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Episode 12: The Classic Pinball Podcast - Houston Arcade Expo with Keith Christensen

The Classic Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·45m 53s·analyzed·Oct 23, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Houston Arcade Expo founder Keith Christensen details the show's 20-year evolution and 2024 lineup.

Summary

George from The Classic Pinball Podcast Podcast interviews Keith Christensen, founder of the Houston Arcade Expo, discussing the show's 20+ year history, its evolution from a simple arcade party into a multi-element event featuring pinball, arcade, consoles, cosplay, live music, vendors, and tournaments. They cover the show's layout, notable speakers including Eugene Jarvis, the swap meet, flood recovery stories, tournament details, and upcoming attractions like museum tours and raffles for charity.

Key Claims

  • Keith Christensen started the Houston Arcade Expo in 2002 with a buddy named Callan as an excuse to have a party at a club with games.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen, directly stating the founding story of the event.

  • Keith owns approximately 80 pinball games in his collection, with about 43 set up in his home game room and 35 video games, plus about 20 at his office.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen describing his personal collection size and storage.

  • Keith's collecting goal is to acquire all Williams games, and he is only 10 away from completing the set, focusing on B-titles like Road Show and No Fear.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen explaining his specific collecting goal.

  • Keith has been collecting pinball games since 1996.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen stating his start date as a collector.

  • Houston has experienced severe flooding events (Harvey mentioned) that decimated collector warehouses in the area.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen confirming flooding impact on local collectors and his own precautions.

  • The Houston Arcade Expo main venue is approximately 20,000+ square feet.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen describing the size of the main showroom.

  • Jurassic Park (Pro) pinball raffle proceeds go to the Ocean Conservancy charity.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen explaining the raffle beneficiary.

  • The Lone Star Pinball Museum in Hockley, Texas is owned by Dan Ferguson and specializes in EM and pre-war pinball games.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen describing the museum and its owner.

  • The Interplanetary Knockout women's tournament will be the first time it is held at the Houston Arcade Expo.

    high confidence · Keith Christensen confirming this is the first occurrence of the women's tournament.

Notable Quotes

  • “I started the Expo back in 2002 with a buddy of mine, Callan. And it was basically an excuse to have a party at a club, bring a bunch of games and have a show.”

    Keith Christensen @ early in interview — Establishes the informal, community-driven origins of the Houston Arcade Expo.

  • “But at the essence, it still remains that, even though now I'm kind of solo running it with a bunch of awesome people helping out... it still remains a good arcade party.”

    Keith Christensen @ early in interview — Shows the event has maintained its core identity despite growth and evolution.

  • “We built a 2,700 square foot game room. So I have 43 pinballs set up here at the house and about 35 vids set up. And then I also have a little office and we made a little movie room and a little kitchen, something like that.”

    Keith Christensen @ mid-interview — Demonstrates the scale of personal investment by the event organizer in game collecting.

  • “You could do it a hundred times and you still going to have a fail somewhere. It just inevitably happens.”

    Keith Christensen @ mid-interview — Illustrates the unpredictability and preparation challenges in operating a large event with numerous machines.

  • “Harvey one was bad. I mean, there's pictures out there of guys' collections, pinball collections, six foot of water.”

    Keith Christensen @ flood discussion — References the severity of Hurricane Harvey's impact on local collector communities.

  • “The Swamp Meets is sponsored by a local Texas arcade called Quasars down in Corpus Christi.”

    Keith Christensen @ swap meet discussion — Shows community sponsorship and support for event elements.

  • “They're going to have a booth in the main showroom, and they're going to be able to, I think, take some walk-ups, which is good. That's always, you know, I like that.”

    Keith Christensen @ women's tournament discussion — Shows commitment to accessibility and community growth in competitive pinball.

Entities

Keith ChristensenpersonGeorgepersonHouston Arcade ExpoeventCallanpersonEugene JarvispersonDonny GilliespersonJoe BalcerpersonDan Fergusonperson

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: George is traveling from New Hampshire to Houston to cover the Houston Arcade Expo and participate in its tournament; this is a significant pre-show podcast interview generating pre-event publicity.

    high · George explicitly states he is attending the expo and has partnered with his wife's business trip to attend; podcast positioning this as major content.

  • ?

    community_signal: Houston Arcade Expo has evolved from a simple arcade party (2002) into a multi-element entertainment event with pinball, arcade, consoles, cosplay, live music performances, vendors, tournaments, and museum tours—representing broader shift in arcade show culture.

    high · Keith describes the show's evolution from initial concept to current feature set including multiple live bands, DJ sets, and themed nighttime atmosphere.

  • ?

    collector_signal: Keith Christensen maintains a substantial personal collection (~80 pinballs, 35+ video games) housed in a dedicated 2,700 sq ft game room plus office storage, with strategic acquisition goals (Williams Valley DMD completion).

    high · Keith details his collection size, game room construction, and stated goal to collect all Williams Valley DMD titles with only 10 remaining.

  • $

    market_signal: Keith observes that pinball pricing has increased significantly since he started collecting in 1996, attributed to barcade proliferation and increased demand.

    high · Keith states: 'the pricing has gone up a lot since I've been collecting' and attributes this to 'the advent of barcades and things like that.'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Houston Arcade Expo requires substantial pre-event preparation including volunteer coordination, game testing, and maintenance; annual kickoff party held month before event to organize volunteers and vendors.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.138

0:00
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Come inside, come inside. There behind the glass stands a real blade of grass. Be careful as you pass. Move along, move along. Come inside, the show's about to start. Guaranteed to blow your head off.
0:30
Hello everyone and welcome to episode 12 of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George and I'm joined today by Keith Christensen from the Houston Arcade Expo. Hello Keith. Hello George. Tell the audience a brief overview of the Houston Arcade Expo and how you're affiliated with it.
1:03
I started the Expo back in 2002 with a buddy of mine, Callan. And it was basically an excuse to have a party at a club, bring a bunch of games and have a show. And it kept growing from there and getting bigger and bigger and adding different things. But I think at the essence, it still remains that, even though now I'm kind of solo running it with a bunch of awesome people helping out.
1:46
it still remains a good arcade party. You know, that's kind of its essence, what it tries to be and what it is.
1:57
And Stephen, a friend of mine, Stephen Silver, came up with a great line that I think sums it all. It's just, you know, the best arcade party ever. Dot, dot, dot.
2:12

  • “It's one of our biggest shows. We did Pintastic. I actually broke it up into three different segments, and it's my most listened to podcast.”

    George @ closing discussion — Indicates the podcast's reach and the significance of major events in driving listener engagement.

    • Lone Star Pinball Museum
    venue
    Multimorphiccompany
    The Classic Pinball Podcastorganization
    Atari Mattperson
    Scott Danesiperson
    Clive Farringtonperson
    Titan Pinballcompany
    Borgard/Lockwood Litperson/vendor
    Super Skill Shot Shooterscompany
    Jeff Teolisperson
    Quasarsvenue
    Game Preservevenue
    Stephen Silverperson
    Brian Foytekperson
    Philperson
    Deep Rootcompany
    Ocean Conservancyorganization

    high · Keith describes opening games to check condition, testing machines, and holding preparatory kickoff party with barbecue and volunteers.

  • ?

    venue_signal: Lone Star Pinball Museum in Hockley, Texas (Dan Ferguson) offers guided tours integrated into Houston Arcade Expo programming; museum specializes in EM and pre-war machines.

    high · Keith details $40 per-person bus tour from main venue to museum, 45 min-1 hour drive, with organized visiting hours 2-7 PM on Friday.

  • ?

    content_signal: The Classic Pinball Podcast's Pintastic coverage broken into three segments became its most-listened-to content, demonstrating strong audience appetite for major event coverage.

    high · George states: 'It's one of our biggest shows. We did Pintastic. I actually broke it up into three different segments, and it's my most listened to podcast.'

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Houston Arcade Expo tournament approaching capacity (3-4 slots remaining) with mix of established competitors (IFPA-ranked players) and newcomers; women's division (Interplanetary Knockout, bells and chimes format) included for first time with accessible walk-up option.

    high · Keith mentions tournament nearly sold out; George notes he is one of only three participants without IFPA ranking; women's tournament positioned in main room for walk-up participation.

  • ?

    historical_signal: Hurricane Harvey and subsequent flooding events devastated pinball collector warehouses in Houston area; collectors lost significant portions of collections (e.g., 6+ feet of water damage reported). Keith took deliberate precautions locating his facilities outside floodplains.

    high · Keith confirms 'warehouses of collectors around here were just decimated' and describes Hurricane Harvey photos showing six feet of water in collector facilities.

  • ?

    design_innovation: Multimorphic's P3 system allows players to purchase base pinball platform and swap software/kits to play different game rule sets, representing novel modular approach to pinball design.

    medium · George describes P3 system: 'you have a base pinball and you buy a little kit and change off the software and boom you got a whole new pinball.'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Jeff Teolis organizing competitive pinball tournament Thursday night at Einstein Pub in Katy, Texas (20 min from main expo hotel) prior to main Houston Arcade Expo event; appears to draw players away from primary event setup.

    medium · George references pre-show tournament and Keith's comment: 'So while we're sweating and putting everything together, they're over there partying at Einstein's.'

  • ?

    business_signal: Houston Arcade Expo vendor lineup includes parts manufacturers (rubbers, shooters, mods), aftermarket customization companies, artists, and prototype/new manufacturers, indicating mature arcade/pinball vendor ecosystem in Texas.

    high · Keith describes Titan Pinball, Borgard/Lockwood Lit, Super Skill Shot Shooters, Deep Root, and multiple other vendors participating.

    • Right, we talked a little bit before the recording. this show is not just a pinball show. Our, you know, my podcast is focused on pinball, but this show and its history, there's a lot of different elements to this show. Why don't you talk a little bit about the different pieces that make up this arcade show?
    2:36
    Yeah, so, you know, I love pinball. I love arcade too. and we've added had those two elements from the get go and then we had tournaments going and kept that but then added consoles because who hadn't played a console or grew up playing a console it's so cool seeing those kind of snobby pinball guys playing the Atari 2600 reliving their youth that would be me and that wasn't youth. I was a little bit beyond the youth, you know, teenager segment. So I'm a little late to that party. I'm more focused on the pinball aspect and a collector as well. It seems like you've got a collection that you bring parts of it to the show, correct?
    3:34
    Yes. So, and that was, yeah, so that's, you know, I bring parts of my pinball collection and arcade stuff.
    3:44
    But to kind of circle back on, you know, the show, because then we've also added now music, because music's a part of...
    3:52
    Yeah, I noticed that, and I'm going to come to that in a little bit. Okay, we're going to come back to that. But the history of the show, I mean, it's almost 20 years old. It looks like you started in the spring and kind of morphed, I'm guessing, into the fall area at some point in time. But looking over all the... You want to be down here during the late spring, early summer in Houston. So that's the reason behind that is just too darn hot to move all those games. Well, it's going to be a first for me. I've only been to Texas once and it was passing through I saw the what is it called the Cadillac sculpture oh yes and ate at the big Texan which is yeah we ate there as well did you do the big steak challenge no nobody was performing at the time but that seems like quite the feat. I ate a big piece of prime rib the other night, but I could not imagine eating, what is it, a five-pound steak?
    5:05
    It's something like that. I was talking to the waitress. They're like, oh, people try it, but they end up taking, they can take all what they don't eat home. And so usually they ended up with enough take-home food that it's worth, it ends up being cheaper for them to cook that. Well, take-home would probably feed a family of four. Right, right, right. So the dad goes, well, we're eating steak tonight.
    5:34
    You've also got a cosplay element, which is, I think, very unique to pinball shows, or to a, well, maybe not an arcade show. You want to talk a little bit about that? yeah no um i i think it's just so much fun to have people dress up and get into to character um i also i support some of these the local anime shows i bring games up to their their shows and see how those kids and my kids love you know dressing up and doing stuff uh and in fact i do i go to the renaissance festivals and things like that so uh i just thought it was natural to bring that into the fold and get people excited. And people do. I mean, we have kids dressing up as gauntlet characters and couples coming in as combat characters. It's crazy. If people haven't been to your website, they should because there's some great, you've taken a lot of photographs and concentrating on the cosplay people. They really do a nice job.
    6:40
    Yeah, they're fun. They're good guys. Good guys and girls. Let's move on. The speakers, you've got some notable names this year. Dirty Donny Giles, Joe Balzer are the ones that are familiar to me.
    6:59
    There's a new guy that we haven't announced yet. This is going to be later today. but Eugene Jarvis, the guy who worked on and invented Robotron and Defender,
    7:15
    and he also owns Raw Thrills, who do a lot of the big showcase games. Oh, okay, okay. I've heard of that company. Okay.
    7:26
    Not just from the pinball world, but he's still a big cornerstone in the evolution of gaming in general, for sure. Do you find the audience that attends to be 50-50 or more slanted towards pinball or arcade games?
    7:47
    You know, it's kind of like it's a mix. It really is. You know, pinball being probably my, I got about 80 pinballs in my collection right now. Oh my!
    8:03
    And I got about... Do you collect in one area or across the board? Across the board. My goal is to get all the Williams Valley DMDs. I'm only 10 away.
    8:16
    And they're B titles. It's just, you know, I'm just trying to get like a road show, no fear, something like that. And that's my goal is to get all the DMD stuff. Do you try to find... I'm assuming you try to find those locally. How is that market to find those types of games? You know, I think really, you know, with the advent of, you know, the barcades and things like that, the pricing has gone up a lot since I've been collecting. Well, how long have you been collecting?
    8:54
    Since 96 was my first game. Okay, I got into it a little later than you. I'm a 2000-2001, and my area of specialty is Bali SS games from the late 70s, early 80s. Yeah, that's what you like. Well, that's what I grew up with. Yeah, so you grew up, yeah. So I played a ton of the 90s stuff when I was doing sound and playing in bands throughout the 90s, because they would have pinballs in every single bar. Right. So I played, you know, Star Wars, Star Wars in the wild, Whirlwind in the wild, Bride of Pinbot in the wild, Adam's Family, Twilight, all that stuff. And Tommy.
    9:38
    And, you know, it's just neat to, you know, that's what I'm into. That's my sweet spot, I guess. Right, right. Do you have all 80 games set up in your home or are you a storage person and only have part of your collection? We built a 2,700 square foot game room. Oh, my. So I have 43 pinballs set up here at the house and about 35 vids set up. And then I also have a little office and we made a little movie room and a little kitchen, something like that. And, you know, it's a little two-story thing. They say everything's bigger in Texas, and, man, that's quite the room. Yeah, I wish you were staying a little bit longer. I'd love to have you come over. But some of these games are going to be, you know, in the show, so it won't be in its, you know, pristine party element, I guess, or whatever.
    10:46
    But, yeah, no, so, and then everything else, I've got probably about 20 set up at my office, and then everything else is kind of in a warehouse at my office. And what we're doing right now will help with Brian Foytek and some awesome volunteers. We're kind of going through those pinballs and make sure they're ready for the show.
    11:11
    Yeah, there's a lot of pre-work that people don't understand. If they don't own a collection, they really don't have an idea of how much work goes into prior to the show. Yeah I mean because you make you know I have games that haven that worked great from the show last year but you still got to open them up and check them You could do it a hundred you know you could do it a hundred times and you still going to have a fail somewhere. It just inevitably happens.
    11:39
    So, and, yeah, so yeah, definitely a labor of love. I mean, it's not, you know, we had a kickoff party. We had to throw a kickoff party for the show a month beforehand.
    11:53
    For all the volunteers and vendors and everybody's involved with it. Everybody comes over and we eat barbecue and swim. I'm looking forward to that, being from the Northeast. I'm looking forward to some Texas barbecue. Oh, there's some good barbecue, I'm telling you that. Yeah, I'm sure.
    12:14
    You've got quite a few vendors, you know, like any pinball or arcade show. Anybody specifically you'd like to talk about? We got Titan Pinball from Texas. They'll be here showing off their wares. They make the awesome rubbers. And we got Borgard with Lockwood Lit. He's going to be here. He'll have all kinds of mods. He's got all kinds of cool parts and stuff like that. and then the shooter guys that do the custom shooter rods are going to be here. What are they called? Super Skill Shot Shooters. Okay. So for the more modern games.
    13:07
    Yeah, it's just custom shooters, right? So he'll make one with like a little beer bottle for Oktoberfest or whatever. Oh, okay, okay. Stuff like that. Lots of giveaways. happening. We're going to get, we got show special, also we got Multimorphic, which is a pinball manufacturer here in Texas, the P3 system. I'm excited to see their product. A lot of talk in other podcasts. I've never had the opportunity, so I'm looking forward to playing, I'm looking forward to playing, what is it, Cosmic Kart Racing. and uh i got a ton of great stuff um different apps that's the whole platform right so you have a base pinball and you buy a little kit and change off the software and boom you got a whole new pinball definitely something different let's uh let's move along to uh the music aspect you mentioned earlier your band will be performing but unlike other pinball shows i've been to this is an element I have not seen I guess Scott Denise is going to be spinning some music but you also have what three or four different bands over the two days yes so Friday which is my band we're kind of a rock and roll pinball arcade band we have a couple of parodies in there too we'll be playing Friday night and then And Atari Matt's after us, and he does a set with just using Atari 2600s, all their tone generators. So he writes songs with these incredible digital 8-bit landscapes that are rocking with the 2600.
    15:03
    And then Scott Denise is going to be playing. He's going to be doing a Total Annihilation mix. So he's going to do some of his DJing style and kind of mixing in some awesome tunes from that pinball.
    15:20
    And then after that, we're going to have kind of an alternative numbers, 6400 DJ thing happening. We're just going to be kind of like a dance thing going on around midnight. And then the next day, on Saturday, we have from New Orleans, Louisiana, we have a consortium of genius. They have originals and covers, and they're planning to take over the world. A great show, for sure.
    15:47
    After them, Clive Farrington, original member from When in Rome. They did the song, I Promise You. The Promise was, I think, a Napoleon Dynamite. and it was a big hit back in the 80s, Dance Song. So he's going to do some DJing and then doing like three or four songs.
    16:07
    And then after that, there's going to be Radio Cult. They're coming out of Atlanta, Georgia, and they're just an awesome cover, original party band. They get the crowd going, and there's going to be some special guests. They'll come up and jam with them from the previous bands. and then after that at midnight or so we have a yacht rock DJ set where we're going to play all your favorite soft rock songs from the 70's we'll pop champagne toast and we'll give away free captain's hats and leis I saw the captain's hats in a couple of pictures that looks like a lot of fun also we have We have red and green lightsabers we're giving out. So you can choose if you're on the dark side or the light side. This is where the show has interest to me. It appears that you've got a daytime aspect to the show, but you also have this nightclub aspect to the show. Is that kind of what you were thinking when you constructed the show?
    17:24
    So as the show has evolved, we've had people complain about music, because we played music all the time. We had the party room. It was darker, had lights, music was playing. We didn't have it too loud. And people would complain, especially on Pennside or whatever. Oh, it's too loud, you're killing me.
    17:46
    Let's not even go in that direction. You're not going to satisfy everybody. We're just like, no, we're not going to get rid of music. You know, we pay our ass cap and all those dues and all that, you know, stuff. And so we play music. But during the day, you know, the lights are up. It's more kind of a, you know, a little bit, you know, we'll play some 80s videos and all that, you know, whatever. But it won't be too loud and people have fun. But then, like you said, at night, the games are still going and we're playing with them. And it definitely changes the atmosphere. and some people, you know, most people love it. Yeah, no, my co-host Dave always talks about the 80s and his arcade in Framingham, Massachusetts, giving that nightclub vibe all the time, and he said he really misses that. Now, you know, like you said, you've got some people who complain, I can't hear the machine, I can't hear this, I can't hear that, but, you know, it creates a mood, And I think it's nice that you kind of provide both atmospheres over the course of a day. And I think the music thing is great. I mean, I'm really looking forward to the two days. It seems like I'm going to be glued to the facility for two days because there's so much going on. Yeah, that's what we try to do, you know.
    19:10
    And then, you know, we'll also play a movie or something, you know, in the speaker room that's going on after hours. So if somebody needs a break, they want to go chill out, maybe want something, you know, from one of the local directors, they could do that. And, you know, check out the vending area. So we have a quiet zone. And the room's so big that you could be playing pinball halfway across the room and it sounds, you know, completely fine. You know, because it's, the main room is, I don't know, 20-something thousand square feet. Wow. that's a big room here's the piece that I'm looking forward to and it harkens back to all the times I've been to the Allentown show you've got a real swap meet going on on Saturday morning now me traveling from New Hampshire to Houston I know what's going to happen I'm going to see something I want and I already went and looked. I guess there's a UPS and a FedEx store around the corner. So I'm hoping I find some things there. Yeah. You want to talk a little bit about the swap meet and what people can expect?
    20:31
    Yeah, the swap meet, we've, you know, had people just show up that nobody knew and then they'll have tons of games and parts, you know. And then, you know, it's a mix. you know console stuff you know arcade stuff so a little bit of everything yeah a little bit of everything so um you know some professional flea market guys I think show up you know I don't know that's why we like it free and just kind of open source so that way you know everybody can participate well that's a great point because the Gallantown show was never a free for the flea market. And it's unfortunate because I think people like me, I have a stash of stuff, but a booth basically erodes the reason to go. If I've got to pay $100 and I'm only selling $5 boards or things that are a dollar or a couple of bucks, you're giving all the money back to the source. And rightfully so, they deserve it. But I think you'd have a much better response, and it sounds like you do. Yeah, and you don't even have to be going to the show. You can just come to the spot. Oh, see, that's even better. Yeah, like I said, it's open source.
    21:55
    We'd like you to come in and go to the show. Well, I've been signed up for a couple... The Swamp Meets is sponsored by a local Texas arcade called Quasars down in Corpus Christi. They've sponsored the Swamp Meets. Gotcha. you um this is kind of a a touchy subject but i'm just curious you folks have had some really bad weather over the course of the last couple years does it does it has it affected the collector community and have a lot of people lost parts of their collection as a result yes and yes it's been I feel bad for anybody who lost games. All warehouses of collectors around here were just decimated. So do you live in Houston proper or somewhere outside of Houston? So I grew up in a flood zone in Houston proper in southwest Houston and we would get flooded all the time So when it came time for me to purchase a house and put my data center up the first thing I did was go through all the flood maps and make sure that area was outside of the 500- or 1,000-year floodplain. Gotcha.
    23:11
    And so I'm up northwest, so I'm higher, and I'm away from any of the big creeks that flood, and so we're good up here and also at my office. It's gotten close. You know, we've gotten nervous because I have employees that will stay there during big storms.
    23:33
    Especially the hurricanes and stuff like that because we have generators. Right. We do people's phones and everything. Right, you're prepared. You're ready for the battle. Yeah, but we see that water creeping up and we're like, ah.
    23:46
    Yeah, no, I have a wet backyard here in New Hampshire and I understand the perils of water. If the audience doesn't understand, good, congratulations. But anybody who's been through it, it's an awful feeling because you can't stop it. It's humanly impossible unless, like you said, you're in high ground or have made all the necessary preparations and it's not inexpensive to do so. There's still no guarantee. Yeah. There's still no guarantee. Correct. Yeah, the Harvey one was bad. I mean, there was, there's pictures out there of guys' collections, pinball collections, six foot of water. I have a buddy who. And, you know, stuff like that. And, you know, people hopefully, you know, pulled out boards, you know, salvaged whatever they could.
    24:46
    And then there's a lot of rescue stories. People got a crazy climber cabaret on the side of the road.
    24:58
    And it was only in a foot of water, and he cut the cabinet and fixed it all back up and brought it back to life.
    25:05
    I ended up getting a couple of flood survivors, but it just wakes up the side. Especially in the arcades, it just wakes up the side. Oh, no. The reason I ask is I have one of my best friends in New Jersey went through the hurricane back in 2012, and he ended up losing 25 Bali SS games. He had four feet of water that came up in under an hour on the Jersey Shore. And he only kept a handful of games because he said, I'll never get to them all. And some people are going to try to rescue some hard-to-find games like Spectrum and Fathom and Centaur. It was horrible. That's from them.
    25:57
    With that salt water coming up. Yeah. And fast forward, I talked to him two days ago. and he has a BMW motorcycle that he was driving home on the turnpike, and the back seal blew out, and he said, water. Again, the salt water just got into everything. He's got cars. He's a car collector too, and it just, you have no idea. Well, you probably do because you live there. the salt water gets into every crevice crack. I had the best looking high speed that you'd ever find. Right. Mid play field. No wear spots. I mean, artwork. I mean, it was nice. Well, the problem was it was in four feet of water. Oh, the coils got all water, you know, because it was down during a previous storm or whatever, down in what we call the Kima area down south.
    27:06
    But, I mean, once I replaced all the coils and kind of resurfaced all the, it had rust in there, you know, and we kind of neutralized it the best we could. But it played for years, you know. Yeah, it's just unfortunate. I don't like bringing up the subject, but, you know, curiosity.
    27:26
    I'd like to move on to the tournament section. Now, I need to do a little bit of a preamble here. I've never participated in a tournament, and I am going to be in your tournament for the first time.
    27:49
    Sweet! Yeah, up until a point. having reviewed when I first signed up for the tournament there were no games or there were only a couple of games that were shown on the website and now you've got a complete list I'm a fish out of water here I've played some of these games but I don't have the deep knowledge of others and then looking at all the people that are participating I think I'm one of three who doesn't have an IFPA ranking. Am I in for it?
    28:29
    You're going to have to ask Phil. Phil is the tournament guru. From what I see of me kind of passively coming through there, yes, you're going to be hamburger meat for sure. Yeah, well, Phil was my savior. He had, and I know it's a tough game, but at least there was a Flash Gordon in the mix. He's since taken it out, and I'm guessing he's either had issues or thought otherwise or somebody complained. But that was the only game I had any familiarity with, having played a number of times. All these other games, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I don't see any. I'm going to try not to come in I don't see any 80's stuff in there I'm going to try not to come in last how's that you heard it here first that's the beauty of pinball right I play against some of my buds that are really hardcore in the tournaments sometimes I win every dog has it's day every dog has it's day or every dog has a ball dream that's in your favor right? So yeah, I mean, it can, it can go your way. Um, um, I don't have high expectations, but I think it makes for a good podcast in that you can follow the trials and tribulations of George playing in a tournament. And you've got some big names playing in the tournament as well. I, you probably don't know. I think there might be a couple of slots left on Saturday morning.
    30:14
    Uh, I thought, I don't know, I think it may be. Yeah, it was close to sold out. I mean, you had a great response the first day. I mean, a lot of people signed up. Yeah, I think maybe you only have three or four left. Right.
    30:30
    We're actually going to have one of the, let me look up which guy, but one of the top players actually is going to do a how-to-play competitive pinball seminar. Hopefully that takes place before 4 o'clock on Friday. I think it's on Saturday. I'm doomed. I'm doomed.
    30:56
    Okay, enough of my plight. The raffle. I see that you're raffling off a Jurassic Park. Yes. Awesome.
    31:11
    How does that work? I'm guessing $10, $5, $1 ticket, something along those lines? Yeah, so... And is it a charity event?
    31:23
    Yeah, so basically we're getting the Jurassic Park Pro model, and you don't have to be there to win, but you do have to be there to purchase the ticket. and you can buy tickets for I think it's like $10 $20 for one or $10 for $100 or something like that I don't have the exact price breakdown right now but yeah so all the proceeds after the pinball go to the Ocean Conservancy,
    32:10
    which basically, you know, helps out the oceans, you know, helps clean them out. Get rid of all the plastic, get rid of all the debris. Try to get rid of the plastic. Yeah, you know, it's we live right next to the Gulf. We eat a lot of seafood down here. It's a big part of our life. Understood. We've got a big ocean here as well. So completely understandable. I've got to backtrack a little bit. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the women's division tournament, the interplanetary knockout. I guess that's a bells and chimes event. Yes, sir.
    32:53
    So are you expecting, has that happened before, and how big a draw is that for the women's division? it is will be the first time um i know that they have weekly um you know um tournaments at the local one of the local arcades here at the game preserve and so they've they've built up a quite a good following uh with the bells and chimes for sure and uh what they're going to do is they're not going to be in their own room they're actually They're going to have a booth in the main showroom, and they're going to be able to, I think, take some walk-ups, which is good. That's always, you know, I like that. You know, when somebody can engage with the hobby that way, you know, just be a walk-up and play the first tournament, you know.
    33:50
    There's some great female players, and I'm looking forward to seeing that tournament as well. Yeah, so they're going to be in the main room, and they'll be over there, and that's great, because I think that'll help them actively recruit people and spread their word and have a good time. Do you have any affiliation with Jeff Teolis and his world tour? I guess he got a small event happening prior to the show Do you know what I No Okay Something Einstein Pub or something like that in Katy Texas
    34:32
    No? I heard, yeah, I haven't, nobody said anything to me about that and, I mean, nobody said anything directly to me about it, so I have no clue what that is. Okay. I've heard kind of like, there were some sort of, so maybe you can educate me that there's something going on I think it's Thursday night. I have a feeling it's probably sold out. When I first learned of it, I thought Katy, Texas was a million miles away from Houston, so I didn't really bother, but then I revisited it, and it's only, what, 20 minutes from the hotel.
    35:11
    That's about all. I met Jeff at Pentastic. Seems like a nice guy. He's got a podcast. I'm sure he'll talk about it. But he's been all over the place at every major tournament recently. So, I don't know. I guess we'll have to look. So he's got a little tournament that he's doing over at Einstein's on Thursday. I think that's the case. Okay. So I'm sure it's going to draw. So while we're sweating and putting everything together, they're over there partying at Einstein's. I see how it is. There you go. I think... There's one thing. Do you ever any of the Pinball Museum tour?
    35:55
    No. Can you talk a little bit about that and where that is in relationship to the hotel? So there's a local collector that predates pretty much all of us. It's Dan Ferguson, and he has built and owns the Lone Star Pinball Museum in Hockley, Texas. and if you're a fan of EMs and pre-war stuff, all that stuff he goes up I think he has maybe one DMD but he has amassed an incredible collection of pinball games beer advertising especially on the Lone Star Texas side and games and just oddities and just really cool stuff and um so it's kind of like a private collection slash museum and you have tours and whatever and we're having on friday start from 2 p.m until 7 uh we're gonna have a bus come um and pick up everybody up and drive everybody out to hockley which is maybe about an hour away 45 minutes away from the from the hotel and you get to stay and play take pictures, hang out, talk to Dan, and, you know, for a great time, and then you can come back to the show. And we're just trying to get $40 per person, just kind of cover the bus and the tip for the driver. Gotcha. For all the people. Yeah, unfortunately, I'm playing in the tournament, so that's probably not going to work out for me. But for others who plan on attending the show, So I saw some of the pictures, and there are some very, very unique machines that I recall from my youth. So it looks like a really fun place to go to. Yeah, we've had kickoff parties there, and we've had get-togethers, and it was definitely a hub for the local collecting community for years, for sure. so is there anything that I missed in interviewing you it seems like we've covered almost everything anything I might have forgotten yeah I mean on the vendor side we're also going to have a lot of artists arcade pinball artists keep checking the website we're still booking people we still have some slots available the guys over at Deep Root will be doing have a couple of prototype machines for people to play on there's a lot of chatter around that company a lot of chatter for that what about Scott Denise there seems to be a lot of chatter around that too do you think we might hear something because there was no announcement this past weekend in Chicago I guess a couple of Jesus, but no announcement. That would be great, you know, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I mean, we're kind of, I mean, we're just as passionate as everybody else about pinball and everything, but we've always been kind of like the redhead stepchild, you know what I'm saying? Well, you're, I understand, and I haven't been, and I think I'm going to go next year, you know, to TPF. but hey if something happens with Scott or one of the other companies that could only be the cherry on top you've got a terrific show the reason I'm going is I saw one of the tournaments on Twitch over the last year or two and I said I've got to go plus my wife's got business there so it makes it a little bit easier so it's a win win and it's funny She's got co-workers in the Houston area that have no idea or had no idea that there was an arcade show. So I'm glad at least I'm spreading a little magic in Houston being so far away. That's awesome, yeah.
    40:24
    It's important to have pre-coverage, pre, you know. It's one of our biggest shows. We did Pintastic. I actually broke it up into three different segments, and it's my most listened to podcast. So, you know, I thought, hey, I'm going. I might as well reach out and see if they want to do some pre-advertising. We're not a gigantic podcast, but we have our audience. And, hey, maybe you get a couple extra bodies this year. Maybe you get some more people traveling next year. It can only be goodness is the way I look at it. One thing we haven't mentioned in this whole podcast is the dates. We're looking at Friday, November 15th and Saturday, November 16th at the Houston Marriott Westchase 500 room hotel. Gorgeous facility from what I can see. And it looks like it's going to be a real rip roar in time. You've got a lot of great people who I'm sure have been there in the past and are going to be attending again this year. yes sir we're keeping on one last thing and this is more for me than the audience I'm a real blues guy you've got some terrific blues artists out of Texas but the one that I haven't and I'm hoping this finds its way to him Smokin' Joe Kubek was one of my favorite artists and unfortunately passed a couple years ago his partner Benoit King basically dropped off the landscape and I'm hoping someone somewhere knows something about him and that he's still in good health great people they've traveled here to New Hampshire numerous times in the east coast and I miss them greatly I gotta get you in touch with a buddy of mine Pete Thompson He's a big blues guy as well, and he would go to all the local dive blues shows and bigger ones and whatever. He knew quite a lot of people, so he may be able to... Yeah, I think they were based more out of the Dallas area, and I think there's some... Right, but they would come down and play here. Oh, of course. I mean, it's... Because they would tour a lot of Texas. Anyways, he's got a whole wall full of blues artists that I don't even know who they are. Designed and everything.
    43:01
    I'll get you all in touch with each other. That's terrific. Before I say goodbye, is there anything else that you'd like to talk about?
    43:12
    No, just wish me luck. I don't think you need any luck. I think you've got a great show. But I'll say to people, hey, if I'm traveling all the way from New Hampshire to go to this show, if you're within an hour listening distance of Houston, get off here and get there. That would do what I would say. Yeah, we got some hotel deals going on. You know, really, I'm just kind of joking about that, but I'm just looking at the mountain of work in front of me. But really, it's also with all the local guys that help out with the show.
    43:55
    People bring games. I mean, it's definitely a community effort. I'm just the head madman that signs the paperwork and gets the space and kind of generally organizes it. But it's down to all the clubs and the community and the people that make it happen. It's a group effort. Do you have a title other than Head Madman? Head Madman, I mean, that's pretty much it.
    44:27
    I mean, that's, you know, it's organized chaos. I mean, it's a great time. Well, I can't offer you to bring a game because of how far it is away, but I'm going to be in town starting Wednesday, so I'll... I'll seek you out, and if you need some extra hands, I'm more than happy to volunteer.
    44:53
    I appreciate that. Yeah, we have a lot of pinballs to put together. A lot of pinball legs. I've got a little experience with that. Yep. With that said, I'm going to leave it at that. Keith, I very much appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do this. I do wish you success with this show and many more to come, and look forward to meeting you face-to-face. I look forward as well. We'll have a beer. Take care, everybody, and we'll see you at the Houston Arcade Expo. Peace. Thank you.
    45:41
    But my heart's in Texas, can't stay away too long Got to get right back, hey baby, that's my home