Episode 7: Steven Bowden, Fun With Bonus

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·14m 5s·analyzed·Nov 29, 2016

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Steve Bowden interview: top player, Fun With Bonus curator, emphasizes patience and math in pinball mastery.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Steve Bowden, a top-ranked pinball player and operator of Fun With Bonus, a daily pinball news aggregation website. Bowden discusses his entry into pinball at a young age, his featured ESPN magazine appearance, the role of math in competitive play, tournament experiences, and his favorite games (Spider-Man and Twilight Zone). He emphasizes patience as the key skill for improving at pinball and reflects on notable tournament victories that launched his competitive circuit involvement.

Key Claims

Steve Bowden was featured in ESPN the Magazine article about pinball
high confidence · Direct statement by Bowden confirming ESPN photo shoot experience at Pinberg
Fun With Bonus has posted daily pinball content since July 1, 2012
high confidence · Bowden explicitly states 'Posting every day since July 1, 2012'
Walking Dead pinball improved significantly with new code and Premium version features (weapons button)
high confidence · Bowden detailed personal experience: 'That all changed when New Code came out and also when Walking Dead Premium... it changed everything'
Steve Bowden has over 100 IFPA victories
high confidence · Jeff states 'Steve, you've got over a hundred IFPA victories' without contradiction from Bowden
Mathematical analysis and angles/geometry are essential skills in competitive pinball
high confidence · Bowden's teaching background and detailed explanation of how math influences shot selection and ball control
Modern Pinball in New York has a highly regarded league envied by other locations
medium confidence · Jeff states 'Their league is the envy of many places' and Bowden confirms positive experience
Bowden's breakthrough tournament win was against Keith Elwin at Northwest show on Jackpot/Casino Run
high confidence · Bowden recounts specific match details: 'I was playing against Keith Elwin in Jackpot, and I had to use Casino Run to beat him, and I had to do it mathematically'
Pinball resurgence is ongoing and growing awareness among general public
high confidence · Bowden notes public still discovering new pinball games through recognizable licenses like Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Ghostbusters

Notable Quotes

“Patience. That's it. Really? Patience is the watchword, because what happens is, I mean, if you find you're not doing well in a game, you get excited and you're not, you know, you get frustrated, you're really not going to do well.”
Steve Bowden @ near end of interview — Core advice on skill development; identifies emotional control as critical to competitive success
“Spider-Man is my favorite game, period, the end. That's like the 1 and 1A, and those can switch depending on which one I'm playing at the time sometimes.”
Steve Bowden @ mid-interview — Establishes Bowden's primary game preference and favorite (Spider-Man); Spider-Man referenced in ESPN article
“funwithbonus.com is my little pinball corner of the internet... it's more like an aggregation of the pinball news that happens in the scene that I can find, and also a mixture of some stuff that I like to create”
Steve Bowden @ mid-interview — Describes the mission and function of Fun With Bonus website
“Everything puts the ball in danger, which is also good because what it does is it makes you make a decision that could be your last... When New Code came out and also when Walking Dead Premium... that changed everything”
Steve Bowden @ mid-interview — Documents significant improvement in Walking Dead gameplay through code updates and Premium version features
“I literally had to look at his score, jot his score down, go into Casino Run, and then slowly add up, okay, am I past him?”
Steve Bowden @ near end — Illustrates mathematical approach to competitive play and strategic scoring

Entities

Steve BowdenpersonJeff TeolispersonFun With BonusorganizationPinball ProfileorganizationModern PinballorganizationESPN the MagazineorganizationKeith Elwinperson Sunshine LaundromatorganizationPinbergevent

Signals

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community_signal: ESPN the Magazine features pinball players including Steve Bowden, indicating growing mainstream media interest in competitive pinball
high · Bowden recounts ESPN photo shoot and feature article experience at Pinberg event
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community_signal: Dedicated pinball news aggregation website (Fun With Bonus) has sustained daily content posting for 12+ years, indicating strong community engagement infrastructure
high · Bowden maintains fun-with-bonus.com posting daily since July 1, 2012; featured on Pinball Profile as badge of honor
?
competitive_signal: Orbit and loop shot execution is high-value competitive skill, particularly on games like Attack from Mars; mastering these shots provides significant pressure on opponents
medium · Jeff and Bowden discuss orbit expertise as competitive advantage: 'the guy's the king at hitting those things' on orbits
?
product_strategy: Walking Dead pinball received code updates and Premium version features (weapons button) that significantly improved gameplay and player experience
high · Bowden detailed transition from frustration to enjoyment: 'That all changed when New Code came out and also when Walking Dead Premium... it changed everything'
~
sentiment_shift: Game difficulty perception shifts from negative to positive once player masters rules and strategies; games improve in appeal after initial learning curve
high · Bowden's Walking Dead journey: initially frustrated by drains and ball danger, later appreciated after learning weapons system and mastering strategy

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.042

0:00

Fun, fun, fun, to the daddy takes the team in a way. Fun, fun, fun. Thanks for listening to Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teelis. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter at Pinball Profile. Today, we're talking to one of the greatest players in the world, also one of the nicest, too, Steve Bowden. How are you doing, Steve? I'm doing well. How are you doing, Jeff? Things are good. I've got to ask you a bunch of questions. So, first of all, how did you get hooked into pinball? Well, I got hooked into pinball when I was really young. I mean, I was taking trips to my local flea market with my parents, and they would give me money to go to the arcade and I would play some of the arcade games. And then I noticed, you know, a certain other type of game over there that I didn't know what it was. And so I tried putting quarters in that and it turned out to be a pinball game. But I don't remember which one was my first game. I'm not sure what it was, but I noticed I was having much more fun with that than I was playing Centipede and Gallagher and those games, even though I still played them. You know, I got hooked on pinball at that point. And then it was just on and off of me playing pinball as I was younger, you know, coming up and just kept playing. And it's just at some point I just wanted to discover where are all the games in my state because I'm in New Jersey. You know, I figured, okay, where are all these games? There's got to be some more games than what I've been playing. And that's when I really discovered about where the leagues were and really got involved. You know, you talk about playing in your youth. And I think of when I did it, whether it was a bowling alley or something like that, then pinball machines went away for a long time until on Facebook. Somebody said there was a pinball league. And I went, what's a pinball league? I haven't seen one since the mid to late 90s. and then just this resurgence, which we've seen certainly in this century and in the last few years. It's been fantastic. Oh, definitely. I mean, definitely the resurgence has been quick and has been aggressive. But not everyone knows about the resurgence. You still find people who are saying, oh, they still make those games. You know, definitely. Is it Oakland Ball? What do you mean they still make new ones? What do you mean there's one on Ghostbusters? So you start mentioning things like Game of Thrones and Walking Dead and licenses that they'll recognize, and they say, wait a minute, Where can I play these games? I remember pinball back in the day. I want to go play these games. And then you point them to a local arcade and then hopefully get them hooked on it. Well, Steve, people are going to know about it, too, because of the recent ESPN, the magazine article. You were featured in that. And I know they did a lot of that information. They gathered from Pinberg. What was that experience like with ESPN? Oh, that was a very interesting experience. And I was playing some games at Pinberg. All of a sudden, I was asked, hey, you want to do a feature for ESPN? And I'm like, ESPN? Sure, fine. No problem. And then we go in there to this photo shoot where they're taking all sorts of different pictures, close angles, far angles, and you'll see the angle that you see in the photo shoot where we're all sort of like linebackers. But essentially we're standing there in our pinball stances, and so they asked us to just stand there and imagine we were playing our favorite game. So that's kind of where those poses came from. It looks sort of silly, but I guess ESPN photographs people with, I guess, and they're posing without their equipment. I guess in our case, the equipment is the pinball game itself, so I guess that makes sense. And, you know, I looked at my caption, and it's a little bit wrong, and I guess I'll make a clarification on that on my site. That'll be fun. But if you notice the clarification there, it says that I learned how to play on Spider-Man at the flea market. That's almost right.

4:32

Well, posts don't tend to score points unless there's certain posts. But, I mean, you know, with big buck country, you have that giant post called the buck there. But on one game where I happened to play, I did get pretty lucky with that buck where I would hit him over and over and he wasn't draining me like he's designed to. So part of it is fortunate play, but other parts of it can be reacting and also recovering well when you miss or when you make a shot that is supposed to put the ball out of control as well. Steve, you get to play in several tourneys all over the country. Do you think these tourneys and the constant competition have made you a better player? I mean, definitely it's gotten me less nervous when I play. I remember when I used to play when I was getting started in tournaments, and it wasn't really nerves, it was just more excitement. But then once you get used to it, it's not like the excitement goes away, but the nerves go away really quickly. I mean, you know, I'm playing the same game that I usually play and maybe just sit up harder. But, you know, once you get used to the situation of play and, you know, you've been through this situation before, just hit this shot. If you don't hit this shot, try this shot. Go through the rule set. Stay with the plan. And, you know, it'll work out as long as you stay centered and stay in control and stay concentrating. Steve, a lot of us, like myself, follow you on Fun With Bonus, the website, Facebook, and also Twitter. Tell us about Fun With Bonus. Well, funwithbonus.com is my little pinball corner of the internet. The funny thing is I've heard other people describe my site better than I have. When I see what people say what my site is, I say, oh, okay, let's go with that. That's the ticket. But really, if I were to break it down, it's more like an aggregation of the pinball news that happens in the scene that I can find, and also a mixture of some stuff that I like to create and other things that I find on the internet. Posting every day since July 1, 2012. 12. So, I mean, it was just one day I just decided, you know, if I'm going to be dedicated to this site, I'm just going to post every day about pinball or something, just to keep everything up and running. And one thing that happens is it keeps me in the scene and it never gets boring. I mean, you know, you post every day and it seems like a chore or something, but no, not really. It's really just fun to find out things that are happening and keep me, you know, concentrating on the scene and what's going on. But I guess as far as what My site really is, it's an aggregation of pinball, and I like doing it. It is everything pinball, and I got a few texts from some of my buddies instantly. When we first started doing Pinball Profile, they're like, Steve's got you on his site, and it was almost like a badge of honor so I appreciate your support with Pinball Profile too Absolutely When I found it I saw the link I think it was on SoundCloud I was like oh really Okay Oh I know Jeff I play Jeff Let's see what's going on. And I really like the format. Like, the short conversations, getting there, it's punchy, it's exciting, and it's in-depth. And also looking at some of the other, listening to some of the other interviews you had on that site there. Like, we're seeing punk and things like that. So I was like, oh, this is excellent. You spend a lot of time at Modern Pinball in New York. That is a great place. Their league is the envy of many places. I personally wish I was in New York. I was able to go once in January and just fell in love. Oh, definitely. I definitely like going up there. I mean, I'm a Jersey boy, so it takes me about an hour and a half to two hours, depending on traffic, to get there. But, you know, I definitely love playing there. They have all great games there that I kept up in shape and playing well. And also some of the other places that are in New York City, like, you know, if you've been to Sunshine Laundromat, that's a great place. Yeah, I know, but I haven't been there. Oh, man, if you have the opportunity, you must go there. I mean, any place that has a Big Bang Bar en route running next to a washer dryer or in the next room, you have to see it. Wow. So, you know, just places like that that are really proving that pinball is coming back in a big way, and it's not coming back, it is back. It's just getting more people out and seeing that it's back and seeing how exciting it is and how fun it is to, not even just in competition, just to hang out with a few of your buddies and play pinball. Steve, it's probably hard to pinpoint your favorite game, but maybe there's one you've played the most. Well, I can tell you my favorite is Spider-Man, period, the end. Oh, okay. That's one. That's why it's mentioned in the ESPN article incorrectly.

9:34

Shots off the prison, I would go down, were frustrating. Everything puts the ball in danger, which is also good because what it does is it makes you make a decision that could be your last. If you have the ball cradled, it's like, okay, what am I going to do that's going to give me the most opportunity for points because I might not get this back. That all changed when New Code came out and also when Walking Dead Premium. I played that because that one has the button. It has the weapons you can use, and it changes the entire game because what it does is if you have the right weapon, like if you have first aid or if you have food, what you can do is you can change the entire game and make it to the advantage of the player. You can essentially be, say, one hit away from multiball, and you know you have first aid, and all you have to do is, as soon as you drain, just hit the button, and you've got multiball started. So what does that mean That means you basically invincible You can do anything you want in the game The power is all on you to decide when you want to start multiball or how dangerous you want to be because the danger is gone You have the weapons and it changed everything That when you know Walking Dead Premium really became a good favorite for me because you earned that power If you can get to that point it because you earned it. Steve, you've got over a hundred IFPA victories and so many over the years. Is there a favorite victory or certainly accomplishment? Wow, I guess it wouldn't be, let's see, a favorite victory or accomplishment. I don't know. I guess it would be, let's see, One, back in the day, I guess when I first started getting into the circuit, I think I was at Northwest. I was at the Northwest show, and it was a win that got me into the finals. I was playing against Keith Elwin in Jackpot, and I had to use Casino Run to beat him, and I had to do it mathematically. I literally had to look at his score, jot his score down, go into Casino Run, and then slowly add up, okay, am I past him? I'm not sure yet. Am I past him? Purposely train the ball so I can look at the score, and then continue, and then finally pass him and then cash out and win. But that only got me past that level. I mean, that only got me to the finals, but I didn't win the finals. But what essentially that did is that got me involved into the circuit. It really got me involved into flying to Chicago and flying to all these other places in Florida, and it really got me active. So I guess if that might not be, I mean, that's what I can think of now as far as being a good win. Maybe not my favorite if I had a bit more time to think about it, but it definitely was influential, and it proved to me that, hey, I can hang with these people. Steve, what's the one tip you would give someone who wants to work on their skills? Patience. That's it. Really?