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The Stree Thrike Affair

NYC PinPod·podcast_episode·1h 3m·analyzed·May 11, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

NYC PinPod S01E??: Local tournament recap, venue updates, and playoff coverage for May 4-10, 2026.

Summary

NYC PinPod covers local competitive pinball in New York City and surrounding areas for the week of May 4-10, 2026. Hosts Benjamin Furiga and Eric Swedeland discuss tournament results (Pinfest, National Herb Day, Silver Ball Sunday, Pinball NYC playoffs, Scrapple League), venue updates tracking 366 machines at 75 NYC locations via Pinball Map, and personal pinball experiences. The episode focuses heavily on Pinball NYC's team league playoffs structure and upcoming events, with significant attendance expected at the Stomp tournament in Rochester.

Key Claims

  • As of May 8th, 2026, there are 366 pinball machines in New York City at 75 public locations

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga, citing Pinball Map data

  • A significant percentage of NYC's pinball community is traveling to Stomp in Rochester this coming weekend

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga, noting registrations halfway through alphabet already represent substantial portion of NYC community

  • Buttermilk Bar received major machine swap: removed Walking Dead, Twilight Zone, NBA Fast Break, Attack from Mars; added Stars, Diner, and upgraded Metallica from Pro to Premium

    high confidence · Eric Swedeland describing venue update from Pinball Map user reports

  • Popeye Saves the Earth at Barcade Brooklyn has a weak skill wheel motor that has failed multiple times in short spans

    high confidence · Bonsai user comment on Pinball Map: 'Maybe this one will last more than three weeks'

  • Sean Grant and Adam Kane tied for first place in Scrapple League Week 1 with 31 IFPA points each

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga reporting Scrapple League results

  • Rickie's Crown Heights in Brooklyn is a new venue that added Star Trek: The Next Generation

    high confidence · Pinball Map update from Upstate Pinball

  • A Pokemon LE at Scrappleland has a left in lane feed that regularly bobbles into the left out lane

    high confidence · Pinash user comment on Pinball Map

  • The Ghostbusters machine at Franklin Park finally works reliably

    medium confidence · Benjamin Furiga's opening statement about his B-C-F initials

  • Pinball NYC's team league structure includes both Orbit (top division) and In-Lane (lower/consolation division) playoffs

    high confidence · Benjamin Furiga explaining playoff structure

Notable Quotes

  • “The Ghostbusters at Franklin Park finally fucking works.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ 0:00 — Opening joke about a machine that has had ongoing reliability issues; establishes tone of insider knowledge about NYC venue conditions

  • “It's almost like the Beatles song... hello, goodbye, hello.”

    Eric Swedeland @ ~35:00 — Humorous commentary on Buttermilk Bar's machine rotation; shows familiarity with rapid venue changes

  • “I love that, four Rulos. Also on Sunday, user Flipper Fiend went by Single Cut Beersmith Squeens...”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~38:00 — Shows enthusiasm for Funhouse being added to Rulos; reflects collector/enthusiast preferences

  • “Plays as it should. Should is a really big word in that sentence to me.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~42:00 — Philosophical reflection on a Pinball Map user comment about Deadpool; shows depth of community feedback interpretation

  • “I kicked Farfalla's motherfucking ass. And if I could figure out an alley pass on it, you can't beat me.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~58:00 — Personal pinball performance narrative; shows competitive confidence on specific games

  • “I just said, have fun tonight. And kept going. I did not say go get him.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~60:00 — Reflects ethos of sportsmanship and support across rival team members in community

  • “I finally got the Day O' Dinner, I think is the name of the mode... And I was like, oh, yes.”

    Eric Swedeland @ ~49:00 — Personal gameplay satisfaction on Beetlejuice Harry Belafonte mode; shows joy of discovering game features

  • “If it you were an outgoing person who might fit the bill for wanting to play pinball and have queer somewhere in your identity, it might have been a cool place to just generally show up and find people to hang out with who also like pinball.”

    Benjamin Furiga — Community inclusivity language describing Toppers queer pinball club; signals social diversity in NYC pinball scene

Entities

Benjamin FurigapersonEric SwedelandpersonGreg PavarellipersonKate MartinpersonJoe SaeedpersonMonica WeidekamppersonMatt GradypersonDan MerrillpersonSean GrantpersonAdam KanepersonGreg FertelpersonLevy Naiman

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Multiple high-stakes tournament results reported: Pinfest (68 players), National Herb Day (37 players, hybrid best-game format), Silver Ball Sunday (12 players match play), Scrapple League Week 1 (32 players, IFPA scoring), and ongoing Pinball NYC team league playoffs across multiple divisions

    high · Detailed recaps of Pinfest finals, National Herb Day with Whoppers scoring, Silver Ball Sunday results, Scrapple League standings, and comprehensive Pinball NYC playoff bracket structures

  • ?

    venue_signal: Significant machine activity at NYC venues: Buttermilk Bar major swap (5 removals, 2 additions, 1 upgrade), Rulo's added Funhouse/removed Uncanny X-Men, Barcade locations adding/removing machines, new venue (Rickie's Crown Heights) launched with Star Trek TNG

    high · Detailed Pinball Map user reports of machine changes at multiple venues, Kate's machine operator involvement in swaps, community awareness of venue collections

  • ?

    product_concern: Multiple reported machine reliability problems: Demolition Man right flipper losing power, Pokemon LE in-lane feed issues, Popeye Saves the Earth skill wheel motor failures (3+ failures in short timeframe), Harlem Globetrotters upper left flipper issues, various lighting/mechanical problems

    high · Pinball Map user reports from JNS, Pinash, Bonsai, and others documenting specific mechanical failures and playability concerns across venue machines

  • ?

    community_signal: Toppers queer pinball club established and meeting regularly at Scrapple Land, casual drop-in format attracting LGBTQ+ pinball enthusiasts, planned podcast interview coming in final episode of season

    high · Eric Swedeland's detailed description of Toppers experience, Benjamin Furiga's characterization of welcoming ethos, scheduled future podcast coverage

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.191

0:00
I'm out of here. Happy Sunday, Pinfolk, or whatever day you're listening. This is NYC PinPod, in which a panel talks location pinball in New York City and nearby surrounding areas. My name is Benjamin Furiga. My initials are B-C-F, and the Ghostbusters at Franklin Park finally fucking works. My name is Eric Swedeland. My initials are H-I-P, and I'm a pinball tournament director in New York City. On this week's pod, in Ball 1, we'll do that thing we usually do and talk about local competition results over the past week. In Ball 2, we will do those things we usually do, which are venue updates courtesy of Pinball Map and its users, thanks to Eric. And then we'll give you our Pinball Bullet journals. And in Ball 3, we're going to have a little bit of a grab bag this week.
1:23
Let's get started. Let's talk about competitive pinball in New York City and nearby surrounding areas. We're going to start in the nearby surrounding areas where in Allentown, Pennsylvania, I mean, let's be fair, it ain't that close, but it ain't that far away either. You don't have to go too far past Easton on 78 to get there. And Easton is just on the other side of the Delaware River. So here we are. It's not actually that far. It's about as far, in fact, as going Rock Fantasy, I think. You spend about as much time in the car to get there. You pay a $2 toll to cross into Pennsylvania, I think, once you get across the river. 68 players came to Pinfest from all over, not just from New York and Pennsylvania, from all over. And they whittled it down to 24 in the A finals and then another 16, I think, in the B. And when it was all said and done, Joe Saeed beat Austin Snyder, David Riel, and New Jersey's own or maybe upstate New York's own. I knew Anthony Jr. as an upstate New York player, but he plays in New Jersey a lot these days. Anthony Lambos Jr. got fourth in the B Finals. Don Worth bested Daniel Benamy, Hagen Major, whom I believe we heard Greg drop Hagen's name and say that he was a tournament co-director along with Greg and Levy here. So tournament director Hagen Major and Bobby Urban in fourth place. All of that, by the way, I started by saying that happened on Friday, but the finals happened on Saturday. Also on Saturday at a private location in Brooklyn, it was National Herb Day. Directed by Kate Martin and Caitlin Reese. Nice. It was a hybrid best game qualifying. We had 32 entries to put up 10 scores on 8 machines. The best two on each machine counting. Once the qualifying was over, 16 players went to A finals. Another 8 went to an inconsequential B finals. It's inconsequential for whoppers, but consequential, I presume, for money or metals or something like that, right? Okay. Inconsequential for whoppers, but consequential for real world actual property, like the things that civil society is set up for, which is defending property. You get that if you do well in B. You don't get more whoppers in this instance because it was, what was it? Because it was less than half went into A, so B would not move people up. Is that right? There were 37 players total, so more than 50% can't go to a consequential final. Right. That is a much more specific way of saying what I just tried to ask. Yes.

Special When Lit defeated the Battle of Rulos 9-7 in Week 9 of Pinball NYC match play

high confidence · Benjamin Furiga recapping league results

@ ~53:00

  • “There's no such thing as a Thrike, it's always three-strike affair or three-thrike affair.”

    Benjamin Furiga @ ~20:00 — Running joke about No Bro Presents event name; shows insider community humor

  • “Deep Queens.”

    Eric Swedeland @ ~31:00 — Casual aside about traveling to Solid State venue in Queens; establishes geographic knowledge of NYC venues

    • person
    Tommy Ortegaperson
    Karenperson
    Jess Warrenperson
    Scrapple Landvenue
    Buttermilk Barvenue
    Barcade Brooklynvenue
    Rulo'svenue
    Pinball NYCorganization
    Scrapple Leagueevent
    South Slope Pinball Leagueevent
    Stompevent
    Pinfestevent
    Toppersorganization
    Pinball Mapproduct
  • ?

    operational_signal: SSPL requires guest tournament directors (Jess Warren, Joan Simander) this week due to significant portion of regular staff attending Stomp tournament in Rochester

    high · Benjamin Furiga explaining guest director need, noting most backup TDs are traveling to Stomp

  • ?

    event_signal: Stomp in Rochester drawing massive NYC pinball community participation — hosts estimate over 50% of active NYC tournament players attending based on registration sampling

    high · Benjamin Furiga and Derek observing that halfway through alphabetical registration already captures significant percentage of NYC pinball community

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Eric Swedeland discovering Harry Belafonte 'Day O' Dinner' mode on Beetlejuice after multiple play sessions, describing mode as highly engaging and wanting future recreational (non-competitive) play on the machine

    medium · Eric's description of mode activation, excitement about game feature, explicit statement about preferring recreational play on this title

  • $

    market_signal: Kate's personal machine collection rotating into commercial venue (Buttermilk Bar), indicating operator business model involving machine route management and strategic venue placements

    high · Detailed reporting of Kate's machines moving into Buttermilk Bar as part of major swap, Benjamin noting he had to verify swap actually happened due to moving parts

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Pinball NYC team league operates two-division format (Orbit top, In-Lane lower) with separate bracket structures, home/away mechanics, virtual home designations, and tiebreak scoring at 8-8, showing sophisticated tournament organization

    high · Comprehensive playoff bracket coverage showing team matchups, venues, head-to-head records, and advancement mechanics across both divisions

  • ?

    community_signal: Benjamin Furiga's interaction with rival team member (Evan from Deluxe Horses) shows casual sportsmanship ethos — fist bump and encouragement ('have fun tonight') without competitive pressure talk

    medium · Benjamin's explicit reflection on his own behavior toward rival team member, describing deliberate choice to encourage rather than hype up competition

  • ?

    venue_signal: New pinball venue (Rickie's Crown Heights) added to NYC map with Star Trek: The Next Generation machine, indicating continued venue growth in Brooklyn neighborhoods

    high · Upstate Pinball adding venue to Pinball Map, Benjamin noting geographic location relative to his home

  • ?

    product_strategy: Buttermilk Bar upgraded Metallica from Pro to Premium tier with custom mods (rainbow LED effects, modified hammer mechanism), suggesting operator strategy of investing in feature-rich Premium machines

    high · Eric Swedeland describing upgrade mechanics, noting Premium's hammer functions like remake, creates easier/more lucrative multiball path

    • 4:23
    Contested Papa Style. In that A Finals, in the final round, they played Lord of the Rings, Stargazer and Stars. Matt Grady won the day with 10 points on those, just edging out Dante Oliva at 8. State champion. David Barber came in third and Alex Kelly fourth. Previous state champion. In the B finals, Taylor Connolly took home the big money, besting Paul McHugh, Monica Weidekamp, and myself. Matt Grady picked up 46.23 Whoppers for the win. That's really big for a single day event. I love that y'all played Countdown. Who was driving that bus? That was Monica. Chose Countdown. Different kind of smart this week. She chose the same three games in the semifinals in which I was also in the group with her for two consecutive B finals together. Yeah, y'all did that last Thursday night too. Yeah. This time she drove. On Sunday, in Astoria at Single Cut Beersmiths, Queens, Silver Ball Sunday at Single Cut 37 was convened under Tommy Ortega's capable hands. Twelve players came and they played five rounds of match play. The top four went to a three round final. And after all was said and done, Dan Merrill won the day, besting Tommy Ortega, Solon James and Luis Veras in the finals. Dan got three .18 whoppers for his efforts. On Monday, May 4th, it was Pinball NYC's left orbit and left in lane first round playoffs. The balls of steel, the top seed in the orbit playoffs had a bye as did our New York City Flipper Sport Association as the second seed. The two-for-oners and the mutants gathered at Owl Farm. The virtual OA team, the two-for-oners, picked up a 9-7 win eliminating the mutants. The two-for-oners will go on to face balls of steel. I gotta wonder if Levy Naiman, longtime mutant, showed up and fulfilled his duties in the office of team member for the two-for-oners. The other matchup had Lion Persons as a virtual home team hosting Parliament at Jack Bar. Lion Persons got an 11-5 win and will advance to face our New York City Flipper Sport Association next week. In the left in-lane playoffs, Intermission Dolores and Special When Lit played at Skylark. Special When Lit, 12-4, will go on to face the Aristocrats. Rulos to Rulos. The Deluxe Horses and the Pinbots played at Gebhardt's Beer Culture. It went to a tie and the Deluxe Horses picked up the tie break 8-8 win. They go on to face your colliders, Benjamin, next week. On Tuesday, all over the city, or at least in four bars, the right orbit and right in-lane playoffs of Pinball NYC's right flipper division were convened. The orbit playoffs are the top division. That's true on Monday nights as well. And the in-lanes are the lower division. It's sort of like the consolation bracket. That's what I say to all the civilians I talk to when I'm talking about the way I'm in the pinball playoffs. We're in the consolation bracket. They understand that. It makes sense. But on Tuesday, Danger Danger and Neptune's Treasure were at home. They were awaiting someone else to decide who would be their opponents in the following week. And No Quarters for Laundry and Harlem Globe Flippers met at Sunshine Laundromat, where No Quarters for Laundry bested the Globe Flippers again with a tie break. Eight to eight win. No quarters will go on to face Danger Danger next week. Ball Drainers and Schlubbs met at Rulo's. That's two Jack Bar teams meeting at Rulo's. And again, it was a tiebreak win. This time it went for the Ball Drainers. The Schlubbs gave them their first loss this year, but they got revenge in the playoffs with this tiebreak win, and they will go on to face Neptune's treasure. In the right in lane playoffs, everybody loves the sunshine and your Butterballers were sitting at home waiting to figure out who your opponents would be.
    9:04
    Rest in Pinball and Harry's hand grenades faced off to figure out who could go on to face everybody loves the sunshine and rest in Pinball as the virtual away team at Solid State won 9-7. Pinister Six and Trolls faced off at Milo's yard and Pinister Six won by a tiebreak win. Eight to eight. I heard a rumor from a troll who shall remain anonymous, not because they requested it, but because I did not ask them if I could attribute this to them. And so I'm going to let this be a rumor that Trolls lost Split Flipper on the getaway in that tiebreak. There was a troll story this week. Another close playoff, another season in the books, another day, another troll. We thank Monica for her amazing leadership. We now rotate and pass the torch of co-captainship to Karen. Oh, so Karen will get a broom, I think. Cool. It's almost like being governed by lot. Full confidence in all members of the sovereign body. On Wednesday, the first qualifying week of the third season of Scrapple League for 2026 was convened at Scrapple Land in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, directed by Greg Pavarelli, myself, Woody Richman, and Harlan Aida-Linda. 32 players came out for five rounds of group match play with IFPA scoring with the hopes of garnering the most points because four of the six qualifying weeks will be added up for our series total. Both Sean Grant and Adam Kane did that the best this week. 31 points apiece. Greg Pavarelli and Nitsan Goodbye both picked up 27. And 14 players participated in the optional side pot. The top four players I just named were also all in the side pot. So they were the moneyers. How about that? Storm won the tie break over Adam.
    11:19
    I don't remember the other one. Right. But all four of them got money and there were tie breaks to determine who got first versus second and third versus fourth. Oh, and Mike Pantino won the random draw for a person who participated in the side pot but didn't win to get a $25 Scrappoland gift certificate. Oh, that might be better than getting fourth place money. It usually is. Yeah. On Thursday at Jack Bar, No Bro Presents a Very Grim Birthday Strikes was convened. And it wasn't about brothers this time. It was the three-strike affair that it usually is, or the three-thrike affair. Greg Fertel came out on top, as it usually is. Mike Pantino came in second. Casey Johnson third. And Taylor Connolly and Gabriel Chasanov tied for fourth. And I'd like to add, happy birthday, Rachel. Happy birthday. I presume that's the grim in question. There was an SSPL. We weren't sure last week, right? But there wasn't SSPL, right? That's right. There was no SSPL. The first qualifying week of the next season of South Slope Pinball League will happen this coming Thursday. Cool. Also next week, on Monday, May 11th, the semifinals of Pinball NYC's left orbit and left in-lane playoffs will be contested. Fifth seed, the two-for-oners, will virtually visit first seed Balls of Steel at Milo's Yard. Everyone will actually visit, but Balls of Steel will be virtually home. That's how you say it. The two-for-oners, yeah. Uh, the two for one is in balls of steel did not face this season. They did not see each other at all during the season. So this should be interesting. And it's on an interesting collection at Milo's yard. And third seed Lion Persons will face our second seed New York City Flipper Sport Association at solid state. And NYC FSA beat Lion Persons 11-5 at home in week four. This is virtually at home, but it's just as far flung as going to upstate Manhattan going out to solid state. Deep Queens. In the in-lane playoffs, fourth seed Special When Lit will face first seed the Aristocrats at Sunshine Laundromat. The Battle of Rulos went Special Wenlit's way in Week 9 by a 9-7 margin. They will all take their talents to green point, and I just want to point out that, like, Karma, if you thought Karma existed, it obviously doesn't because this game is not being played at Jack Bar. And sixth seed, the Deluxe Horses, will face the second seed, your Colliders, Benjamin, at Barcade Fight Eye. We beat the horses in week one by a 9-7 margin at home and it was barely, like it was, it came down I think to, I don't think that it was decided in the very last game but I think that the next to last game was over just moments before the last game was over such that it was effectively decided in the last game. And our only championship came at solid state with the deluxe horses as runners up. And I really hope that this season the seating would have worked out in such a way that since we had this by and we only had to win one match to get to the championship. I really hope that there might have been a path for the horses and us to face off in the finals again. Again, because, you know, if I'm going to lose to someone in the finals, I would like it to be the team that I won against previously in the finals. Yeah. And also, it's always a great time when the colliders and the horses get together. It's it's a fucking party every time. On Tuesday, May 12th, No Quarters for Laundry will go to Barcade Brooklyn where their virtual hosts will be Danger Danger. No Quarters and Danger Danger met in the finals of this division last season. They met in week one of this season.
    15:51
    Danger Danger won that match closely Also on Tuesday at Buttermilk Bar Neptune Treasure will play virtual host to the visiting Ball Drainers The Ball Drainers beat Neptune's Treasure in week four at Milo's Yard. Also on Tuesday, in the right in-lane division, the fifth seed Rest in Pinball will visit Everybody Loves the Sunshine at Scrappleland. R.I.P. snuck into the playoffs with a win in Week 10. Everybody Loves the Sunshine was the only seven-win team not to make the Orbit playoffs. They did not face during the regular season. Pinnister Six will visit your Butterballers at your, it looks like, changed virtual home of Gabhard's Beer Culture. Originally scheduled for at the Wallace, but concerns of a Knicks playoff game happening the same evening prompted a move. No, you can't play it at the Wallace. We Butterballers played Pinister Six in the second week and we got an 11 to 5 victory then. On Wednesday, the second meeting of the third season of Scrapple League 2026 will be met at Scrapple Land in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. At 8 p.m. on Thursday, Thursday night strikes at Jack Bar will happen at 730 sharp. And also the first week of SSPL will be met at Buttermilk in South Slope at Pinball 8 o'clock. I think you told me previous to this and off air, there are some guest directors this week because there are a lot of people maybe traveling this coming weekend. Normal tournament director, Kate, and quite a few of the people who normally step in as backup TDs are off to Stomp in Rochester, including myself. I understand Jess Warren will be running the night and Joan Simander. Cool. And that's, I mean, that's the weekend. Stomp is the weekend in New York City, I think. Like we I asked Derek before we started recording who was going to stomp from the city and he started looking at the registration. And when he got about halfway through the alphabet, I was like, hey, just like is you you're you're only halfway through the alphabet. But like you have hit a significant percentage of the pinball community in New York City already. And I imagine you're going to say about twice as many names as that. So like, we're okay here. I understand what the sample size is. And it's huge. New York City, by and large, is going to stomp. And Sunday at 4 p.m. at Scrappleland, Toppers, the Queer Pinball Club, will be meeting. We're hopeful that we're going to speak to the organizers of it in what I think will be the final episode of the season in a few weeks. As of May 8th, 2026, there are 366 pinball machines in New York City at 75 public locations. Thanks to the creators and users of Pinball Map for this data, here are machine updates from the past week. On Friday, May 1st, user JNS was at the gutter bar LIC in Queens and left a couple of comments.
    19:30
    Of the Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard, JNS said, playfield lighting still an issue, still plays great. And of Demolition Man, they said, Right Flipper lost half its punch midway through my last game. Still playable. Left loop and center ramp still hittable, just less oomph behind shots. User Pinash played the Pokemon LE at Scrappleland and said left in lane feed meant to go to Flipper regularly bobbles into left out lane. And the Lost in Space was removed from the lineup at Scrappleland. That's the one that shows up in the front of Sunshine Laundromats. Right. We heard that last week. Yeah. On Saturday, a Star Trek The Next Generation was removed from Rulo's and a Pokemon Pro was added. Enjoy, said Upstate Pinball. Wish I could. User JNS was at Solid State on Saturday. They played Harlem Globetrotters and said, upper left flipper flips and drops. No power to shot. Playable, but not as fun. And they commented on Indiana Jones, the Pinball Adventure played great. Replay score is low, 126 million. Yeah, but in order to get a replay on it, you have to play it the first time. User Rocco1515 was at Barcade, Brooklyn and left a couple of comments of Popeye saves the earth. They said machine is off of the Monster Bash remake. They said, needs repair. Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, all busted, but plays fine otherwise. You skipped the frowny emoji. Between all busted and but plays fine otherwise, there was a frowny emoji. That's not a joke. If you go look at the update in Pinball Map, there is a colon, open parenthesis in the middle of that update. On Sunday, the big pinball swap came to Buttermilk Bar. Max's machines were removed and Kate's were moved in. So we said goodbye to The Walking Dead, Twilight Zone, NBA Fast Break. We said goodbye and hello. It's almost like a Beatles song to The Walking Dead and Twilight Zone. That's right. Both The Walking Dead and Twilight Zone were replaced by other copies. Removed entirely, NBA Fast Break, King Kong, Iron Maiden, Ghostbusters, an Attack from Mars, and a third Goodbye Hello in Metallica.
    22:19
    Cross-graded, though, correct me. Is it not the Metallica? True. It went from a pro to a premium, but not the remake. It's not a remake. It's just a very blinged out original premium. It's got tons of little hokey mods on there, little plastic pieces that are just decorative. But it changed out the hammer mech. It's got a cool different hammer. The premium actually hammers it down the way that the remake does. That's right. And that also makes it both easier and more lucrative, if memory serves, to try to get the multiball that you have to get by banging on that captive ball a million times because it has the mechanism so it uses it. This one also unfortunately has rainbow vomit LEDs all over it. Okay.
    23:24
    In addition to the upgraded Metallica, the replaced Twilight Zone, and the replaced Walking Dead, RoboCop, Fishtails, Johnny Mnemonic, Diner, and Stars have joined the lineup at Buttermilk Bar. I would like to say anyone who told me what was going to happen here, including Kate, whose machines are now in the bar, I nodded and said, OK, I will believe both the timeline and the reality of it when it has happened. The most recent version that I heard totally aligned with this, with what we're seeing in Pinball Map. And that doesn't make me wrong. I just I felt like there were a lot of moving parts that needed to all fall into place just right for all of the things that people were saying were going to happen here were going to happen. I'm incredibly happy to see Diner there. I this is an unpopular opinion. I wish that stars weren't. Interesting. Also on Sunday, right across the street, Uncanny X-Men left Rulos and a Funhouse was added. I love that, four Rulos. Also on Sunday, user Flipper Fiend went by Single Cut Beersmith Squeens commenting on the Batman 66, the turntable with the Batphone TV, etc. is neither moving nor registering. And user TurnerT223, let us know that the Freddy Nightmare on Elm Street at Barcades St. Mark's was off. Pretty good state of repair for that one. Although it is, the fact that it's unique makes me want to play it a little bit, but it plays so much like Tales from the Crypt and those other Data East-ish games from around then that it just like, I just don't. It's so repetitive and I don't care. On Monday, we got a new venue in the city.
    26:07
    Upstate Pinball has added a Star Trek Next Generation to Richie's Crown Heights in Brooklyn. I noticed this when I was going to go to a grocery store several blocks from my home the other day and had thought, well, maybe I'll swing through Franklin Park on the way home. But I did not, nor did I go to this place which was several blocks north of the grocery store in question.
    26:34
    I'm excited that there's a new place in Crown Heights. Also on Monday, user Flipper Eric played the Godzilla at Pioneer's Bar and said, low volume and kind of dirty, could use a cleaning, not worth a dollar. It's a low bar. On Wednesday, user Hitchhiker played the Deadpool at the gutter bar LIC and said, write sling fixed along with lighting. Plays as it should. Should is a really big word in that sentence to me. I let the tale after the thing be my words of admiration for those who might have a doctorate in philosophy. To me, logic is at the base of philosophy. If you can't underlie your philosophy with logic, you're probably failing at the philosophical part of it. But plays as it should feels like a really big statement. Feels like this is someone saying, I loved playing this game. I just con't with you sometimes, Benjamin. Nice. On Thursday, user Bonsai went to a couple different barcades, first in Brooklyn.
    27:47
    They commented on Popeye saves the earth. Skill wheel motor was replaced a couple days ago. Maybe this one will last more than three weeks. Either way, WMS's weakest wide body is ready for you. See update about Demolition Man earlier and ask question about which of these is WMS's weakest wide body. Also ask question about the mechanism on it. Bonsai also went by Barcade St. Mark's and they noted that Freddy A Nightmare on Elm Street was removed and the Deadpool was added. That feels like a pretty big upgrade in a lot of ways to me. Is it bullet journal time? Yeah. Monday's my first thing. Did you play last? You probably didn't play on Friday. I didn't play Friday, but on Saturday I went to National Herb Day. Oh, right. That's right. You played against Monica. Again. In the semifinals and finals of B again. And both times she placed one spot above me. That was a lot of fun. Was there a food thing this time? A food competition type thing? No, the host ordered in a number of pizzas twice.
    29:00
    Nice. I had on a cute outfit including a black skirt and some knee-high cable knit socks. I stayed through the whole thing while I was in the B finals, but then stayed to spectate the A finals. Right, there were a lot more people in A finals, and even though you were in the final group of B finals, there was probably at least one more round of A left and maybe still... Part of the way through the second round and another round of A left, right? It was the final four of A. I stayed and watched their first game and then said, I can't go for two more after they started on Lord of the Rings. Oh, come on. It's the longest player. Yeah, and I just, it's like, I can't stay for two more games now. No. Went home very tired, fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I found a post-it note stuck to my skirt. Kate had used post-it notes on a lot of the games, on the back glass to note settings and conditions and things. In particular, there were a couple on the coin door of Countdown, one pointing to a button that said credits and another one that was pointing at the button that said the start button. I woke up and there was an arrow on my skirt that says credits. I must have leaned against it at some point late in the night.
    30:34
    What about Sunday? Well, on Sunday, I luckily was able to sleep in and then in the late afternoon made my way up to Scrappoland to join in the meeting of toppers. Right. The queer pinball club that meets at Scrappoland pretty much every other week. How was that? Lots of fun. Yeah, got to actually play some of the Scrappoland games that during Scrapple League I rarely have time to visit. So got to play Beetlejuice for a while. Oh, sure. Winchester Mystery House. Oh, yeah. On Beetlejuice, did you get the Harry Belafonte mode? Did you get the flippers or bongos? I did. I finally got the Day O' Dinner, I think is the name of the mode. I finally got it. And I was like, oh, yes. Like, OK, that's what I've been waiting for. I got it in the first game I played. And it's as soon as I was totally hooked. I don't know if I ever want to play that game in competition, but I definitely know that I want to play that game. Yeah. Did you play games? So excuse me because I don go to like pinball meetups I go to focused type A I walked into the room and there is an organized thing that I am supposed to do such as it were Again, should, supposed. These are these are big phrases. But that like there there is a path laid out for what my night is supposed to look like in a certain way. And this is a club. This seems more casual than that. Was there any sort of organized anything other than just sort of announcements or tickets to or like whatever? I wasn't there exactly at the start at four o'clock, but no, when I when I was there by, you know, 15 or 20 after it's just casual. It's like, hey, you want to play a game? OK, yeah, play with us. Cool. So like there were there were people around. There were homies to hang out with. Yeah. And if it if you were an outgoing person who might fit the bill for wanting to play pinball and have queer somewhere in your identity, it might have been a cool place to just generally show up and find people to hang out with who also like pinball. Is that roughly the ethos? Yeah. Cool. Well, hopefully we'll hear a great deal more about that in a few weeks. I hope so. We both had buys on Monday. Yeah, crazy. In Pinball NYC's playoffs. Crazy. What did you do with that extra time, Benjamin? I, on Monday at 6 p.m., was at my office. Usually I am able to walk out the door by then on a frustrating long day and still was awaiting information that I knew I needed an hour or so to process before I could go to sleep on Monday. And so I told the people who needed to know that like I'm leaving the office. I will be back online soon. And I went to Gebhard's and had exactly one beer and played exactly one beers. No, I played a beer and a third's worth of pinball because I was hoping that I would run into some horses on the way. I ran into a couple of pinbots while I was there. But I would like to say these things. I kicked Farfalla's motherfucking ass. And if I could figure out an alley pass on it, you can't beat me. I played some Indy 500. I played one decent game of King Kong. Like I said, I saw a few pinbots. I fist bumped Evan from the horses on the way he was coming to the bar when I was going to the subway from the bar. He was coming from the subway to the bar. I saw him just about halfway through, gave him a big wave. We fist bumped on the street and I told him in motion while he was going to the bar and I was going to the subway. And I just said, have fun tonight. And kept going. I did not say go get him. I did not say anything but just like have fun because that's what you got to do when you're in that position. If you can have fun, you're going to do better probably. I then took the subway to Brooklyn and finished my work day, which was annoying but necessary. Well, Monday, I thought I was going to go and watch some of the playoff games since there was one at Skylark and one at Owl Farm and not too far from me. It was a beautiful night. And so I rode my bike up to the South Slope and I went to Skylark. Oh, you did? Yeah. Hung out for all of the pre-match, played a couple games. I had a really great game on that Paragon, which is so slow and floaty. Right. Sorry, you said the pre-match, but the pre-match, the teams that were there for the match would have been Intermission Dolores and Special When Lit, correct? That's correct. Yes.
    36:15
    So, you know, fill in the blanks in your head if that wasn't already in your head as to Eric is there for the pre-match. Who is he hanging out with? He's hanging out with Intermission Dolores and Special When Lit. The denizens of the Park Slope were all around Skylark, which is Skylark's natural state. By the way, happy 100th birthday, speaking of natural states, to David Attenborough. Yeah. They were just filling out the sheets and stuff and about to get started and I had stopped playing so I could get out of the way and watch. I got a message from Jess like, hey, are you coming over for the board games? And I was like, oh, shoot. Because it had been rescheduled from the night before because hockey. And I forgot to put it moving on my calendar. And luckily, Jess doesn't live that far from Skylark and I had my bicycle so I was able to get over there pretty quick. Yeah. You played on Wednesday. You played on Tuesday and Wednesday. No, you didn't play on Tuesday necessarily. We had a bye. The Butterballers had a bye on Tuesday. And I was considering again hopping up to South Slope to check out the match. There was one at Rulo's. Yeah, the jack-off. The jack-off at Rulo's. And several of the Butterballers had the same idea in the group chat. A number of them were saying, oh, hey, let's go check out the new games at Buttermilk and we can also say hi to the people at Rulo's. Right. I was just, I was too tired, so I didn't, I just declined to go up that night. Sure. Because then on Wednesday, up to Scrapple Land for Scrapple League, played well. I did get Beetlejuice in competition.
    38:09
    Oh. I somehow, I don't know exactly what I did, but I got an award that was five times Sand Snake just as I started some Sand Snake multiball thing. And I hit the Sand Snake twice and each time I hit it, it was 37 million. Oh, wow. Okay. That won the game. Yeah. I'm still not exactly sure what was going on. Okay. But played well. Got a 25.
    38:38
    Yeah. That's great. 27 was tied for third slash fourth. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And then I went out Thursday.
    38:47
    Yeah. Went to Buttermilk. Went to Buttermilk, check out the new games just in case the next season of SSPL was going to start. But also Kate had said the medals from the last season would be available for distribution. They weren't ready yet. Right. But, you know, hey, got to hang out. Sometimes it would be like that, but you get to serve a bowl of chili to some Texan on diner, right? Yeah, yeah. I played some diner, played some stars. I got a special on my first game.
    39:22
    Special is collect all five stars? Collect all five stars and then hit the roving star. Oh, got it. Okay, yeah, right. And there were a few SSPL regulars just hanging out.
    39:36
    Yeah, it was Thursday night, man. This is what they do on Thursday night. Yeah, and no leaks. I was able to leave early and get home for some sleep. Word. I went to Barcade Fidei on Thursday last night. Nice.
    39:50
    Of course you're practicing for... Yeah, we're going to play there on Monday night. That's right. And I wanted to get there. I had been told games that would be excluded based on the games that are at our venue and at Barcade. I felt like there might have been one that was missed, but I feel but I've been reassured that I was incorrect.
    40:18
    But that said, I went to Barcade Fight. I love that Black Hole is there now. I wish they had taken out a modern Stern or medieval madness when they put it in instead of taking out Electra. But I'm really glad that Black Hole is there now. And also, just side note, if it's turned up to a degree that you and it is, it was when I was there on Thursday, turned up the volume to a degree that you could, you know, discern if you were standing there and you were a fan of NYC Pinpod. You might be able to understand that the baseline of NYC Pinpod's main title theme is, in fact, the the background of Black Hole. The DMD display on TX Sector is fucking sexy.
    41:09
    It's usually an alphanumeric display and there is now a brand new blue segmented DMD display on TX Sector in the back glass instead of the usual red alphanumeric displays. I'm sure that it's an upgrade kit or a cross-grade kit, but yeah, it's very, very sexy. I have a general sense that Barcade is leaving sort of family business, small business ethos and entering something larger from a couple of things that I saw when I was downtown. Firstly, I will say in the space, there were numerous additional rhythm games downstairs in that hallway going back to the bathrooms. And also there's a giant killer queen there. Secondly, in addition to those two games, which are just like massive, like arcade phenomena. When you go downtown, if you look at every trash can on the block around Barcade, it has an advertisement that says history and the future or history and technology or something like that. And one of the photos is one of our founding fathers and another is like the art on Bishy Bashi. And I think that's awesome. But I also think, you know, they're making a kick-ass play and I hope that it can open the pinball tent wider. I went down to Industry City for lunch today because I had to go to the UPS store, drop off a package for work.
    43:27
    I wandered around a little bit and found some new corners I hadn't been in before connected to Japan Village. Yeah, yeah. And there's now a Bandai Namco store up in there. Yeah. They got a few rhythm games in there. I bet they have. And like, yeah.
    43:53
    And that two o'clock in the afternoon, it was hopping, I bet. There were some kids playing. That's what I'm talking about. A million Gatchaman machines, just tons of the little, you know, you get a little egg out with something in it. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Neat place. Almost bought a Tamagotchi.
    44:12
    Oh. As a, you know, retro remember. Yeah. As camp. Yeah, as camp. I just generally want to say, apropos of my time at FIDI, Pokemon is fucking boring. I only played one decent ball, but by the end of that one ball, I was like, oh my god, when is this game fucking over?
    44:36
    It's a boring game, I'm sorry. I when I play Dolly Parton and the and it plays me the beginning of here you go, here you come again or there you go again. I don't remember exactly what the name is called. I always complete the phrase in my head.
    44:58
    And similarly, when playing Wonka and the pops start going oompa loompa, I always got to finish the doopity do. And then after I left Fideye and I came home and I did a couple of chores, I did not want to cook dinner. And so I was going to go to Franklin Park and pick up burgers. And I played a game of Ghostbusters. Nice. And I put my initials in. Oh.
    45:20
    I was just shy of a billion, but I had a play field multiplier going basically the entire game. Nice. Another thing I was doing Thursday. Yeah. Was hanging a pin pride flyer at Buttermilk. And then passing a couple of them to Matt Grady to take to Barcade, Brooklyn, because he was there fixing machines. Right. So that was pretty fun. He'd have them up and I'd come over and say, okay, what's going on? Show me the problems. I like working on the insides of them. So that was fun last night. That's cool. And I have to remember to take some flyers with me this Sunday to the RWI to give to Jess because the colliders are going to FIDI. And that is a place where we should have a lot of those flyers. That's true. You should also take a bunch of those flyers to Rochester next week. But maybe we'll talk about that in a minute. Ooh, good thought. All right, we're going to talk about a couple of things. I'm going to call this a pinball grab bag, but I want to start by saying this, pin folk.
    46:36
    I told you at the beginning of the season that I was feeling iffy about my time commitment here in a certain way, not about my time commitment for this season, but about I felt like I had a lot less to give pinball than I had to give pinball. During previous seasons of this podcast.
    47:04
    And I seem at the end of this season to continue to feel that way. I had kind of hoped at the beginning of the season that when I felt that way, that it was hibernation instinct. That it was January. The winter blues. Yeah, I didn't want to go out because it was too cold to walk across the park. It was my shoes were going to get too wet. It was going to be too inconvenient I just wanted to be inside and drink tea But it turns out that in a certain way you know even now as it getting kind of hot I just want to be inside and drink tea in whatever way that was true at that time And I just I don want to give anybody a specific call to action here but I do want to just generally say that if I found myself in the fall not in a position to put into NYC Pinpod what I put into NYC Pinpod right now I be very happy if Eric and others could take it on I don't mean to commit Eric directly to that. It's not his job to pick up this mantle. But he had done it before without my intervention. And if someone else wanted to say, hey, let's figure this out. And also, if someone wanted to re-envision what NYC Pinball is and continue it, I would be incredibly happy to support it in a lot of ways. I would be incredibly happy to be the financial engine behind it insofar as it doesn't pay guests and doesn't pay hosts and just pays for services. I would be incredibly happy to help in certain ways, but I cannot. The editing is the thing. You've heard other podcasters say it. Oh, my God, the editing, it's so hard. Oh, my God, the editing, I have to do it. And it's not that it's hard. It comes as second nature to me in a lot of ways because I have a lot of experience with it, but also it just takes time.
    49:16
    And I have liked NYC Pinpod to be a slick and very specifically edited product. And I am happy for it to be whatever product it might be, but I don't think I can continue to make it that. And for or at least I do not presently envision that in the fall I'm going to want to continue to make it that. That doesn't mean that that come Labor Day, I'm not going to be chomping at the bit to yell at you people about something. So NYC Pinpod, I love it and I would love for it to continue, but I don't know that I can give to it what I have given to it to this point in the fall and going forward. And so if someone out there says to themselves, I'd like to I'd like to help do this.
    50:10
    I would at least like Eric to have the opportunity to have those people join them and do that. And also, I'd like you to have, if Eric was like, fuck it, I'm not doing this. I also don't have the time. And someone else wants to pick up the mantle. I don't want it to stop just because I can't give it the time. Yeah, yeah. I want to see NYC Pinball continue. I'd like to continue helping to make that happen. The prospect of doing it solo is daunting and I'm pretty unsure about doing it alone. So I'd love some help. Right. And I'm happy to support in a lot of ways. And some new voices. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the other thing is that like I just I don't know that anyone needs to hear my voice anymore. I don't I have I've said a lot of things about pinball and I don't know that I say new things. I hope that I make you laugh when I say the same thing over and over again. But I don't know that I say new things each week, you know. So I had an idea for this segment.
    51:23
    We full disclosure, I just failed. Last week to reach out to Gabe, who is in who is running a North Brooklyn Summer League. And right now, while Eric and I are recording this, Gabe is running a tournament at Red Hook Pinball Museum. And so we didn't even ask him to join us this week. Oh, is that what's on stream behind you? I have a sort of washed out image of Eric's TV behind him, but apparently you can watch it in retrospect, but also there's probably video on demand by now. Is it Grady's stream? NYC Pinball stream. You could probably watch this now. Yeah, it is. We're recording this. They're recording that. You can probably watch this if you didn't see it when it was happening. But I came up with this idea of pinball speed dating, a couple of questions real quick that you might ask someone to figure out if they're the kind of person you want to go hang out at a pinball venue with. It might not actually mean you want to date them romantically, but it might mean that there's someone you want to go hang out at a pinball venue with. I have one that is in the category of just general brainstorming. Okay. And then a whole lot of binary choices, which is better. The sort of general brainstorming one, let's start there. What's your ideal and, you know, I mean, probably also executable female lead pinball theme. Like for me, the ideal is Persepolis, the graphic novel about Iran, which is even more timely today than it was, you know, when it was written 15 or 20 years ago. But it because that that's when the shot went down. And that's great. And it would be a great pinball machine. But also, like, it's not, no one would buy that pinball. I'm the only human being in the world who is like, oh, Persepolis, the graphic novel from the early aughts, we should do that. I'm the only one who cares about that. Or like, I am one of a very small slice of the pinball community who cares. Let's say that instead. I'm not the only one. I'm pretty amazed because you chose a graphic novel. I'm going in the same direction. Tank Girl. Oh, that's cool. That's my recommendation. That's cool. And there is there's something there that you can you can make 500 copies of that and people would buy that. That's I believe that you could make 500. I think it's popular enough. Yeah, I don't think you could make 500 Persepolis and have them be bought. I think that's that's my whitewood project. Or Mouse. Yeah, I mean, Mouse would be great. Mouse would be great, but also like how much do you want to cry while you're playing? Scott McCloud's How to Understand Comics. Yeah, how to read a book would be the greatest pinball machine. No, seriously though, female-led, I've said it before, because of the art direction, And similarity, I really want someone to take the playfield and art of Centaur and turn it into a Lady Gaga born this way. Nice. Because there's a person with a front wheel on it and that is on the cover of Same Said Record. I feel like there's a real opportunity for that there. And also Lady Gaga is legit marketable. Like if you make merch for Lady Gaga, you can guarantee that 500 copies of it will be bought, even if it costs $10,000.
    55:31
    Good call. Yeah. I feel like that one's good. Here's another question. Does Ava count? I mean, Dolly is an obvious historical answer to this question. Yeah, right, exactly. Six of each. I'm not trying to tell anyone in ABBA what their gender is, but they certainly presented in a certain way in my mind at a time that binary presentation was socially the norm. And there is an ABBA pinball machine.
    56:09
    That's why I'm asking. Does that count as a female-led? Look, I'm not going to say that Woe Nelly Big Juicy Melons counts as a female-led pinball machine. You know, female lead actor pinball machine because they're the object, not the subject.
    56:32
    You mentioned Barb White. But they're hard to find. Barbed Wire, you said Dolly. Yeah. Those are the two I've got in my head now. Yeah. And Barbed Wire is not, you know, an outstanding example. No, it's not empowering in the way that Dolly is. And Dolly also is, even today, even though that game was made probably 50 years ago, even today, Dolly is that which in a very divided body politic. Kind of everyone can agree on. Kind of everybody can agree that Dolly's okay. All right.
    57:10
    Rapid fire. Yeah. Which is better? Max match play or pin golf? This is probably more of a question of do I want to play if it's speed dating. This is a question of do I want to play in a tournament with you or not? Which is better? Max match play or pin golf? So, Pin Golf.
    57:31
    Agreed. It takes the time it needs to tell its story and it is a great format to put in more than one location.
    57:44
    That's what I think is best about Pin Golf, personally. Would you rather play a DMD that has a minor malfunction that affects your strategy but not necessarily like the way that the whole game plays or a multimorphic? I'm definitely interested in finding the workaround strategy to compensate for whatever is not working. Right. I mean that's the thing for me too. That's strategically interesting. Me too. I think a multimorphics, they shoot a little different. It's a different flipper mechanism. It's got the screen in the middle of the playfield. It's still real pinball. I think they're decent games.
    58:30
    All right. Weird upper playfield or weird lower playfield? All right. Now I have to think of something to decide. Lower playfields generally are harder to see.
    58:50
    Yes. You know, you get a cloudy overlay or black hole's got the backwards one. Oh, yeah. Which is, you know, fun. Confusing but fun. Yeah. It's there on purpose. Yeah. That's why it's a black hole, man. There's a lot more upper playfields out there than lowers. There are. It's a lot easier to build on top, a lot easier to maintain. I like an upper playfield. I'm going to go the other way. And for this specific reason, when you put an upper playfield somewhere on the playfield, you deprive me of that same part of the lower playfield. Whereas if you put an under playfield in, it might be limited in terms of what it is that you can do on it. You might have two very small flippers and therefore a very limited amount of stuff you can do. But because it's under and you don't see it until it's illuminated from below, it is it is unobtrusive to the rest of the game. That is their point. That's the where where my head is at on that. All right.
    60:05
    All right. This one's this one's big, but I think I know the answer for both of us. I think we're going to go the same on this one. Is it theme or is it play? Is it the perfect ability of those flippers to flip in rhythm to the Harry Belafonte song? Or is it the way that Game of Thrones flows or whatever it is that flows or plays in whatever way you want to play it? Traps and shoots, flows, whatever. Which one is important? I mean, definitely it's play over theme. Yeah, I thought we would go the same way on this one. We did. We did. I love the thematic elements. I really do. I think that's what will blow my mind. And Eric made a Kant joke earlier. I'm reading his critique of judgment at present. And the difference between the beautiful and the sublime might be what we're talking about here in a certain way, that the beautiful is purposive. There's a purpose to that Harry Belafonte thing where the flippers pop, pop, pop, pop, pop in rhythm with the song. But there is something that is sublime about the ability to trap a ball every time it's coming towards your flippers.
    61:43
    Or just know that the ball is going to come smoothly off the ramp feed and straight into the in lane and not have a flipper hop so that you can flow into that very next shot. Whatever that feel is for you, like there is something about that that is sublime versus what is beautiful, what has a purpose.
    62:08
    And you can recognize aesthetically that the purpose is executed very well, but there is something almost otherworldly about when it just shoots right to me. Well said.
    62:26
    That's all for this week's pod. Join us next week when it might be a little bit disjointed, but we will get you a ball one. We're definitely going to get you some Pinball NYC results. There may be a house ball for ball two, but then I'm hopeful that in ball three, we will get you some dispatches from Rochester as Eric visits. Stop next weekend. You can connect with us. Email us at nycpinpod at gmail.com. You can leave us a voice message at speakpipe.com slash nycpinpod. Whatever you're up to between now and next week, though, pinball, go get it.
    63:26
    Excuse me, I'm going to have to step away for a second. Sure. Everything's okay.