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Episode 117 - Interview with Molly Baldridge 7-2-15

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·23m 41s·analyzed·Jul 6, 2015
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Nick Baldridge interviews wife Molly about pinball collecting hobby and family impact.

Summary

Nick Baldridge interviews his wife Molly about her experience with his growing pinball collection (13 machines currently, mostly EM and bingo games). Molly discusses her preferences for flipper games over bingo machines, her favorite game (Twinkie), and how pinball has positively impacted their social life and family. Nick announces he is moving two solid-state machines out and adding two new bingo machines, bringing the bingo collection to five.

Key Claims

  • Nick currently has 13 pinball machines in the house

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge states this directly in opening discussion with Molly

  • Nick is moving two solid-state machines out and bringing in two new bingo machines

    high confidence · Nick announces: 'this is the first time I'm announcing this, moving two of my solid-state machines out of the house and bringing in two new bingos'

  • After the move, Nick will have five bingo machines and eight flipper machines

    high confidence · Nick states 'we'll be up to five bingos, but we'll still have eight. Eight flippers? Yeah, flippers.'

  • Molly's favorite machine is Twinkie

    high confidence · Molly directly states: 'Right now I'd have to say Twinkie, probably' as her favorite

  • Molly prefers flipper games with 2-inch flippers over 3-inch flippers

    high confidence · Molly confirms: 'Sure. If that's what the Twinkie and the Pop-A-Card and Gigi all have the same 2-inch flipper style... for some reason the other ones just keep my attention longer'

  • Nick and Molly went to a venue called Flippers and played Wizard of Oz there

    high confidence · Molly states: 'I did enjoy the Wizard of Oz down at flippers when we went last year... That one was very addictive'

  • The garage no longer has a door, only a curtain

    high confidence · Nick explains: 'the garage does not have a door on it any longer, just a curtain. I'm too lazy to move the door so that it opens inward into the arcade.'

  • Molly has become more social since being exposed to pinball

    high confidence · Nick observes: 'It has definitely helped you blossom into a social butterfly because... before pinball entered your life, having people over was not something you enjoyed'

Notable Quotes

  • “She says I talk about pinball too much yeah it takes up about 85% of the conversations that we have together”

    Nick Baldridge @ early — Sets tone for Nick's obsessive engagement with pinball and dynamic with spouse

  • “whenever I play it though I just want to keep playing it so I don't really have a desire to play a strong desire to play any pinball but once I get down there and I start on that particular machine it's very easy for me to just stay stick to it”

    Molly Baldridge @ mid — Describes her experience with Twinkie and the addictive nature of specific machines

  • “I like to be able to participate more... whenever i do seem to nudge it automatically goes into tilt no matter what game i'm playing so i just prefer the flipper games”

    Molly Baldridge @ mid — Articulates preference for flipper games over bingo games and her frustration with tilting

  • “just keep the noise down”

    Molly Baldridge @ late — Humorous parting words that contrast with podcast's 'What's that sound?' tagline

  • “this is the first time I'm announcing this, moving two of my solid-state machines out of the house and bringing in two new bingos. So we'll be up to five bingos, but we'll still have eight”

    Nick Baldridge @ mid-late — First public announcement of significant collection change

  • “It's been impressive noticing how quickly that transformation took place... just within, what, two or three years, went from zero pinball machines to four... four years, you went from having zero pinballs to, what do we have, 13?”

    Nick Baldridge @ late — Documents rapid growth of collection and Molly's transformation into enthusiast

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonMolly BaldridgepersonFor Amusement OnlyorganizationTwinkiegamePop-A-CardgameMariogameGigigameWizard of OzgameTicker Tapegame

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Interview highlights how pinball collecting integrates into domestic life and family dynamics, showing positive social impact while maintaining boundaries

    high · Molly notes transformation from unsocial to social butterfly; husband observes kids exposed to pinball; boundary negotiation around garage space and additional machines

  • ?

    collector_signal: Rapid collection growth from zero machines ~4 years prior to current 13 machines (8 flipper, 5 bingo post-announcement)

    high · Nick states: 'four years, you went from having zero pinballs to, what do we have, 13?' Announces move to 8 flipper + 5 bingo configuration

  • ?

    product_strategy: Shift in collection strategy toward increasing bingo machines (moving from solid-state to adding bingos) suggests evolving collector interests

    medium · Nick announces: 'moving two of my solid-state machines out of the house and bringing in two new bingos. So we'll be up to five bingos'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Non-expert player (Molly) demonstrates strong preference for 2-inch flipper machines over 3-inch, suggesting flipper sizing impacts casual play experience

    medium · Molly: 'for some reason the other ones [3-inch flipper games] just keep my attention longer' for 2-inch machines Twinkie, Pop-A-Card, Gigi

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Preference for active flipper participation over cerebral/observational bingo play indicates player motivation differences between game types

    high · Molly: 'I enjoy the more physical instead of... The cerebral. Yes, exactly... I want to not have to think at all i'll just hit the flipper'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.071

0:00
what's that sound it's for amusement only the em and bingo pinball podcast welcome back to for amusement only this is nick baldridge with me tonight i finally convinced her it's my wife molly how are you molly i'm great how are you can't complain we're recording this on the Thursday before the observed holiday of the 4th of July even though it's only the 2nd tonight but you have to work tomorrow don't you? I do, all day you sound excited I'm always excited, yes so I wanted to talk with you a bit about pinball that's shocking she says I talk about pinball too much yeah it takes up about 85% of the conversations that we have together even though I'm not contributing much to that yep now I'm glad that Nick has found something that he is so passionate about and is obviously good at so that's nice of you to say that I'm good at I don't know that I'd say that so So I've got 13 machines in the house currently. Do you think we could fit another five or so? Not really in the house. They're in the garage. And I'm fine as long as they don't expand out of the garage. Okay.
1:41
So you're asking can you get some more? Not without getting rid of some, no. Unless you start stacking them like a Japanese hotel situation. little cubbies and cubicles. Maybe you could build something that you can rotate them and have one come down. Given enough time and money, Molly. Anything is possible.
2:06
You went through and had a refresher course last night. One of the different games. Which one is your favorite? Right now I'd have to say Twinkie, probably. And what makes that one your favorites?
2:20
I don't really know. whenever I play it though I just want to keep playing it so I don't really have a desire to play a strong desire to play any pinball but once I get down there and I start on that particular machine it's very easy for me to just stay stick to it and keep wanting to play it so and it might have to do with I at one point I had the high score you still do okay and I think that was a fluke, but I don't think so. You're pretty good at that one. You don't need a lot of skill to play that one. I would actually disagree heavily. That one is really hard for most of us. Okay. I like that it's simple, but it's exciting.
Flippers
venue
  • ?

    venue_signal: Flippers arcade recently expanded EM machine offerings, indicating venue investment in classic pinball appeal

    medium · Nick states: 'They've actually added a whole bunch of EMs now. We should go down there for our weekend.'

  • ?

    content_signal: Podcast launching new feature: call-in bingo line (724-BINGOS-1 / 724-246-4671) to expand audience engagement

    high · Nick announces: 'today, just today, we have a new feature. It is a call-in bingo line. The number is 724-BINGOS-1'

    • 3:10
    There's not a lot on the playfield, but it has enough to keep you coming back. Do you like the pointy peacock artwork on the side?
    3:22
    Yes, it doesn't hurt. It was a big draw for me. So out of all the machines, aside from Twinkie, is there another one that you would prefer that I keep?
    3:35
    Well, I think you have to keep Mario just because the kids would kill you if you got rid of that one. But I like Papa Card too, just because of its simplicity of the play field. It's not, I do like one of the drop things. Drop targets. Yeah.
    3:56
    Yeah, I just like that one. It was the first one we had. It used to, we kept it in our living room in our 850 square foot house. And that was, that just about killed me. But no, I enjoy it. And it's fun. Do you prefer the sounds of Twinkie or the sounds of Pop-A-Card?
    4:21
    Probably Twinkie, just because it's not as... I don't know. They're both tolerable. So bells and chimes, you're okay with either one? Mm-hmm.
    4:34
    Now, you played Gigi for the first time last night. Mm-hmm. What do you think of that one? That one was... I just didn't play very well, so... I don't have strong feelings towards it. I don't like that one. I don't mind the, you know, look of it, but I've only played it that one once, or did I play... I think I played two rounds of it, so... But I just... They were very quick games, because I just wasn't very good at it. So, if I played it some more, I might enjoy it some more, but as of right now, I just don't have a whole lot to say about it. Do you like the artwork on it? Yeah, some of the clowns are disturbing, but yes.
    5:18
    So Molly here is a big proponent of the bingos. She loves them. And isn't that right, Molly? No. I don't have a strong hatred towards them, but I just have no desire to play them. And when I have played them, they just don't keep my attention really. So I like to be able to participate more. And some people might argue that you can fully participate in the bingo But I not a big tilter I don like to nudge or i guess you not trying to tilt but i not a big nudger and um so i just don because whenever i do seem to nudge it automatically goes into tilt no matter what game i'm playing so i don't know what i'm doing wrong there, but I just prefer the flipper games.
    6:22
    And it seems like you prefer the 2-inch flipper games to the 3-inch flipper games. Sure. If that's what the Twinkie and the Pop-A-Gard and Gigi all have the same 2-inch flipper style.
    6:34
    Circus and Mario have the 3-inch. I mean, I enjoy those too, but for some reason the other ones just keep my attention longer.
    6:46
    Yeah. I think that's cool. You did, though, I made you play each of the bingos last night. Yes. And you did win a couple times. Even though I repeatedly did not wait to put quarters in.
    7:06
    And I kept only allowing one card to... So, yeah, I'll tell a couple stories about this. Last night, Molly put in six quarters into ticker tape. It was the first time she had played it.
    7:22
    And she fired her first ball and nudged the game one time and tilted it. And she lost her whole bet there.
    7:31
    The second time, she put in four quarters, which lit four cards. And you did win on that one. Did I? Mm-hmm. and then you started a new game it was just one card and you won on that one too did I? it wasn't a big win but you got four uh huh okay so it's something do you like winning on those or in different um I just I mean it doesn't suck to win but it's not the same excitement that I get with a flipper game that I can participate more in. So I would argue that actually bingos involve more participation because they're not just a twitch based reaction to... I guess it's not the participation the type of participation that I enjoy. I enjoy the more physical instead of the... The cerebral. Yes, exactly. got it got it i want to not have to think at all i'll just hit the flipper when the ball's coming got it so on the moving numbers game i mean it's kind of cool that you can change things so i don't i don't have a problem with that i don't think they're bad machines i just uh they are kind of over my head so give it time all my huge spans of time that I have I will be devoting that to warming up to bingo I'm glad to hear that so on the magic screen game that bounty is kind of like the ones that Steve has with the magic screens and your first exposure to bingos was my first exposure to, which was over at Steve's. What do you think about those in particular?
    9:42
    I don't have a lot to say about them. Okay. I don't have a lot of experience playing them. I'm happy for you. I'm excited to add so much to this part of your hobby, but I just haven't dived into that yet. So what if I told you that I was getting rid of all the Flipper games? I'd be very disappointed.
    10:16
    I think the kids would be too. Yes. They would complain. And more importantly, their friends. Yes. Well... So you don't have plans of doing that anytime soon? Oh, no.
    10:29
    I think it's good to have variety. I've said that on the podcast before, but I'm actually, this is the first time I'm announcing this, moving two of my solid-state machines out of the house and bringing in two new bingos. So we'll be up to five bingos, but we'll still have eight. Eight flippers? Yeah, flippers.
    10:52
    So do you think that's a good mix, or do you think we need a few more bingos? I think that's enough bingos because there's actually one other that I'd like to get well good luck finding a place for it well because it's not coming in the house so are there any pinball games that you have ever played that you would like us to get I don't I wouldn't say that we need to acquire any more pinballs, but I Did enjoy the Wizard of Oz down at flippers
    11:40
    When we went last year and I think there multiple Wizard of Oz ones aren there there just the one just the one Oh that one was very addictive I played that one for a very long time so I don even remember what about it I loved but it was just a I just enjoyed playing it so
    12:01
    Any other older machines, though, that you might have played before? I don't know if I've played any older machines. Really? When would I have played them?
    12:11
    At some point. Molly plays a lot of pinball with me, as you can tell. Yeah, I don't. But we did go down to Flippers.
    12:23
    They've actually added a whole bunch of EMs now. We should go down there for our weekend. I agree, but let's avoid the beach.
    12:32
    And the sharks. And the sharks, yeah, especially the sharks. Not that they bother me. Miles away from the beach. This is the first year that I've ever remembered them Having so many There was another shark attack On Okra Crook Does that make you nervous or do you think we should Go to the beach sometime This is all pinball related I would like to go to the beach I love the beach, Nick hates the beach I really don't like the beach Sand and sun And salt water Time away from pinball seafood and anything sea related water but anyway back to pinball whoa bringing me back on topic here in general do you like the look of older machines or newer machines I do like the artwork on the older machines but I don't have a strong preference one way or the other more so than the computer generated images of today's machines. Now I know, aside from the ones that I'm constantly saying hey we should get this thing and trying to convince you that really we need more pinball in our lives you haven't seen a whole lot but do you like the look of the wood rail the ones with the wood sides or the metal rail I like the look of the wood rail better but the ones that I've tried of those are not as exciting as the metal rail of course a good chunk of them are flipperless right and that's not my favorite so if you can combine flippers with the wood rail there are plenty of those too in the 50s and even into the 60s they're still making the wood rails I'm not asking you to go look for any right now sounds like that's what you're saying here sounds like I have permission so that's good anything else that you've been dying to ask me did you enjoy yourself when you played last night I did it was very enjoyable it's funny once I get down there I do enjoy it but when I'm not down there I don't really have a desire to go down there to play but I guess that's kind of like video games too I don't really have a desire to play video games but once I'm playing them it's fun I enjoy myself you gotta revisit that Animal Crossing town yeah it's been a couple years the weeds have probably taken over.
    15:34
    All my people have probably moved out. My animals, rather, not my people. Has it been interesting, you know, having more people over being more social? It has definitely helped you blossom into a social butterfly because you, yeah, before pinball entered your life,
    15:56
    having people over was not something you enjoyed or looked forward to and afterwards now we can pretty much invite anybody over at any time as long as they can visit your space down there but I think it's really cool that you've got this unique hobby that most people that come over are not as involved in as you are And so you get to share the information that you know about it and introduce it to a lot of people that normally wouldn't ever think about it. And so, I don't know. I've enjoyed seeing you come out of your shell the past couple years.
    16:48
    And it's been impressive noticing how quickly that transformation took place. because you were introduced again to pinball through a co-worker of mine, and it was like you set a fire that who would have thought you would have already, just within, what, two or three years, went from zero pinball machines to four. Has it been four years? Yeah.
    17:20
    I guess time flies. But four years, you went from having zero pinballs to, what do we have, 13? Or whatever, if you count in bingos and stuff. Bingo stew, in fact, count, yes. I guess there are balls in bingos. And there's pins, and there's plungers. Yeah so it fun to watch you get so excited about different types of games And every time I see you on your tablets and phones you're looking at some kind of pinball-related thing. So it's definitely become an obsession, but there could be worse obsessions out there.
    18:02
    And it's just cool to see our kids exposed to this... Entertainment? entertainment device amusement this amusement uh device uh you know they're they're not too many four and seven year olds that uh have a lot of knowledge in pinballs and it's just cool to see them exposed to it and uh they enjoy bringing their friends over and showing it off and a lot of their friends have never seen pinballs before and so it's cool to expose another generation and their parents which you know most of them haven't seen pinball machines in decades so yeah so it's been fun it's been real and just keep it contained in the garage and we'll be good.
    19:09
    I've been meaning to talk with you. Ava really wants to have a pinball machine in her room. Yeah, nice try. It's not happening.
    19:18
    Sophie, too, has expressed interest. Yeah. Well, if we got rid of everything else in their room... I'll let them know. Yeah. No, it's not an option. You don't think? No. Okay.
    19:35
    I know that sounds unreasonable, but I have to put my foot down somewhere. It does sound very reasonable. I mean, I think we have nice boundaries here. Mm-hmm. Because otherwise they'd be everywhere. I'm already not allowed to put garage things in the garage. They have to go in the shed outside or in the bins. It's just flooring and insulation and stuff. It's not really a garage anymore. I know, but it would be nice to have something attached to the house where we could put our things, like tools.
    20:07
    But anyway, I will survive. So, any parting words of bingo wisdom? Just keep the noise down. Nice. Yeah, so the garage does not have a door on it any longer, just a curtain.
    20:32
    I'm too lazy to move the door so that it opens inward into the arcade. So it opens outward into the kitchen. Which is already a small space to begin with. And so in the summer when we're entertaining or anything, people kept on getting hit with the door.
    20:52
    And it's just in the way. Took it off. Yeah. So now we hear bingo and pinball every night. When people come over, a lot of different machines at the same time. It gets a little noisy, but... It is also the best at the same time, isn't it? I don't know if I would say that's the best. Funny that your slogan for this podcast is, what's that sound? and I'm like, just keep the noise down. You know exactly what the sound is.
    21:28
    The sound is too much noise. Well, it was a pleasure being interviewed by you. Oh, the pleasure was all mine, my dear. I guess next time we'll have you on is when there's some more bingo information to be told out here. I'm sure everyone's going to be waiting on bated breath until that happens. Well, thanks for having me on. Well, thanks for coming on. It only took 115 episodes to get here. That's good.
    22:01
    I had to let the suspense build. The mystery. Yes. Who is this woman? I don't think he's really married. I don't think he could be with the pinball stuff he's doing. Nope, I put up with a lot. You do? Mm-hmm. And I appreciate it. Mm-hmm. So, thank you, and I'll talk to you in five minutes.
    22:26
    Well, thank you for listening. My name is Nick Baldrige. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com.
    22:34
    And today, just today, we have a new feature. It is a call-in bingo line. The number is 724-BINGOS-1. That's 724-246-4671.
    22:54
    Call and feel free to share a bingo or EM playing memory, questions, including technical questions, anything you like. Just be aware that it will likely be shared on the podcast.
    23:10
    So feel free to call in. Let's hear what you've got to say. you can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at Bingo Podcast, you can follow me on Instagram at nbaldrich, in fact I just made a Google Plus page for the podcast and you can also listen to us on our website which is foramusementonly.libsyn.com thanks very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time