Episode 315: ClePin with Tommy Bizzi & Don Johnson

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·19m 56s·analyzed·Sep 9, 2021

Analysis

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TL;DR

ClePin organizers discuss Ohio's thriving pinball community and sixth annual Cleveland show.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Tommy Bizzi and Don Johnson, organizers of ClePin (Cleveland Pinball and Arcade Show), discussing the sixth annual event held September 9-12 in Independence, Ohio. The conversation covers tournament structure, the vibrant Ohio pinball community centered around Kid Force Collectibles and other venues, vendor participation, and seminars featuring notable figures like Keith Elwin and Scott Foreman's Oracle Pinball company.

Key Claims

ClePin is being held as the sixth annual event, skipping 2020 due to COVID
high confidence · Don Johnson states 'This would have been our seventh year, but we missed last year. So we are calling it our sixth annual Cleveland Pinball and Arcade Show.'
Kid Force Collectibles Pinball League peaked at 170 players pre-COVID and currently operates with 100-120 players
high confidence · Don Johnson: 'Pre-COVID, it was 170 players one of the biggest leagues in the country... But right now we're anywhere from 100 to 120 players'
The event had to turn away vendors due to overwhelming interest
high confidence · Don Johnson: 'we had turn away vendors because we had so much interest at the show this year'
ClePin will be a Stern Pro Circuit event again after being postponed in 2021
high confidence · Jeff Teolis: 'it will be a Stern Pro Circuit event because of how successful it has been in the past three-plus years'
Tommy Bizzi attends tournaments frequently whenever he's not working
high confidence · Jeff Teolis references Josh Sharp saying Tommy's name came up as 'somebody who's like, yeah, if he's not working and there's a tournament nearby, he's in it'

Notable Quotes

“It's the community, it's the players, it's the people. We all come together.”
Don Johnson @ ~18:00 — Emphasizes the collaborative community spirit that defines ClePin's success
“The people in the pinball community here in Ohio are awesome. They the nicest people. They do anything for you.”
Don Johnson @ ~28:00 — Highlights Ohio's reputation as a particularly welcoming and tight-knit pinball community
“If he's not working and there's a tournament nearby, he's in it.”
Jeff Teolis (referencing Josh Sharp's assessment) @ ~42:00 — Characterizes Tommy Bizzi as an exceptionally dedicated tournament competitor
“Pre-COVID, it was 170 players one of the biggest leagues in the country.”
Don Johnson @ ~25:00 — Establishes Kid Force Collectibles as a major pinball league by pre-pandemic standards
“When you can have a tournament right there on location and you don't have to drive anywhere and you've got everything within walking distance, those are the best.”
Jeff Teolis @ ~56:00 — Articulates key value proposition of ClePin's venue logistics

Entities

ClePineventKid Force CollectiblesorganizationTommy BizzipersonDon JohnsonpersonJeff Teolisperson Keith ElwinpersonScott ForemanpersonOracle PinballorganizationRob BurkepersonMarvinperson

Signals

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business_signal: Oracle Pinball (custom re-theming company) launching with significant vendor presence at ClePin, bringing ~20 machines including full re-theme project
medium · Don Johnson confirms Scott Foreman's Oracle Pinball is bringing machines and conducting seminar on custom theming
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community_signal: Ohio pinball community demonstrates exceptional health with multiple thriving venues (Kid Force Collectibles, Stonehenge, Super Electric, Level One) supporting 100-120 concurrent league players after COVID recovery from 170 pre-pandemic peak
high · Don Johnson reports 100-120 current Kid Force players, peak of 170 pre-COVID; multiple venues mentioned supporting active leagues
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community_signal: Post-COVID event recovery showing strong pent-up demand from vendors and participants; vendor spots sold out quickly
high · Don Johnson: 'we had turn away vendors because we had so much interest at the show this year'
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competitive_signal: Tommy Bizzi established as exceptionally prolific tournament competitor with habit of entering every available nearby tournament when not working
high · Jeff Teolis references Josh Sharp noting Tommy as someone 'if he's not working and there's a tournament nearby, he's in it'
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event_signal: ClePin (Cleveland Pinball and Arcade Show) announced as sixth annual event September 9-12, 2021 with record vendor interest and strong attendance expectations
high · Jeff Teolis confirms event dates and Don Johnson reports turning away vendors due to overwhelming interest

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.060

0:00

it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teal so you can find everything on pinballprofile.com all past episodes subscriptions and more we're also on twitter and instagram at pinball profile and you can email us pinballprofile at gmail.com don't forget to check out our Facebook group as well. You definitely want to check out Cleepin. It's a show I've been going to for years and years, and a couple of the organizers join us right now. Tommy Beasley and Don Johnson. Hey, Tommy. Hey, Don. Hey, Jeff. How are you doing? Good, good, good. It's nice to hear you guys. I've certainly missed you, and this is something I always circle on the calendar this second weekend in September, just outside of Cleveland in Independence, Ohio. You've got a great facility there, And I don't know how long the show has been around. I don't know how long you guys have been involved. Maybe a little history about Cleveland. Well, this would have been our seventh year, but we missed last year. So we are calling it our sixth annual Cleveland Pinball and Arcade Show. It's in Independence, Ohio. It's every year, one week after Labor Day. And we're doing the show this year. Now, the facility is great because if you haven't been there before, you've got some games kind of in the hallway and some unique vendors and stuff. You get in, you'll see the tournament right on the left-hand side, and there's a Classics, there's a Main, there's also a Women's Tournament that they've been doing for the past few years. And then this huge bank of games on FreePlay plus other vendors. So there's a lot to see and do there. We'll get to the vendors in a second, but Tommy, I know you're big into tournaments, and this is something that you look after. How has this tournament evolved over the years?

1:49

Evolving by more and more players coming in. Also, we started hosting the circuit events. Of course, this year we don't have it, but doing the Stern Circuit was also a great addition. And, of course, we incorporated with Papa and having Papa Games. That also, you know, increased a lot by having such, you know, superb games in there. You can't beat that. And we love having them there and having, you know, those games available and having top-notch games with top-notch players, being aware of that. So that's how it's growing and the word of mouth and just every year just getting bigger and bigger. And the way Don and the family and everyone does things, it's just, you know, it gets better every year. I have noticed that increase in the tournament as far as the number of players, the quality of play. And you did mention the Papa machines. I want to bring this up. People are like, well, wait a second, Papa is gone. Well, yes and no. I've already talked to Doug Polka and I was asking him if he was going to cleap in. And he said, yeah, I'm bringing a bunch of the games. And we've been seeing you post on Facebook some of the games that are going to be in the main and the classic events. And those are some of those machines that you're familiar with if you've been to Papa, if you've been to Pinberg. So, again, the quality even here in 2021 is going to be fantastic. So I like that you made that change. I mean, you guys know this. Whenever you run tournaments and you have a huge volume of play and multiple days, things are going to go wrong. So it doesn't matter how great that machine is, but you've got techs on hand and you've really, you know, kind of eliminated the machines being down. That downtime has really been reduced. Phenomenally. And, yeah, having that tech on site and even everyone is still there to help, whether they're even there to participate. You know, we still have players that are like, hey, I'll help you out. We'll help fix that game. Everyone with the community with this tournament and show all help out. And that's what makes it great. It's the community, it's the players, it's the people. We all come together. We come together when we're needed, whether it's helping scorekeep, fix a game, run an errand. Everyone's there to do something, and that's what makes it great. You know, it is easy to volunteer. Maybe you're not a great tech, and I'm certainly not, but I see that there's maybe some help needed here. And just to offer to Don, to Tommy, is there anything I can do? and it's easy to scorekeep, especially with the Never Drain software. And I know you're probably looking for some volunteers. Is that the case, Don? Yeah, that's the case. We're always looking for volunteers for scorekeeping. You get free tickets. I think in the years past, for every hour you do, you get, I think, five or nine tickets. But we appreciate everybody's time that goes into the tournament. It's a huge undertaking, the tournament. Like Tommy was saying, the quality of players and then putting that stuff together with the former Papa and Doug stepping up this year. But as far as scorekeepers, we always have volunteers, and we always like to have a bunch of people always walk up and just help if they want to help for an hour And it such a great community especially in Ohio because whether it Cleveland whether it Columbus I mean it Cincinnati We got Cincinnati later in the year as well Something I haven't been a part of, but I see it almost weekly, and it's really been a staple in Ohio. It's the Kid Force collectibles, Friday Night Knockouts, for example. There was one just this past week. Tell us about Kid Force collectibles and what's going on there because it looks like you've got a pretty cool collection. So we started Kid Force, I don't know, anywhere from like nine to ten years ago. And we started it because there was no place to play pinball, period. There was no place to go out and play pinball. You could have found one machine at a local pizza shop, but it was always broke down or something. So we had a little league that we went to each other's houses from guys like Marvin, who is my partner in this show, to Bill Pobega, to a bunch of guys that are local here. They had bigger collections. We go around and do that. And then we started, I walked into KidForce one day and I was just new to the area. And I was like talking to Joe Kiskis, who owns KidForce Collectibles. And I was like, you know, he's like, what do you collect? And I go, I collect pinball machines. And he goes, you want to put one in here? And we did. So fast forward, you know, a couple of years later, we had a league. It was 23 players and that was at our old shop. And then we ended up moving to a bigger location. And we have like 23 or 24 games at KidForce. Pre-COVID, it was 170 players. one of the biggest leagues in the country. And our first IFPA league will start again here right before the show. So we can kind of promote Kid Force Collectibles and Kid Force Pinball League during the show and having people come to the league. But right now we're anywhere from 100 to 120 players that come into Kid Force. And you get some great names, too. I know Steven Prusa shows up, both Johns, Delzoppo, and Tomczyk, Big John. Even Alexander Kismarczyk will make the trip from Pennsylvania because this is such a big event, and so many players are at KidForce Collectibles Pinball League. So it's nice to see that kind of coming up. And, again, we talk about Ohio. I know, Tommy, you were just recently at Trent Augenstein's big event that he had at Tilt Amusements. That looked like a lot of fun. It was. That was my first time doing it, and I missed the year before. And it was a great time. The games he had and how it was open and they kind of did camping. and I can't even explain the feeling it was. And I'm definitely going to go next year. And the two-day event he had, it ran great. I jumped in there a little bit. I had the programs for him and all that, helped him out, which was great. And that's what we do. We didn't expect it, and I'm like, nope, I'm here. I got you. Let's do this. That's what we do. We help each other out. And Trent does the same for me when I need him. So we're all here. So much pinball in Ohio. I got to tell you, I'm jealous. I mean, I know I live pretty close. If I could just get a boat some way, maybe that's how I can get across here because I'm on the same lake. I mean, it's really right there. A good stone throw. I might be able to skip it into the Cleveland area. But I do know that another event, too, Stonehenge, Akron, Ohio. What's that all about? That's Marvin. That's his location. He's got also 23 games there. We have leagues and knockouts going on there. We will be starting that up pretty soon. obviously for COVID it's just calmed down but we're ready to start getting that ramped up but he has a great collection there also and obviously he brings many of those games to the Cleveland show and like I said he's partnered with Don and they do that show together but you've got to make it down there also you got to hit all the spots you know for Cleveland and you know uh Akron and you know support Don and Marvin and everyone that is contributing to this pinball community and keeping these games up and running. If it wasn't for them, all the tech that they do and all the maintenance, you know, it would be hard to find such good games. But these guys keep it going for us and able for us to practice and learn and have something new and exciting. So they always get the latest stuff. And that's what we need around here. We've got to keep it going. We've got to support them, you know, come join the league. Even if it's one time, hey, anything, you know, it's just about being part of the community and being friends with people and learning a lot. We like to teach too. That's what we do. So with the local community here, it's a family and we try to make it a family. We all know each other. We're all approachable. If you need something with a tech problem or a part or something that you can't find or some advice on a game, we always are open to help and we try to make everybody feel welcome. I mean, that's the whole thing. At least the kid force, you have everybody from doctors and engineers to, you know, like me, a construction worker guy, you know what I'm saying? And we're all treated the same. Everybody, you know, gets along. I'm going to tell you, the community here in Ohio is one of the best communities out there. I been in bowling communities volley all the kind of community sports and stuff The people in the pinball community here in Ohio are awesome They the nicest people They do anything for you And, you know, I just wanted to add that. Are you guys born and raised in Ohio? I am. I'm born and raised in Cleveland my whole life. Okay. Tommy? I was born in Massachusetts and then lived in Hawaii and then came here. How long have you been there? Just about 10 years. Okay. So in the 10 years, I can only imagine you've seen just this growth. Like Don explained how kind of Kid Force came about, and there just wasn't anything going on, and things have grown and grown. Stonehenge has grown and grown. You've got the Kleepin show. I think of just places around Ohio where you can play. I know of Super Electric. I know of Level One. I know of Arcade Super Awesome. I'm probably forgetting some. And let's also not forget Rob Burke, the guy who runs Expo. He's there in Ohio as well, too. Every time I go to Cleapin, I always run into Rob Burke, too. Yeah.

11:37

And again, those tournaments going on. I remember seeing one tournament last year. We didn't even talk about this with Kim Martinez, who's now in South Carolina. I wonder, is she coming back up to help out? She is coming back to help out. Kim loves this tournament. She wants to make it one of the bigger tournaments in the United States. Her and Brianna Reynolds do an unbelievable amount of work behind the scenes to get that tournament going. But they have always been really awesome with the organization, and they've done a satellite tournament with the Southern Fried Expo down in Atlanta, where one of the organizers, I think, donated a flight for the winner of that tournament to come up to Clee Pin. They're tirelessly always asking questions and thinking of new ideas and doing things to improve the women's tournament at the sale. And again, Cleapin is not all about tournaments. The tournaments are top-notch, as Tommy mentioned. It is part of the Stern Pro Circuit. Not here in 2021, but then nothing really is because those have been postponed to 2022. Still the same size, still a massive event, and it will be a Stern Pro Circuit event because of how successful it has been in the past three-plus years. But it's not just about tournaments. There's that whole free player. There's the vendors as well. We'll get to that in a second. But one thing that this show has is seminars too. The last one I went to, I'm positive I saw Keith Elwin do a seminar on his latest game, and you've got seminars again this year. Tommy does a how-to-play-pinball thing. There's great maintenance and repair tips, too. And Scott Foreman's got something going on. The good, the bad, the ugly, creating your dream theme. What's that going to be about? So Scott has started a company called Oracle Pinball, and I think he's out of Streetsboro. This is the first time I ever talked to Scott was the first year. he's bringing something like 20 machines to the show and he has done everything from redone games to creating whatever theme that you want to like there i think there's going to be a game i don't want to i don't want to give away all the secrets but there's going to be a game that's a full re-theme um from the original with new artwork new everything that he's bringing this year and i think that's what his seminar is going to be about fully again i don't want to give away everything that's going to be on that seminar. But, you know, Scott's been a great guy to deal with, and, you know, I'm excited to have him at the show this year. Again, as we talk about the show, it's just not tournaments. It's a big, big show, lots of vendors and stuff. But another one of those seminars, you've got Brian Allen coming, and you want to talk about some incredible artistry. He is one of the finest, for sure. So Brian did our shirt this year. They had done the Pin Brew shirt, and Marvin being my partner in the show, I was like, hey, I like your shirt. Let's figure it out. And who did you use? And he's like, I used Brian Allen. And Brian was great to deal with. He will have a table at the show also selling some artwork and the alternate translates that he makes. I'm very excited about this shirt this year. Let's talk about the vendors because I always go around the different shows and see what's available. And I don't know what it's been like for the vendors over, obviously, the last 18 months. But I would imagine these vendors have been just dying to get out into the open again. and certainly that's the case here at Klee Pin just to see people and show their specialties and what not so what can we expect So to add to what you just said we had turn away vendors because we had so much interest at the show this year But we have vendors like Tilt Oracle Pinball Diddy Mods Lease Parts Canfield Pinball Company, Stern, Thomas Music and Game, Video Game Connection, Brian Allen is going to be there. I mean, the Fudge guy, I remember people always liked the Fudge every year when they came to the show. But there's a lot of vendors and a lot of different kind of vendors, something kind of for everybody. We also have a place called Top Level Gaming. They're going to set up a whole Smash Brothers tournament and play area for the kids because we're big on families at this show. But the vendor list was just growing and growing, and it went so fast this year for vendor spots. And then I'm like, oh, God, I forgot about this guy. He comes every year. You know, it's been a year or two since we've done this show, but we got it all together. And, yeah, we are full for vendors also. And as you can probably imagine, you're going to get to see some machines maybe you haven't seen in a while. There have been a lot released in the last 18 months. And if you're in a certain area where those machines don't show up, you'll probably get to see them out on the free play floor. Tommy, I want to ask you, because Tommy's a very competitive player. Not that you aren't, Don. You certainly are as well, too. But I know Tommy is. Tommy's never met a tournament he didn't like. Let's be honest. Hey, last time I checked, I was higher in the ranks than Tommy was. Oh, Tommy, take that. Hold on. Let me look. Hold on. I think the last time us three played, me, you, and Jeff, I think I won that dollar game. So I think I'm out right there. I didn't put myself in there. I'll stand back. I know who's better. Hey, Tommy, I don't want to bring up Iowa State Championship. That's all. Oh, hold on a second here. You're right. You know what, Don? I stand corrected. I'm looking at the player versus player. Tommy versus Don. Tommy, you've got 37 wins against Don. Too bad he's got 73. Okay. What? Yep. So Don. Yeah, I mean, those are league wins. I can't go to league wins. I can't go to championships. Okay. What I was looking at, though, Don, I wasn't looking at who's more successful. What I was talking about was how often people play in tournaments. And Tommy is, I think I talked to Josh Sharp about this one time. I was thinking, I have to be up there as somebody who plays a lot of tournaments. I know Trent certainly is. And I think your name, Tommy, came up as somebody who's like, yeah, if he's not working and there's a tournament nearby, he's in it. And so, again, because you play so much, what's it like now that you're back into these tournaments and you were just at Tilt and they had some new games there? Hell yeah. How is it for you on the new games? Because that's a huge learning curve.