 is a little bit old right now. I think it's like 20 or 30 years old. I think it came out on Betamax Oh You joking Yeah so I think a new tutorial is good and it will be very deep So I hope I can satisfy every need for enthusiasts Also, yeah, tournaments will be included. And classics. Yeah, and classics, of course. Yes, I learned to enjoy classics. I didn't know anything about classics and I really learned to enjoy it. The mechanics are different and rule sets are different. So that's another cool thing to have. There's a game I've never really been a fan of and it's called Future Spa.

7:06

How many inlanes do you possibly need? That's one thing. But it's that little gap on the right-hand side just below the pop bumper that kills me every single time until I saw your video. And you do this little shimmy that gets it out of there. And if you've got that ball rolling on the right-hand side coming down and it's about to hit the hole you do this little move that i never did until i saw your videos i feel great about future spawn now thank you abe yeah first off you have to get the ball rolling most of the time it bounces that's the problem so make sure to always nudge when the ball makes contact with the rubber so the ball will bounce a little bit higher and you can react but you know you you're a much better player than i so i don't know about that yeah i'm sure i'm true. Another simple thing too that I love about your videos is how you analyze the angles of ball travel and ball speed is something you talk about and what flipper range you have when the ball is moving faster. These are little things that might come naturally to some people, but when you explain it, it certainly makes a lot more sense and it's something to look forward to when you're practicing at home, when you're playing in a league, maybe you're playing in a tournament. These are just some of the great tips that you're going to find and continue to find with Abe Flips. Thanks. That's a good point. I was talking to a lot of good players and somehow they weren't able to explain stuff. So like you said, they just play and know what to do. So it wasn't me to find all the explanation for that. So that's another different thing, which is very exciting and I enjoy it. Yeah, some of the elite players just see things that we can't see, but when you break it down, it makes it a lot easier for all of us to maybe catch up to some of those greats someday, or at least get a little closer and improve our game. And certainly it makes pinball more fun, the deeper you get into games and even the ability to make shots. There's one great video where you talk about practicing aim. Say it's a left ramp or something like that, and it feeds to the right flipper try making that shot five times in a row the ball will probably come at different speeds and whatnot but those are good practice tips yeah that's what got me on the early days i noticed i can't hit the ramp every time and somehow the timings are changing and i i want to find out what the problem so yeah again about that 1000 fps camera the super slow cams we saw that video years ago In fact I think it won a Twippy for best video That something that very unique But really you get to see how the flipper reacts You get to see how the ball moves. Tell us why that's important for you to have this special slow-mo camera. Yeah, that's one of the coolest things about the tutorial. I'm looking forward to it. I hope that we can see stuff which wasn't known until yet. also it might be interesting for virtual pinball because they see how the ball reacts and they can program it i never thought about that because virtual pinball is fun because it looks great the rules are usually the same especially on the old pinball arcade and things like that but why it's important for virtual pinball is really the physics of the ball yeah exactly when you play new tables, some are programmed very well. So it's very hard to distinguish between a real machine. Of course, it's not the same, but you have to point out during gameplay what is different. And it's already hard to say what is different. So yeah, that's a good way, I think. And it's getting better. The goal is we should see this video by about June 2025, which by the way, is almost the same time frame that the world comes to your neck of the woods. In Austria, IFPA 20 is going to be there. So again, there'll be a lot of people watching your videos leading up to that. It's going to be fun in Austria when that happens. Oh yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. That's really exciting. People know me on the tournaments and stuff and it's a very strange feeling. The video again is called Mastering Pinball, in-depth skills and strategies. And I think you might have asked me to voice that in my Odin voice from Legends of Valhalla. So maybe I should redo that again. Mastering pinball in-depth skills and strategies. Is that better, Abe? Is that okay? That sounds awesome. Great, man.