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EP02 Will Johnson

The Pinball Studio Podcast·podcast_episode·21m 48s·analyzed·Aug 15, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Will Johnson recounts his pinball journey and Pinball Studio's growth into a major regional tournament venue.

Summary

Will Johnson, Vice President of Pinball Studio in Richmond Hill, Georgia, shares his journey from childhood arcade experiences at Doodles bar in Hinesville through rediscovery via digital pinball to becoming a core organizer of the Pinball Studio tournament venue. The episode traces the studio's evolution from the casual "Balls of Steel" group through multiple venue iterations (Level Up, Rock House at Tybee) to its current independent operation, highlighting community growth, player development, and expansion plans including women's tournaments and league formats.

Key Claims

  • Roller Games is one of the best pinball games ever created

    low confidence · Will Johnson, personal opinion stated emphatically as a debate point

  • Heavy Metal pinball had 300 units commissioned, but only approximately half were actually produced

    medium confidence · Will Johnson recounting a story Mike told him about Heavy Metal production

  • Pinball Palace in Brunswick, Georgia has been operating for approximately 7 years

    medium confidence · Sterling Martin estimate during conversation with Will Johnson

  • Pinball Palace placed second in the Twippies for best worldwide location multiple times, including 3 years ago

    medium confidence · Sterling Martin citing Twippies awards

  • Pinball Studio is in its third to fourth year of operation

    high confidence · Will Johnson stating 'We're in our third, going on our fourth year'

  • Players commute from Jacksonville regularly, sometimes 2-4 hours, to play Pinball Studio tournaments

    high confidence · Sterling Martin noting approximately a third of their group is from Jacksonville

  • Winning State Finals requires going through Atlanta as the qualifying path

    medium confidence · Will Johnson's assertion: 'All roads to State Finals go through Atlanta'

  • Pinball Studio hosts Halloween tournaments annually and is planning their fourth edition

    high confidence · Will Johnson direct statement about Halloween tournament tradition

  • RJ, a relatively new player, won two consecutive tournaments after moving to Atlanta

    high confidence · Sterling Martin confirming RJ won two tournaments in a row shortly after relocating

  • Spy Hunter is underrated and criticisms stem from poor machine condition or lack of play experience

Notable Quotes

  • “I will fight on the internet anyone who disagrees: Roller Games... probably one of the best games ever created.”

    Will Johnson @ early in episode — Establishes Will's passion for 90s pinball and sets up his collecting preferences

  • “I blame Mike for my whole addiction to pinball.”

    Will Johnson @ mid-episode — Highlights the pivotal role Mike played in drawing Will into the hobby and eventual community leadership

  • “Heavy Metal is an on-location pin. It's got a real coin door that accepts coins. Yes, it has powder coating, so I don't want to hear it.”

    Will Johnson @ mid-episode — Defensive justification of Heavy Metal's legitimacy, indicating community debate about the machine's classification

  • “No drama here. That's kind of our one rule that we stole from the Wormhole.”

    Will Johnson @ mid-episode — Core value statement defining Pinball Studio's community culture

  • “All roads to State Finals go through Atlanta. It's just the truth.”

    Will Johnson @ near end — Regional tournament structure insight—Atlanta dominates qualifying path for Georgia State Finals

  • “I showed Abby how to play Grand Slam. She won. I was also salty then, but it's fun.”

    Will Johnson @ tournament stories section — Illustrates community mentorship culture and humor around teaching/losing in tournaments

  • “That speaks volumes about what you've been able to do and so we're able to foster this.”

    Sterling Martin @ near end — Recognition of Will's impact in building a sustainable, attractive tournament community

  • “We do kind of like our own awards thing for our members here too... just kind of a thank you for being such a dedicated member.”

    Will Johnson @ near end — Describes Pinball Studio's player recognition program reinforcing loyalty and engagement

Entities

Will JohnsonpersonSterling MartinpersonMikepersonPinball StudioorganizationPinball PalacevenueDoodlesvenueLevel UpvenueRock House at Tybeevenue

Signals

  • ?

    venue_signal: Pinball Studio evolved from informal group (Balls of Steel) through multiple venue iterations to established independent tournament venue with 3-4 years of stable operation and strong regional draw

    high · Will and Sterling describe progression from Level Up to Rock House at Tybee to current independent venue hosting regular tournaments with players commuting 2-4 hours

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball Studio attracting players from Jacksonville (multiple hours away), Atlanta, South Carolina, Texas, and broader Georgia region indicating strong reputation beyond local market

    high · Sterling noting approximately one-third of regular group from Jacksonville, players commuting multiple hours, mentions of Texas tournament attendance

  • ?

    operational_signal: Difficulty establishing long-term partnerships with existing restaurant/bar operators unwilling to accommodate tournament needs (free play, machine access, key management)

    high · Level Up events manager complaints about regulars, operator unwillingness to disable extra balls or provide key access, eventual closure; Rock House eventually phased out

  • ?

    product_strategy: Pinball Studio experimenting with diverse tournament formats (traditional, pin golf, themed costumes, women's specific events) to drive engagement and inclusivity

    high · Will describing Halloween tournaments, Christmas tournaments with ugly sweaters, pin golf tournament this year, first women's tournament hosted, potential future league format

  • ?

    player_development_signal: New players (like RJ) achieving tournament wins within first year of active play and rapid progression after relocation suggests strong mentorship culture and skill transfer

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.065

0:00
Hello and welcome to the second episode of the pinball studio podcast. Today I'm going to be interviewing my good friend, Will Johnson, the vice president of the pinball studio here in Richmond Hill, Georgia. Will, how's it going, buddy?
0:16
Doing great. Thank you. Enjoying my experience doing a podcast. It's not rum. Today is Woodford Reserve. It's bourbon. Oh, OK. Cool. But fun fact, this kind of takes me back because I actually used to be a DJ in college, a radio DJ. Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of interesting to kind of be in this environment again, yeah. But I'm doing great, man. Hell yeah. Great to hear it. So today, Will, we want to hear your story of how you found the hobby of pinball and basically what led you to today. So start wherever you want with that story. Whatever you want to do.
0:53
I don't know, man. I had to get off the mean streets. you know it was kind of it was kind of rough out there so basically uh like what's your first memory of like your very first time playing pinball yeah so it's interesting grew up in arcade like a lot of other people child of the 80s well i was born in 80 but a child in the 80s and 90s there was a i spent a lot of years in hinesville georgia which is about 30 minutes south of here there was a bar called doodles that was half arcade half bar or not bar or half pool hall and that's really where i got most of my arcade experience i didn't really gravitate to pinball to a little bit in because they had um i mostly spent a lot of time on fighting games because at the time you're like street fighter so pinball kind of came a little bit afterwards there was a wall of pinball machines and there were a few from the 90s it was what i mostly played actually my first experience playing pinball was with a gem a masterpiece a legend probably one of the best games ever created i will fight on the internet anyone who disagrees roller game i'm pounding the table roller games roller games so yeah but i just loved it because it's totally embodied the 90s fast machine i love the multi-ball the music is just so dope neon colors neon colors yeah it's uh probably one of my earliest and it became it's pretty much my favorite game still today and you own one you bought i do yeah thanks to you actually yeah you helped me out with it immensely because i never thought i'd get to own it one well it was one of the games in our tournaments but then warp ramp or whatever yeah exactly go for the wall no you're not going for any walls today buddy it goes up the wall sometimes you can you can look at the wall you might even scale the wall but i remember playing a lot of the 90s games like twilight zone adam's family whirlwind earthshakers because they were pretty good about keeping the rotation in there who done it yeah a lot of those 90s oh yeah exactly wpc era games i played so i played I played a lot there. And interestingly enough, they did have classic machines. So they had like a Captain Fantastic. I played the original Kiss. And this was like back in high school. I'm familiar with those. So I thought that was interesting. Unfortunately, like most arcades, it died out. And it was pretty much the only place that I could think of to play pinball because you remember the arcades and the malls in Savannah. Yeah, they were just, you know, your fighter games for the most part. Right, your skee-ball getting tickets. I don't remember any pinball in there. But like many arcades, it died out. Unfortunately, it started out great. It was a great hangout spot, especially on weekends, especially the evenings when it got jumping. But with a lot of things comes the we can't have nice things crowd. And so that caused a lot of problems. And then they kind of instituted like a cover charge. You had to pay like two dollars just to keep just to keep. Yeah. And I remember what was also cool as a kid is they give you five tokens for a dollar instead of four quarters. So that was pretty cool, too. But that was my earliest time. And I will say in between that owned a Nintendo and I played a lot of Pinbot on Nintendo. Yes, I played pinball on Nintendo. I've never played that on Nintendo. It's quite interesting. The ball actually turns into different shapes and stuff. It's weird. Wow. One of them turns into like a triangle. I played some pinball on the Sega Genesis. I remember some of the games there because Sonic had a pinball-themed game, and they had some other pinball-themed games. I remember those. But nothing really beat playing a physical machine. Do you remember any other locations besides like Doodles? Movie theaters. Like you had mentioned earlier. I remember playing like Terminator 2. I played Dracula. I feel like that was almost like short-lived, you know, before long, and those were even starting to disappear in movie theaters.

low confidence · Will Johnson and Sterling Martin expressing personal opinion based on defensive framing

Roller Games
game
Heavy Metalgame
Spy Huntergame
RoboCopgame
Gottlieb Spring Breakgame
Gottlieb Ravengame
Johnny Mnemonicgame
Old Town Pinballorganization
Neilperson
Brianperson
Jeromeperson
Addison Mountperson
Texas Pinball Festivalevent
Houston Expoevent
Twippiesevent
Hot Nudgeorganization
Wormholevenue

high · RJ won first tournament within year of playing, went to Atlanta and won two consecutive tournaments; Will teaching new players who then beat him in same round

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Spy Hunter shifting from underrated/dismissed game to beloved community favorite after restoration and integration into Pinball Studio, suggesting quality restoration and player education impact reputation

    medium · Will and Sterling noting hatred for Spy Hunter unfounded, pointing to poor condition copies and inexperience; State Finals committee rated it as worst game but studio disagrees

  • ?

    content_signal: Pinball Studio launching podcast series to expand community visibility and recruitment, combined with booth presence at trade shows

    high · Sterling and Will discussing podcast as step to get word out more, build community, combined with booth presence at trade shows and social media

  • $

    market_signal: Atlanta established as dominant qualifier for Georgia State Finals, creating regional tournament hierarchy and suggesting centralization of competitive talent

    high · Will stating 'All roads to State Finals go through Atlanta' and acknowledging 'uphill climb' for Pinball Studio members to qualify despite strong local tournaments

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Will Johnson assumed primary operational role from Mike during transition to independent venue, representing natural succession as Mike relocated to Texas

    high · Sterling noting Mike moved to Texas and Will 'kind of took over Mike's role' in organizing and managing tournaments

  • ?

    operational_signal: Pinball Studio implementing tiered membership system (10+ tournament participation requirement for awards, lifetime member wall recognition) to drive retention and community identity

    high · Will describing awards program for members playing 10+ tournaments yearly with trophy distribution, lifetime member names on wall (Rich, Michael, Sarah, Abby)

  • ?

    venue_signal: Pinball Studio actively managing collection composition, with plans to add/remove specific titles to optimize player experience and tournament variety

    medium · Will mentioning goal to 'refine the collection at the moment' with 'a few other titles I want, a few titles that may leave'

  • ?

    machine_intel: Heavy Metal pinball's limited production run (~150 units from 300 commissioned) and Mike's ownership creating scarcity and collector interest; significant value at time of Will's consideration

    medium · Will noting Heavy Metal 'is hard to find now, but at the time it was like really valuable' and story of commission/fallout leading to partial production

    • 4:18
    So when did you rediscover it later on in life? Was it at a bar or a local arcade? No, no, it wasn't digital. Oh, digital. I was trying to remember the name of the company, Farsight Studios. Okay. Pinball Arcade, very popular game series. So that's what brought you back to it. Pretty much. I had a PS3. I remembered some of the games they had listed. I was like, okay. I just kind of bought all the games, especially like Serge's Voltaire, which I played initially as well, and I love that game. Knights with the Tale of the Arabian Nights, another popular one. So I bought all the machines, and I knew it wasn't the same as playing physical, but it was the closest I had. And then I just kind of got back into it, started looking for locations, and that's when I came across Pinball Palace in Brunswick, Georgia. When did they open? I think they're going on maybe their seventh year. Yeah, that's about what I was thinking. So I don't remember how many years, how long I've been going. Right. I think I discovered it maybe four or five years ago. Something like that. That's probably about the window I did as well. Maybe three years. And it was hilarious when I found out about the pinball palace in Brunswick, Georgia. I had, I don know two or three machines at the time My buddy like you know there a place down the road that has like over 100 of these right And I was like no So yeah the first time I went there that was a really cool experience to see that you know pinball was starting to make a comeback in the area. Yes, and they're highly rated. I know they got second in the Twippies a couple times for like best worldwide location. So they've had people from all over. I think that was three years ago. Yeah, I think so. We had it at TPF the last time. We're very fortunate to have them around. Absolutely. We've become good friends with the family, Nick, Kelly, and Karen. I mean, we have other arcades around, like in Savannah, but they rent their machines. It's all one operator, and they're all super, super rough. So over time, I became really good friends with the family, hang out with Nick, get some games in, learn how to play, learn how not to play. I think over time, when I was going to his house, he would have his own collection of machines. I remember he had a Star Trek Next Generation, and that's kind of how he told me about a guy by the name of Mike. One of the original founding members before I came along found out he was renting games. And he told me I think he told me he had a Johnny Mnemonic and he told me how much he was charging. So that's that's how I met Mike is a rented Johnny Mnemonic. I blame Mike for my whole addiction to pinball. Oh, yeah. No, he yeah. You fall down that rabbit hole if you want to. Just becoming good friends with him. I know he wanted to do like a mobile arcade. So you have all these games. At one point he dropped like a ton of games off at my house. So I came home to a personal arcade. He's like, hey, buddy, you got some games for you. Mind if you hold them?
    7:01
    That was the best part about Mike. Yeah. See, we rented games from him at first. And then later on, I think he just had too many machines. Yes, because he was trying to start a business. But one of the moments where I actually got to know him was he was displaying games at one of the cons in Savannah. I think it was like a Comic-Con. Yeah, Savannah Comic-Con. And there was – I found out Heavy Metal, which is that magazine that started in the 70s, for anyone that knows. And they had those legendary animations after his words. Right, the Supreme layout that Stern had used. Yes. George A.S. designed. Star Wars home pin. Yeah, we won't talk about that. Yeah. Because Heavy Metal – We're going to argue real quick. Heavy Metal is an on-location pin. Yeah, it's like full – So you can all knock it off with – node boards. I think most people who hate on it haven't played it. Oh, absolutely. So if you see it, it's an on-location pin. It's got a real coin door that accepts coins. Yes, it has powder coating, so I don't want to hear it. But come to find out, Mike had one. The story goes that I think they commissioned 300 or something like that, and then it was like this big fallout, and then I think only like half of that got made, and so Mike actually happened to have one and then he told me while he was at the con and i was like yo you have the game so i went up there played it a bunch that's just kind of how we became friends and then like over time over the years like if i went to like a show or an expo and if he was going he was fortunate enough to hook me up like passes and stuff like that yeah yeah he was always good about that with all the shows whether it be texas pinball festival or whatever he was always you know you help me unload some games i'll get you a pass to the show so over the years mike and i became real good friends and he helped me get my first machine which interestingly enough was a robocop which was dope then it was mine yeah yeah then it went to sterling but i had robocop and then he was selling me the heavy metal because at the time i was like obviously it's hard to find now but at the time it was like really valuable but i ended up moving on from heavy metal kept robocop then i ended up with spy hunter and gottlieb raven and then i somehow ended up with a gottlieb spring break he goes for the real gems real gem if you've ever played that game you'll probably disagree and I wouldn't blame you. So, but after that, I guess I bought Spy Hunter from you after that. That's right. Yes. That's where I was trying to get to was, yes, you did. And I remember that story because I told you I had it and I wanted to sell it. And you were like, I don't know if I want this. Let me, let me sink on it. And he was drinking and he's like, oh, this game is awesome. I'll buy it from you. And then he did. And he made, he did what he normally does is he brought it to life even more. Yeah. Now it's one of our most favorite games here. And most people who come by and play it. I really don't get the hate for that game. I think so many people that talk trash about Spy Hunter either just haven't played a nice copy of it or they probably haven't ever played it. Pretty much. Because you remember when you had State Finals hosted here. Well, they had it rated as like one of the worst games ever. It's like you want me to give you a list of like 200 EMs that are just meaningless games? So Spy Hunter is actually a pretty cool game, honestly. It's got a lot of... It's dope. Yeah, some great shots. It's satisfying. And once you learn the game, I mean, it's a good game. I'll stand on that hill, no problem. But so after, you know, you were buying games from Mike and stuff, and basically I had met Mike at that time, and I was renting Stranger Things from him. And that led to me and Mike basically starting the group. And he was like, man, I got this buddy, Will. You know, he's going to come over and, you know, play in some of the tournaments and stuff. And I think me and Will had met at this second tournament that we had ever hosted here And that was I was still getting into the tournament scene And actually I played before the group I played my first game or first tournament at Bang Back in Columbia And that was hosted by the Twitch channel Hot Nudge So the three girls that run that channel, they host a birthday tournament for Jane. So that's where I met them and went to my first tournament there just to try it out, because I didn't realize it was a heavy tournament scene. Outside of that was like YouTube videos, pop a pinball tutorial, stuff like that. But do you remember what year that first tournament was? not off the top of my head it was five years ago or longer i don't think i think it was under five years if i had to guess we'll have to look back and check but i remember placing top eight so i got to pick off the prize wall i got i got a stern cap so that was pretty cool i've already been nicknamed full tilt so i'm cool so i got my first nickname so outside of furniture mover but yeah but that's how i kind of got into the tournament scene so when i found out you guys were doing tournaments here i couldn't come to the first one so i missed the pizza party yeah Me and Mike ordered, what, fucking 10 pizzas and nobody showed up. Mike's like, well, I guess you can take half and I'll take half. But it was great to see the community. And then Neil was pretty much one of the first players to come along as well. Yeah. He's been a massive help up to this point. Then Mike was moving to Texas. So it was Sterling and Mike. And I just kind of took over Mike's role, which we ended up at Level Up in Pooler, which is now an Italian restaurant. Which is pretty good, though. I could totally see that coming a few years ago. There was no way that place was going to stay. It was more often than not. It was dead. And we hosted it. But again, that wonderful group that rents machines wasn't very cooperative with us. But we still had a great turnout. And that was our first on location. That's how we met a few other members. So it was good. And I remember Sterling telling me that even though we had like a good showing, the, I guess, events manager for the restaurant was like, well, we had regulars complain and gave you the runaround about coming back, trying to change the time and all that. this oh yeah and i remember going afterwards talking to the bartender and she asked like when are you guys coming back because the people that were there had a great time watching and then obviously we were putting money into the place i think it was probably a combination of the operator of the games and the owner just probably weren't seeing eye to eye that's my best guess it's possible because you needed a key and he didn't want to put on free play didn't want you to get in there fix it well even coin drop was fine it's like we just need the extra balls turned off which i mean at a bare minimum and i was like you know balls get stuck in the game we're kind of screwed so i was like can you give a set of keys to the manager maybe and uh he was way too worried about someone maybe stealing a few coins out of his coin box even though we're trying to like fill his coin box well i found out through the bartender that what they told me wasn't true because she told me like there were no regulars in that day yeah there was two kids stealing basketballs out of the basketball machine. So that was the only other two people there. Outside of that, we ended up building a pretty good rapport with Rock House at Tybee, which Neil told us about. They found out about us through one of our members, Brian, who had a hook. Sold them the hook, but he put our old name. Yeah, it was my old hook and I'd sold it to Brian. So I guess I had the card when we were Balls of Steel. Yep. So we were Balls of Steel before we became Pinball Studio. So that's how they found out about us. And we kind of connected. I think we ran about three tournaments out there at Tybee. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, the third one was a really small turnout. So I think at that point we just, you know, figured it was best to just host our own tournaments. Yeah, it's kind of when we decided to just kind of focus on us. It's nothing against them at all. In fact, the bar manager, Jerome, super great guy. But our turnout, the turnouts were great. He has the people coming in and our friends, Nick and Kimberly, Insomniacs, were nice enough to come out and support us. And we met Addison Mount there. Yes, Addison. That is where we met him. So it became a regular as well. Yeah, it's just easier to run it yourself and, you know, own the machines and just do the whole nine yards.
    14:46
    But luckily, we've built a really good community. We're in our third, going on our fourth year. Halloween tournament is going to be lit. So I'm putting it out there right now. Fourth Halloween tournament. There's no jokes. We play no games when it comes to Halloween. And if any of y'all are ever interested in that, definitely the easiest way is just go to the website, thepinballstudio.com, and you can see our whole tournament schedule there. So, I mean, if any of you are interested in the Halloween tournament, definitely reach out. Definitely. It's been fun meeting everybody, helping people. You want to learn how to get better, we'll gladly show you. Yeah, we're all a big family here. We're here to hang out. No drama here. That's kind of our one rule that we stole from the wormhole. And I've played a few tournaments in Texas. I'm out there about twice a year because we went to TPF, Texas Pinball Festival, recommended. And then I go to Houston Expo, recommended. so i played in expo i know i haven't played i've been to expo i just recently got back from pemberg so you got to go play in the pinball at the beach this year i don't think that's gonna happen oh you can do it man nah you can just drive down for the tournament i could i may do i want to do free play i haven't done that yet hotels man but it's been fun i'm doing pinsonati this year so that'll be fun i went a couple years ago but i didn't participate in the tournament i'll do pinsonati and so i just wanted to do pemberg just at least say i did it once but i plan to go back I can get my butt kicked again. So that was a great time. So just I didn't realize I get so deep into this tournament thing, though. Any particular memorable moments from tournaments or events at the pinball studio? Getting to meet all the people that I have Are theme tournaments like the Halloween tournaments Is that probably your favorite tournament What that The Halloween tournament Of course Yeah it always fun Come in costume You playing pinball How silly is that I like that we started We did our first pin golf tournament this year. Everybody enjoyed that. Yeah. Pin golf was a lot of fun. The Christmas tournaments are fun. We do a little bit of dress up at Christmas. Yeah. Ugly sweaters. Right. We did New Year's Eve, which was kind of fun because we had somebody come down because that's like your last push for points. but I do enjoy helping assisting where I can, especially players that want to get better. So I do have a couple funny stories that kind of involve teaching people, some of the members how to play a game only to lose that round. So I believe Abby was one of our players, Abby. And the other one was Austin who used to work at the pinball palace. I was showing Austin how to play fire. And sure enough, that same round, he, he won. I was salty. I think I showed Abby how to play grand slam. She won. I was also salty then, but it's fun. It's fun when that happens. No, it's cool seeing so many players get a lot better. RJ, one of them, just moved to Atlanta. Won his first tournament here. Yeah, and I don't think he's been playing pinball altogether for a year. Then you told me he went back to Atlanta and won a tournament up there. Yeah, two tournaments in a row, and it was so funny because he showed up, you know, not, I don't think he was planning on playing in a tournament. Maybe he was, but he seemed very caught off guard, and he's like, sure i'll play in a tournament and then he was at every single damn tournament after that and i like seeing that that's awesome seeing that you know people get into the hobby and get addicted to it you remember the one time that i did not want to be here and i came in first oh yeah yeah i'm like i some people try to win like really hard and was like i just want to go home i just want this to be over with you and ricky man ricky's the same way he's like damn it i don't want to be here four rounds and then he like wins the tournament right so yeah it's it's funny like probably a third of our group is from jacksonville but you know that players himself jacksonville is a lot closer than you know half of georgia and i don't know if people know this they probably don't but we have many players that commute like couple like multiple hours like over two hours oh yeah to play a tournament on sunday sometimes four hours to me that speaks volumes about what you've been able to do and so we're able to foster this yeah and everyone's you know saying the same thing they just you know enjoy playing here and i guess that's why they're commuting so far to come out using now i guess i would ask you a question with everything we've done what do you think is there anything you'd like to do or did you have any goals that you've already achieved what's the next step for the studio yeah i know you still go out all out for certain tournaments we'll be trying a different format for the halloween tournament yeah i think it's just really trying to refine the collection at the moment. I really want, you know, there's a few other titles I want, a few titles that may leave, so I want that. And just now it's a matter of just getting the word out more, getting more players, you know, to come out and play in our tournaments. So I think I'm just going to start doing some booths, set some trade shows, and, you know, the podcast is another step to that, social media and stuff. I think for the most part we already have a decent venue and a setup, so there's not a whole lot more we need with that. It's just building the community even more and more. Well, actually, no, we did hit another gold issue. We hosted their first women's tournament here. Oh, that is right. Yeah, I definitely do want to explore more of things like that, you know, women's tournaments. And also, you know, I still would like to run a league at one point. Yeah, yeah, we've talked about that as well. No, I would just say all roads to state finals go through Atlanta. It's just the truth. Like, it's nothing against them. It's just the way it is. because you would have to win every tournament down there.
    20:00
    Exactly. I mean, it's possible, but it's still a bit of an uphill climb. But I still want to help Willing. I still want to. That's my personal goal is to help them get closer. We do kind of like our own awards thing for our members here too. They have to play in 10 or more tournaments a year to qualify, and basically we take our top four players and we distribute nice trophies at the end of the year. Just kind of a thank you for being such a dedicated member, and they did a wonderful job all year. Yeah. You've been getting a lot of love from other – Yeah, Florida, South Carolina. Texas. Oh, yeah, Texas. Texas, yeah. And I love Texas. So another one of my memorable moments was convincing a few of us to go to Houston Expo, and they had a blast. I think I convinced Willow to go this year. We've got to get a big group for Texas Pinball Festival this year. Heck, yeah, man. It's a great time. It's going to be fun. Yeah, we've got to get a great time. Well, we'll give you more information on that. Also, thanks to our sponsors. Yeah, our main sponsor today is Old Town Pinball. If you need a new or used pinball machine, feel free to reach out to Will Russell over there. He's a distributor for Stern, Spooky Pinball, Barrels of Fun. I've got one more shout-out. Oh, he's got one more shout-out. I've got one more. Now you've got to mention him. I don't have to go through the names, but our lifetime members know who you are. Oh, yeah. We've got your names on the wall for a reason. Rich, Michael, Sarah, and Abby. Thank you so much for being Lifetime members. It's a big deal. Until next time, we'll see you all later. Later.