Episode 291: Project Pinball’s Love Across America 2020 Tour

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·22m 6s·held·Dec 9, 2020

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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Project Pinball's December 2020 charity tour places machines in hospitals during COVID with community support.

Summary

Jeff Lee interviews Daniel Spolar from Project Pinball about their December 2020 'Love Across America' tour, a modified version of their annual summer charitable initiative to place pinball machines in children's hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses. Despite COVID-19 challenges, they executed seven dedications across Ohio, Missouri, and South Carolina, including a special Star Wars machine funded by a fan-driven GoFundMe campaign organized by a Luke Skywalker impersonator. The episode honors Steve Epstein, a passionate community member who passed away in 2020, and highlights the planned 'Steve's Kids Tournament' as his legacy.

Key Claims

Project Pinball completed seven machine dedications over 14 days in December 2020 across Ohio, Missouri, and South Carolina
high confidence · Daniel Spolar directly stated in interview; tour itinerary confirmed
A Luke Skywalker impersonator (Fluke Skywalker) raised over $7,000 via GoFundMe for a Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House Star Wars machine
high confidence · Daniel Spolar described the fundraising campaign in detail; amounts and location specified
Marco Specialties has supported Project Pinball since November 2011 (nine years at time of interview)
high confidence · Daniel Spolar stated direct partnership history; specific founding date provided
Steve Epstein passed away in 2020 and was planning a youth tournament for the NYC Pinball Championship with Project Pinball
high confidence · Jeff Lee and Daniel Spolar discussed his passing; mentioned cancer diagnosis and last conversations
Steve Epstein daughter committed to continuing her father's work with Project Pinball after his death
high confidence · Daniel Spolar reported direct contact from Steve's daughter offering to help carry on his legacy
Project Pinball canceled planned 2020 dedications in Chicago and New York due to COVID-19 state quarantine requirements and safety concerns
high confidence · Daniel Spolar cited fear of state closures and quarantine fines; rescheduled to 2021
Jason Fowler's efforts led to funding for two machines in St. Louis instead of the original goal of one
high confidence · Daniel Spolar credited Fowler's podcast promotion and community support for exceeding fundraising goal
The Ronald McDonald House gave Daniel Spolar actual Ronald McDonald costume shoes used by their representatives
high confidence · Daniel Spolar described receiving the shoes and planned to wear them during Ronald McDonald House dedications

Notable Quotes

“We had to be really selective on what cities we were going to go into with the dedications because we were fearful that, you know, the state could close on us. New York was doing the quarantine, self-quarantine, and a huge fine if they found you to be circumventing their guidelines.”
[name withheld pending review] @ mid-interview — Explains operational constraints during COVID-19 pandemic that forced route changes and cancellations
“I promised him that we're going to continue. So what we're going to do is that youth tournament that we built together, we're going to name it Steve's Kids Tournament.”
[name withheld pending review] @ late-interview — Memorial tribute to Steve Epstein and formalization of his legacy project
“I feel that they're a part of my family, and they always made me feel a part of their family as well. So, yeah, we love those guys.”
[name withheld pending review] @ mid-interview — Demonstrates deep partnership and personal relationship with Marco Specialties
“People hand me a dollar. They're like, oh, man, sorry, it's only a dollar. We're like, no, no, that's a dollar that we have now that we didn't have a moment ago. And it just shows the power of people as a collective getting together.”
[name withheld pending review] @ mid-interview — Philosophy on grassroots fundraising and community power
“We have a lot of people reaching out to us and knowing that we're on the road and just giving us the energy to carry on. There's a lot of people watching it. I think that we all need this excitement and joy going into the holidays after a pretty tough season.”
[name withheld pending review] @ late-interview — Reflects on community engagement and the therapeutic value of the charity mission during difficult year

Entities

[name withheld pending review]personJeff LeepersonProject Pinballorganization Marco Specialtiescompany Steve Epsteinperson[name withheld pending review]personJason FowlerpersonMark and Paulperson

Signals

?
community_signal: Project Pinball's December 2020 tour demonstrates strong community engagement despite pandemic constraints; fan-organized GoFundMe campaigns and podcast promotion by Jason Fowler exceeded donation goals (Star Wars machine campaign raised $7,000+), showing robust grassroots support model
high · Daniel Spolar reported Fluke Skywalker raised over $7,000 and Jason Fowler's efforts funded two machines instead of planned one
?
community_signal: Steve Epstein's death in 2020 created significant emotional impact on pinball community; formalization of 'Steve's Kids Tournament' and commitment from his daughter to continue his charitable work indicates deep community bonds and institutionalization of his legacy
high · Multiple references to Steve's passion, daily conversations with Daniel, planned youth tournament, and daughter's commitment to continue work
?
operational_signal: Project Pinball implemented modified safety protocols to conduct December 2020 tour despite COVID-19; cancelled high-risk urban areas (NYC, Chicago) with strict quarantine requirements; rescheduled to 2021 to manage operator safety and hospital/resident exposure risk
high · Daniel Spolar stated fear of state closures, quarantine fines, and commitment to not putting hospital staff/patients at risk drove cancellations
?
venue_signal: Project Pinball's placement strategy focuses on children's hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses; healthcare workers and administrators use machines as stress relief; partnership includes physical tokens of appreciation (Ronald McDonald costume shoes) and ongoing maintenance relationships
high · Daniel described calls from hospitals, Ronald McDonald House gift of costume shoes, and maintenance/support commitment beyond initial placement

Transcript

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0:00

It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teels. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. Past episodes, subscriptions, and more, pinballprofile.com. You can find us on Instagram and Twitter at pinballprofile. email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. On the road again, this guy is a trooper. Forget coronavirus, doesn't matter. This guy's got a mission. Daniel Spoler from Project Pinball. How you doing, Daniel? I'm doing perfect. We just got off the road. It was a long day, but very eventful. So I got Maggie on my lap and she's happy to be out of the car. So we're doing great. Great dog. And I know this is normally a summer tour, but this has been a crazy year with 2020. So you've got seven dedications you're going to be doing over 14 days in December. It's off to Ohio right now for a couple. Then you're going to go to St. Louis for two and then back heading down to Columbia, South Carolina. So it's a busy two weeks for you, but this is what you live for. Oh, without a doubt. Normally we do it in the summertime, like you mentioned, but we did not want 2020 to go without us placing some machines. So we had to come up with a good safety protocol to make this happen, but we couldn't be happier. Yeah, I guess safety would be the number one thing, as we've seen the numbers, unfortunately, with coronavirus. 200,000 new cases every day in the United States. Scary times for sure. You're going to the hospitals, but I would imagine this year is in a way more special for you because, first of all, those machines have meant so much to the patients and their families. But, you know, let's think of those wonderful health care workers that are putting their life on the line to help others during this pandemic. And they'll also get the enjoyment of these machines. Oh, without a doubt. You know, when we place these machines, they're open to anybody's enjoyment. We get calls all the time from people that are supporting like Ronald McDonald Homes and Children's Hospitals. hospitals that, you know, not only are the patients playing, but the physicians, doctors, administrators, because, you know, they just could understand how it relieves their stress. And like you said, with everything that they're faced with right now, there's a tremendous amount of stress that could be relieved. So we're glad to be able to be a part of that in the whole, you know, they could use a pinball machine. So as a therapeutic device, I personally think that's a great benefit with having the pinball machine at your disposal. I think people listening at home would agree, you know, whether it's the stress of family, financial, whatever the case may be, health, mental health, you spend some time on a pinball machine, whether it's at home, whether it's on location, and those kind of things just go away for that time you're under the glass, if you will. And it's very, very important. So what Project Pinball is doing, putting these in the children's hospitals means so much, especially now. And you did mention the Ronald McDonald House. I got to say, I saw you fitted for a couple of Ronald shoes. They're going to look good on you, Daniel. I was speechless when they said that they had some shoes for me. I was thinking that they would be maybe slips or covers that fit over top of your existing shoes. When they walked out for that, I was actually on my knees with excitement. It was so fun to receive those. They were actually Ronald McDonald shoes that they would actually use when they would visit the hospitals. It was so great. And they apologized because there was some scratches and everything from use. I'm like, oh, no, this is fantastic. They received the love before they were given to me. And it was such a great honor. I mean, they didn't have to do that, but they made me feel so special when we were there to assist them. I mean, they just, I was speechless at a point. I couldn't even speak, find honor in. What I'm going to do is every Ronald McDonald dedication that we have, I'm going to see if I can wear those shoes while unloading the machine and taking them in. I think that would be special, giving something back. I even have a clown's nose, you know, one of the rubber ones that was in the shoe already. So I'm fitted and ready to do it upright. Oh, fingers crossed you don't have any stairs to go up in those shoes. But let me just tell you, that's a big, big deal. As a redhead all my life, one of the nicknames I used to get was Ronald McDonald. Okay, that's fine. You take those shots. But if you had the shoes, then it would be almost like – it's like, you know this. You're in Florida, right? Every time people go to Florida, they've got to buy the Mickey ears. Anybody can buy those. Not everyone can get Ronald McDonald shoes. So that's going to be nice when you hit those Ronald McDonald homes and see those kids. They'll get a kick out of it too. I think that's awesome. Well, little do people know these mementos that I collect from doing these dedications and being on the road. They actually have a home in my office. Like I have thank you cards. I have ribbons that we cut during dedications. And I have a piece of that all scattered around my office because, you know, as a volunteer, I'm motivated by the things around me. So those shoes are going to sit right on my desk So if anybody sees a photograph of me in my office they going to know where it came from the Charleston Ronald McDonald House So I think that's great. They're going to be a great conversation piece when they walk in my office for sure.

7:55

I really miss some of the tropics, and that's the reason I moved out of Pittsburgh to the southern state of Florida for the heat and the weather. But honestly, I'm not going to complain because it would be wrong for me to do so. Because guess what? After I freeze my tuchus off, I get to go back to Florida and warm up again. When you go to Ohio, there's going to be a special treat, and it comes from a fan of Project Pinball and, of course, Star Wars. And that is Fluke Skywalker, the great Luke Skywalker impersonator. He was a big part of getting a dedication with a big GoFundMe page. What happened there? Well, it was amazing. We had this call from a guy that introduced us as Luke Skywalker, and he was saying that he had people in passing walk up to him and ask him if he was Mark Hamill and everything. So, you know, I was at my computer when the phone came in, and I looked at it. I'm like, oh, my God, this guy looks exactly like, you know, Mark Hamill. And he went on and he was saying that he went to the Louisville Pinball Festival that they had, and they had him pose in front of the Star Wars machine. And he is very big with the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House, and he was a volunteer for many years. And he wanted to give something back. And he seen that there was a Star Wars pinball machine. And the people down at the Louisville show mentioned us because he was talking about maybe putting one in there on his own. And they said, no, no, you need to talk to Project Pinball. They know how to make this happen, and they'll take care of everything that you need. So he was more than happy to call us, and we were happy to receive his call. So all of a sudden, he wanted to pay for it. He wanted to make sure that it happened. And so we did what we had to with the Ronald McDonald House, made the connections, paperwork on everything in place. He set out on his own and started to go, fuck me, bitch, which people were donating $5 and $10. But my goodness, the amount of people that were donating, he was able to raise, I believe, over $7,000, which was enough to purchase the machine. And the rest of that money he's tithing to us to use for the maintenance and for other projects that we have for that Ronald McDonald house. So, you know, it was the community yet coming together to make it happen. So that's why we say people hand me a dollar. They're like, oh, man, sorry, it's only a dollar. We're like, no, no, that's a dollar that we have now that we didn't have a moment ago. And it just shows the power of people as a collective getting together. They surpassed the gold that he had, and it really helped out. He's going to be dressed up in costume, and coming down is everybody's favorite Jedi. So it's going to be something to see. And everybody could tune in on Facebook at our page Project Pinball page It should be interesting to say the least We super happy You are going to be in Akron You going to be in Cincinnati and that very very important to you And then you off to St Louis And I know Jason Fowler was a big, big part of the dedications you've got there. So that'll be nice to do two different dedications. Oh, that's amazing. Jason just took it upon himself to make this happen. And we set out with the goal of actually purchasing one machine to put in St. Louis. And he had so much support and dedication and drive, and he used his podcast at the time to really get the message out there, so much that we were able to get two machines that we're going to place there. So it's going to be back-to-back dedications. So, you know, it's very special for him and, you know, special for us as well. I saw Jason talk a little bit about that. on the virtual Pinball Expo Project Pinball video that you did. That was very informative. I know videos are something new for you, new for me as well, the one we did with Marty in Final Round. It was nice to see you put that together, and you had a lot of people participate in that Project Pinball video at Expo. Well, a lot of people hear the charity insides and outs from me, and I thought it was nice to hear other people describe something that I hold so dear in their own words. And Jason really said everything that I couldn't even take it to that level. I mean, he's seen it from the outside looking in, and he just did an excellent job. I mean, I couldn't ask for a better interview, but everybody. I mean, Steve Bowden was in there. You know, a lot of people. There were some younger kids that asked some really fun questions. So we had a great time putting that together because it's all the energy that our supporters put into it. It was a really good time. I just really enjoyed it. I hope everybody else did as well. Speaking of Expo, I know you were originally planning to go to Chicago, also New York as well, too. But as we mentioned with 2020 and the coronavirus and pandemic, it's not exactly possible to do that without a long-time self-quarantine. It's just not possible for this Love Across America tour. Yeah, we had to be really selective on what cities we were going to go into with the dedications because we were fearful that, you know, the state could close on us. Like New York was doing the quarantine, self-quarantine, and a huge fine if they found you to be circumventing their guidelines. At an early point, we said we have to be very, very careful. We have a lot of people waiting for machines in the bigger cities like Chicago and New York. But, yeah, we had to put them off for better days. So you're going to see those in 2021, hoping that it comes sooner than later. But time will tell with the vaccines and how it takes hold and has an effect. But, yeah, that was very scary for us. We didn't want to go into heavy populated areas as well, because if we were at risk and we did come down with the COVID strand, we would have to pretty much curtail all activities because there's no way that we would lose sight of serving the people in Ronald McDonald homes and the children's hospital and put them at risk. There's no way that would be considered by us. With 2020, we've had a lot of unfortunate events. None bigger, I would imagine, to you than the passing of Steve Epstein, who really wanted to dedicate so much of his time to Project Pinball. In fact, when you and I were in Florida last November, it was right before the Free Play Florida event. It was a Pinball Profile World Tour event, and Steve showed up. That was a Project Pinball charity event, and Steve showed up, which was a surprise to me. I didn't know he was coming, and he, again, just wanted to give back. And I know you had a lot of plans with Steve and with Project Pinball all over something like this tour, the Love Across America tour, but also especially in New York City, his kind of backyard for the New York City Pinball Championship. Yeah, we had a lot of plans. Steve came up to me, and I knew Steve from Special Wind Lit. You know, I was very impressed on the compassion that he had for the pinball community, but the sorrow that he was feeling with the closing of the Broadway arcade. And when he came up to me, you know, you could see that he wore his feelings on his shoulder for everybody to recognize. And he's super passionate. We would have daily conversations about ideas that he had, and he would give me ideas about things I was working on. And we came very focused on a youth tournament that we wanted to hold during the championship in New York. And Levy and all the guys that were putting that together, like Tim Sexton, everything like that, they gave us free reign. So it allowed us to pretty much build something that was going to be really grand. We had it ready to go. We had a lot of great things, surprises. You know, it was just going to be like a festival for the kids and their parents. You know, if something that was for the whole family and we planned it down to the T. And I don't want to go into too many details because we weren't able to do it in May like we wanted to. Obviously the pandemic pretty much changed everything But we do have plans And that was pretty much the last thing that me and Steve talked about He knew that he had cancer and he was making sure that I knew how he felt about the charity and our plans that we made. And I promised him that we're going to continue. So what we're going to do is that youth tournament that we built together, we're going to name it Steve's Kids Tournament. And we're going to give Steve's kid's cup out as one of the trophies. And he loved it. You know, he just loved it. He loved kids. He loved pinball. Anybody that talked to him knew the passion that he had. And it's really hard for me to talk about it. You can hear my voice crack. I miss the guy every single day. And I feel for Roger and Roger Sharp and his boys because they knew him so well. And I knew him a short time. We talked three, four times a day. And this went on on weekends and, you know, everything. It's just like he would call me up at 9 o'clock and say, hey, do you want to talk? Of course. Take his call at any time. He had as much energy as he did at night. It's just incredible. It was so contagious. I'm laughing with joy because that's what he brought me. So I feel sorry for Roger. If this person of myself was so devastated by his passing, and not only that, but his family is so lovely. I really feel for them, and I'm going to honor Steve any way that I can. See, that's what keeps his memory alive, and no one will forget about Steve Epstein in any near future because we will keep telling the stories, and people will ask, who is Steve Epstein? and you'll realize how important he was to pinball and to charity and to children, just like yourself, Daniel, with Project Pinball. So I think he's there in spirit with you on this ride. Oh, without a doubt. And we received some great news after Steve's passing. His daughter actually contacted us and said that she would be honored to pick up and work with the charity from where her father left off. And I couldn't think of a better spokesperson for Steve's legacy than his daughter. So we were quite honored to hear that. It just really shared how much Steve's passion was put towards what he did with the charity here. I knew it, but, you know, it's just nice that he conveyed that to other people. And you probably felt that with the interview that you did as well. Steve didn't hold back with his feelings, his passion. It was there. So, yeah, we're going to carry on, and Steve's going to be proud of us. Absolutely. You've got another week of the Love Across America tour here in December. And again, if people want to reach out to you and help Project Pinball, where can they go? Well, they can reach us on Facebook. That's the easiest right now because we have it set up just to add Project Pinball. If you're doing a message or something like that or just tag us by using that, we see it instantly. We have a lot of people reaching out to us and knowing that we're on the road and just giving us the energy to carry on. There's a lot of people watching it. I think that we all need this excitement and joy going into the holidays after a pretty tough season. 2020 has not been kind to a lot of people, to say the least. And we're trying to provide a little bit of joy, maybe to close out the season with, you know, a high note. So we're doing everything that we can, and we appreciate everybody's support along the way. And it does bring smiles to us. we're very focused on making sure that we stick to the details but it's a nice interruption to have someone come in and really appreciate what we do and they feel the impact as well keep doing what you do daniel i wish i would have saw you last month at free play florida it was a it is an annual event that i look forward to and i'll be there in 2021 but keep doing what you're doing keep up the wonderful work because it means so much to so many all the best to you daniel and safe travels. Thank you so much, Jeff. I appreciate everything that you do as well. And some great interviews. I appreciate you having Norma on. She's a vital part of Freeplay Florida, not only for the women's division, but she was helping me out with the main tournaments in the Classic. So when you did that interview with her, it really meant a lot to us in the community down in Florida because we just love her. She is an amazing gal. So, you know, you keep up the good work too, Jeff. And I hope to see you sooner than later. Agreed. Yeah. Norma Jennings, a wonderful person, a big part in the Florida community too. So it was a pleasure to talk to her on Pinball Profile. Just like talking to you, Daniel, all the best, buddy. Have a good evening and we're going to keep on doing what we're doing. And my dog wants my attention now. She just stepped on my lap, so I gotta go. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Instagram and Twitter at pinballprofile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. I'm Jeff Teolas.