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#50 Pinbrewfest - The Classic Pinball Podcast

The Classic Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·38m 7s·analyzed·Mar 9, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Ohio PinBrewFest announced as first US pinball show of 2021, combining machines, beer, and food.

Summary

Keith Campanelli announces Ohio PinBrewFest, the first major pinball show of 2021 in the US, combining pinball tournaments, vendors, craft beer from local breweries, and food trucks. The inaugural event will feature 100+ machines, hardtop restorations from Outside Edge, partnerships with major distributors like Cointaker, and safety protocols aligned with CDC and Ohio state guidelines. The show launches a new hybrid event format blending pinball and craft beer culture.

Key Claims

  • Ohio PinBrewFest is the first pinball show of 2021 in the United States

    high confidence · Keith Campanelli, host of the show, stated this in the podcast introduction

  • Over 100 machines already confirmed for the show

    high confidence · Keith Campanelli reported 100+ machines confirmed as of podcast recording

  • The venue doubled from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet to accommodate social distancing

    high confidence · Keith Campanelli explained the Metroplex gave them full space for COVID safety measures

  • Cointaker is bringing a major load of new games and parts as primary vendor

    high confidence · Keith stated Cointaker is 3-4 hours away in Pennsylvania and coming 'loaded for bear'

  • Outside Edge has created almost 15 different hardtop restorations

    high confidence · Keith Campanelli mentioned he has prototyped 7 hardtops and Bruce Westfall is up to 'almost 15 different hardtops'

  • A new Alien game is on order through Cointaker but uncertain if it will arrive for the show

    medium confidence · Keith stated 'we are hopeful we have our fingers crossed that we will have the new alien there'

  • Ohio vaccination rate is close to 10% fully vaccinated and 20% first shots as of podcast recording

    high confidence · Keith Campanelli cited vaccine numbers from his state data review

  • PAPA Pittsburgh venue is about 1 hour 15 minutes away from the show location

    high confidence · Keith Campanelli stated distance to draw local tournament players from that market

Notable Quotes

  • “Beer and pinball go together. I think Jerry Stearns said it at the 30th Expo, beer and pinball.”

    Keith Campanelli@ 1:51 — Establishes the conceptual foundation for the hybrid event format

  • “We're combining all of this for the show... these food trucks are not just some guy with wrapped up saran wrap burgers, but they're bringing out poke bowls and smoked and barbecued beef and pork.”

    Keith Campanelli@ 2:35 — Details the premium food experience integrated into the event

  • “Hardtops, I think they run around $300 to $350. So if you have an old game that's worth $1,200, you're not going to put a $1,000 play field in it, maybe. You can actually make the game look and play fantastic for a lot less money.”

    Keith Campanelli@ 17:02 — Explains the value proposition of hardtop restoration technology

  • “I handle a lot of the logistics and he [Marvin] handles a lot of that anything to do with the tournaments and anything to do with the actual real pinball side”

    Keith Campanelli@ 25:23 — Clarifies the division of responsibilities between co-hosts

  • “My biggest concern was making sure that we had the permits in line for the alcohol and that we had the insurance in line. Without those two things, I would have pulled the plug the day before the show.”

    Keith Campanelli@ 24:48 — Reveals critical operational dependencies for show viability

  • “We are in between Buffalo and Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Columbus, Cincinnati's six hours away. So we're looking at, we're going to get quite a draw from the area.”

    Keith Campanelli@ 31:46 — Explains geographic advantage for regional draw

Entities

Keith CampanellipersonMarvin OrchidepersonGeorgepersonDavepersonBruce WestfallpersonOhio PinBrewFesteventBirdfish BrewerycompanyOutside EdgecompanyCointaker

Signals

  • ?

    event_signal: Ohio PinBrewFest announced as first major pinball show of 2021 in US; inaugural hybrid event combining pinball and craft beer; scheduled for August (delayed from April 2020 due to COVID)

    high · Keith Campanelli confirmed as host; event details including 100+ machines, 5 breweries, food trucks, 30,000 sq ft venue

  • ?

    venue_signal: Metroplex venue doubled available space from 15,000 to 30,000 sq ft to accommodate social distancing requirements

    high · Keith stated venue management agreed to provide full space for safety compliance

  • ?

    community_signal: Strong positive vendor response and community enthusiasm; multiple vendors committed without hesitation; cross-market appeal to craft beer drinkers introducing them to pinball

    high · Keith reports vendors responded 'gangbusters' and people are 'chomping at the bit to come'; craft beer community showing interest due to cancelled Craft Brewing Week

  • ?

    design_innovation: Outside Edge hardtop homecoming showcase features polycarbonate restorations; approximately 15 different hardtop games created; $300-350 price point making restoration economically viable; 'hardtop tournament' planned with t-shirts and grand prize

    high · Keith describes hardtop construction in detail and confirms involvement in prototyping 7 hardtops; Bruce Westfall creating 'almost 15 different hardtops'

  • ?

    product_launch: New games expected at show including multiple Hot Wheels machines and Guns and Roses (Jersey Jack), newest Stern titles via Cointaker; new Alien game uncertain but hoped for through Cointaker

Topics

Event Planning and LogisticsprimaryCOVID-19 Safety Protocols and VaccinationprimaryCraft Beer IntegrationprimaryHardtop Restoration TechnologyprimaryPinball Tournament FormatprimaryVendor and Distributor PartnershipssecondaryGame Availability and New ReleasessecondaryPinball Show Industry and Regional Eventssecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Keith and hosts express strong enthusiasm about the event's planning and prospects. Vendor response is described as 'gangbusters' and community feedback is characterized as excited. Minor concerns around logistics and tournament details are outweighed by optimism. COVID-related caution is present but framed constructively around safety measures rather than doubt about viability.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.114

0:00
It Ain't Rain
0:30
We'll be right back.
1:00
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George, and today I'm joined by my co-host, Dave. Hello, Dave. Hello, George. Today, I'd like to welcome someone hosting the first pinball show of 2021 in the United States, Keith Campanelli. Thanks for having me. Keith, there's quite a bit of information and I'm hoping that you can give us a start.
1:33
The show is called Ohio Pin Brew Fest. Pin Brew is the short name for it. A few years ago, a friend of mine, Marvin Orchide, who did the Ohio Pinball Show for, I think, 13 years with a partner, decided to go in a different direction and asked me to come in with him. And we had an idea, you know, beer and pinball go together. I think Jerry Stearns said it at the 30th Expo, beer and pinball. So we decided we'd look at something like that.
2:04
I have a brewery that I've been working with for the last couple of years, the guys at Birdfish Brewery in Columbian, Ohio, who have taught me so much more about craft beer than I ever knew. Some things I didn't want to know, and there's a lot of beer involved. But we decided we would put the show together where we're going to have basically a pinball show with vendors, tournaments, craft beer, and also food. So the beer people do a lot with food trucks. That's a huge thing out here.
company
The Classic Pinball Podcastcontent
PAPAorganization
Stern Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
American Pinballcompany
Chicago Gaming Companycompany
Tilt Amusementscompany
The Cleveland Showevent
Alec Kamarchaperson
Butch Peelperson
Tom Beasleyperson
Jerry Stearnsperson
Church of the Silver Ballvenue

high · Keith confirmed Jersey Jack Guns and Roses and Hot Wheels availability; hopeful on Alien; Cointaker bringing 'slew of new games'

  • ?

    regulatory_signal: Show operates under craft beer permit only (no other alcohol); fenced beer garden and outdoor alcohol service areas required per state mandate; masks remain state mandate in Ohio; social distancing guidelines implemented per CDC, state of Ohio, and medical professional recommendations

    high · Keith detailed permit requirements, mask mandate, beer garden layout, and medical background informing safety protocols

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Tournament format adjusted for COVID safety: knockout-style tournaments for A and B players; IFPA rank 600+ places players in A bracket; separate women's and potential kids tournaments; uncertain on streaming due to IFPA closures; tournament details handled by Marvin Orchide and Tom Beasley

    medium · Keith acknowledged limited tournament details but confirmed A/B bracket divisions and knockout format; noted IFPA stuff closed down; uncertainty on streaming

  • ?

    supply_chain_signal: Cointaker (3-4 hour drive from venue) confirmed as major vendor with large truck load of games, LEDs, and parts; Tilt Amusements vendor Trent Augustine bringing 'slew of new games'; multiple private collectors bringing 6-10 games each without yet listing them

    high · Keith confirmed Cointaker as biggest vendor 'loaded for bear' and Tilt Amusements last-minute confirmation

  • $

    market_signal: Show positioned geographically between major tournament hubs (PAPA Pittsburgh ~75 min away, Cleveland, Buffalo, Columbus, Cincinnati 6 hrs); expects strong local A-player turnout given proximity and regional player concentration

    high · Keith noted local players like Alec Kamarcha are top-tier; PAPA distance and regional geography strategic for draw

  • ?

    content_signal: Classic Pinball Podcast Episode #50 features Ohio PinBrewFest announcement; potential for additional YouTube and streaming content from Ohio-area content creators; hosts offering to promote to their audiences

    high · George and Dave offered platform on podcast; Keith mentioned reaching out to YouTube creators; streaming discussed as promotional vehicle

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Marvin Orchide transitioned from 13-year Ohio Pinball Show organizer to co-organizer of new PinBrewFest with Keith Campanelli; Marvin also half-owner of The Cleveland Show; division of labor: Keith handles logistics, Marvin handles tournament and pinball-specific content

    high · Keith explained partnership division: 'I handle a lot of the logistics and he handles a lot of that anything to do with the tournaments'

  • ?

    community_signal: Show planning includes multiple award categories (best in show, best 80s, best EM, best restoration) to recognize exhibitors; awards strategy modeled on past Dave's success with 'best in play' at Pintastic to encourage participation

    medium · Keith confirmed awards planned; Dave explained his Pintastic 'best in play' format change; Keith mentioned son won best in show at Ohio show

    • 2:35
    And these food trucks are not just, you know, some guy with wrapped up saran wrap burgers, but they're bringing out poke bowls and smoked and barbecued beef and pork. So we're combining all of this for the show. We had a plan to do this show last year. We were scheduled. We worked really hard. It was set for April, I think, the 16th through the 18th. and now we had to postpone it. We postponed it to August with, you know,
    3:07
    things with the pandemic and knowing that it wasn't a good time to do it. And then spring came and we had a schedule for this year. We looked at the data and we decided, you know what, it's time. We think we can do this. We can think we can do this safely. So we're rolling. Let's address that right out of the box. Today's announcement for Texas opening up the entire state without masks. Do you think that's a positive for you? And explain to the audience some of the guidelines that you're going to be implementing for the show.
    3:41
    So I have a background in medicine. My wife is a physician and we have some very good friends out here that are infectious disease people. So between the stuff we've implemented in our office and the changes made in the CDC recommendations, we're basically doing what the CDC has been recommending, what the state of Ohio has been recommending, and what my wife is recommending. So there'll be things that will just have to happen. The social distancing thing is going to change the dynamics
    4:14
    of how the show is set up. Originally, we had 15,000 square feet in the Metroplex. They are giving us all 30,000 square feet this year just so that we can continue on. And we'll be spreading the machines throughout the building. They won't be stacked next to each other. Everybody's going to be spaced. So there'll be a little bit of comfort zone with that. We'll have hand sanitizer, obviously, for the people, for their hands. But we will be using our own cleaning agents that are friendly to the pinball machines
    4:45
    because we don't want hand sanitizer on the machines. Some people have some beautiful games coming in, including myself. And I don't want the artwork getting destroyed by wet alcohol. So we're doing that. Masks is still a mandate here in the state of Ohio, and we fully support that. If it gets to the point which it might in this state, they might remove that mask mandate by our show. I kind of doubt it. But then again, it's a comfort level for everyone. Everybody has information on how they feel about the pandemic, where it is, where it's
    5:17
    going. We're very confident in the vaccine level in the state of Ohio. We're doing very well right now. We are close to 10% fully vaccinated. We are close to 20% first shots. And then now with the new vaccine coming out, our honest feeling, and this is discussing it with some medical people, that the people that need to get vaccinated, that are a risk, will be vaccinated by the show. So we don't feel that we're endangering others if we keep these social guidelines,
    5:49
    the masks, the social distancing, and, you know, just using common sense. People tune into this podcast, obviously, to talk pinball. So let's move to that. From what I read on your website, it looks like you've got over 100 machines already confirmed for the show. Why don't you take us through the dynamics of what people should expect when they walk through the door and see the show's setup? How is it going to look to them?
    6:24
    Well, it'll look a little bit different. You'll come in the entranceway, obviously, the tickets and all that, and then you'll go, there'll be the main room, which is a massive area, which is 15,000 square feet, and we are keeping that mostly our vendors. They will be spaced apart. Nobody's going to be tight against each other. We will have some pinball machines in between vendors, depending on spacing. And then as you venture out of the main room, the rest of the Metroplex is divided in a very unique way. It has a dance floor area. It has
    7:00
    an interior bar on one side, an interior bar on the other side, other places to set up. So we are going to sporadically put machines throughout the building. So there might be a couple machines together here and a couple machines together there, but they're going to be all spaced out. The food trucks are going to be outside. We do have some food that's going to be in the building. We are going to have a beer garden. So in our state mandate, obviously we've been in Ohio able
    7:31
    to go out, eat, do whatever we want to do in that respect. There have been very little restrictions outside of you wear your mask and when you sit down, take off your mask when you're eating and drinking. We're going to have a beer garden, which is going to have that same feel to it. So if you want to sit down with a couple of your close friends and you take your mask off and drink your beer, that's fine. And then everybody will be just wandering around to different areas, be able to go outside. There's going to be a small outside area that's attached to the food trucks. that's actually going to be fenced off because we have guidelines we have to follow with having
    8:06
    alcohol show so we have to follow what the state's recommending everything has to be laid out in a certain area so I think that kind of sums it up well let's let's let's talk about that real quick you know state guidelines are different I live in New Hampshire Dave's down in Massachusetts and state government has different laws regarding alcohol. It sounds as if you're going to be able to sit in a space and drink beer, but you're not going to be able to go out onto the open floor with a container.
    8:37
    Would that be correct? No, actually, that's not correct. Oh, wow. We have the entire building. You can walk around with your red solo cup. So we will have a beer tent in the beer garden. We did scale back on the beer this year. Originally, last year, we had 12 to 15 different breweries that were going to be coming. We decided to scale that back because we weren't sure originally how many people would come to the show. So less breweries, but we have adequate amounts of beer from them.
    9:12
    So we've decided to use the five breweries that are in the area that support pinball community. They are obviously Birdfish Beer Company in Columbiana. There's Madcap, which is in Kent, Ohio Missing Falls which is in Akron which my partner has games there And then we have two other local breweries that are involved So we have five different breweries each one bringing between two and three different types of beer we going to have
    9:44
    And it's all craft beer. There's no other alcohol. So our permit is just for craft beer. So there'll be IPAs, there'll be sours. We are bringing in some what we call light beer pilsners for the people that just are Budweiser people that, you know, really don't like craft beer. There's going to be a couple of selections for them so that they can enjoy themselves with what we consider a light beer. That's not we have people all IPA beer. I'm sorry. IPA is beer. That other stuff for me is really beer.
    10:17
    But I'm an IPA fan. Well, one of the beers we're going to have on is actually a beer that was designed for my wife's charity called Scripted. It's an IPA. It's a low, has a, what they call the bitter level is, I think there's six or eight where some IPAs are, you know, 60 and 80 in a bitterness. It's very smooth. So that was one of the things I requested for the show. So I have a lot of friends in the pinball community that want to try it.
    10:50
    So we're making sure we have that available for them. But we're going to have several IPAs. And I think you guys, I would love to have you come out if you can. There's going to be some very good beer there. Sounds great. Well, we're both all about beer. Here in my town in New Hampshire, we have five microbreweries for a town of 25,000. So we're definitely into it in the southern part of New Hampshire. Let's talk about a couple of the pinball vendors that are coming to the show. I see American Pinball and Jersey Jack.
    11:23
    Will they have some of their latest games available to play? So they're being sponsored through, like Cointaker, for instance. Cointaker is a supplier of all the big names. They're a Stern distributor. They're a Jersey Jack distributor. They're an American Pinball distributor. so they will be the ones bringing games representing all of those pinball companies last year we were actually in conversations with the people at stern
    11:55
    butch peel is very good friend of mine who used to work for jersey jack and now works for chicago gaming company they were coming out and bringing their newest products so the newest products that are out will be at the show unfortunately we don't think there's going to be much released between now and the show we are hopeful we have our fingers crossed that we will have the new alien there um we have a couple of those on order through uh coin taker but as far as the newest games
    12:26
    we we haven't been in contact with anybody down at uh deep root um so obviously they're not listed but the newest sterns will be there uh i will have a new guns and roses there for jersey jack We will have a Hot Wheels there. In fact, I think we'll have a couple Hot Wheels there. The list of games that are coming are growing. People that are bringing games. I still have several good friends with a lot of games that are bringing six to ten games that haven't put them on the list yet.
    12:56
    Cointaker has not put any of the games they're bringing on the list yet. We know they will bring a slew of new games. I just found out today Tilt Amusements is coming. Trent Augustine is going to be bringing a slew of new games also. So we will have plenty of new games, hopefully plenty of old games. We will have a lot of hardtop games. One of the big things about our show that we're excited about is we are having the hardtop homecoming. Outside Edge is a close friend of mine. I do a lot of prototyping for them.
    13:27
    I've prototyped probably about seven of their hardtops. And we're going to have a hardtop row set up so that people can play these old games that have been redone and play really fast and really smooth and look absolutely beautiful. You're stealing my questions. What is hardtop homecoming? So Outside Edge, Bruce Westfall owns a company, Outside Edge. They started making hardtops. Are you guys familiar with the hardtops? Yes, I am. At Allentown show a couple years ago, I'm not sure, but that was the same company.
    14:03
    It must have been. They had a space shuttle, maybe a high speed. Yeah, they had a space shuttle there and might have been Flash Gordon, maybe. Maybe it was a high speed. I don't know. Well, the high speed was actually my game. And the space shuttle was Bruce, the owner of Outside Edges Game. Okay, so it's going to be really beautiful stuff. I mean, I played the stuff. It was fantastic. I saw the little booth there they had. So that's great. So you're doing this stuff. You're actually prototyping for them?
    14:33
    Yeah, so I've been prototyping. I've known Bruce since he started doing, well, just after he started doing the hard tops. The first one was Spatial, and then after that, I did Pharaoh for him. I did a couple videos on installation for him, and we're very good friends, and I do a lot of restorations in the last 10 years, so I can prototype a hard top for him very quickly. So we find a game and strip it down and get the art processed and put it back on the game and make sure everything lines up. and start another hardtop.
    15:04
    I think he's up to almost 15 different hardtops now. So hardtop homecoming because he's in Ohio. I'm in Ohio. We decided we would make this home base for hardtops. We're going to actually have a row of hardtops. Anybody that wants to bring one and get into the row, we're going to have a little tournament just for the people that bring those. I think Bruce is going to give a hardtop away as a grand prize. and they all get their hardtop t-shirts, which are going to be quite interesting shirts
    15:35
    talking about how their hardtop is harder, quote unquote. And that's, so we're going to be the base, the launch base for hardtops. We had more planned. He was going to have a private party for these guys with pizza and we decided to nix some of those things because of obviously safety concerns. But it's going to be interesting. And the people, they'll bring their game, they get in free, and then they get into the hardtop tournament. They can play in that. They get their shirt, and hopefully they can win another nice hardtop.
    16:08
    Describe for the audience what a hardtop is, in case some people might not know what that is. Describe what's involved with that. So a hardtop is a .030 millimeter, I don't know, it's about an eighth inch thick polycarbonate plastic where they take the artwork of the game and they put it on the underside of that. And then underneath the artwork, they put an adhesive, a 3M adhesive. And then on top of the plastic has a scratch resistant coating. And what you do is you have an old game
    16:40
    where the play field's blown out and the artwork's gone. You take everything off the top of the game. You sand down the top of the game and you lay this piece on there. And it just becomes this amazingly bright, shiny, fast-playing pinball. So you can save an old game. Hardtops, I think they run around $300 to $350. So if you have an old game that's worth $1,200, you're not going to put a $1,000 play field in it, maybe. You can actually make the game look and play fantastic for a lot less
    17:12
    money. It's a great price point and a little bit of sweat equity in there, too. You get a little bit of labor to do so. But it comes out pretty darn nice. And the nice thing about the one of the things for people that aren't real comfortable with tearing apart a whole game, you can get away with taking off just everything on the top of the game. You don't have to start taking off all the mechanicals on the bottom. There's a few you might have to drop down under the play field, but most of it can stay underneath. All the braiding can stay under. You don't have to unsolder a bunch of things.
    17:42
    So for the novice that's not well versed in ripping apart an entire game, which is a huge process, they can do it. So it's a great solution to some of the stuff out there, certainly. When I think of hard tops, I think of the last show I attended with Dave in Massachusetts. And I'm not sure you know this, Keith. Dave was responsible for the contest.
    18:13
    I call it Best in Show. Are you doing something similar with this show? yes we are still laying some of the track for the show we are planning on doing uh awards for best of show best 80s game best restoration a lot of that i'm leaving to my partner marvin who's good at doing all that and used to doing all that um and we're making announcements as we go. The show's now five weeks out. So we're hoping this week to continue to post
    18:49
    some of the things that we're going to do at the show. And yes, that is, you have to give prizes out People are going to bring their show pieces out And we like to recognize everybody that helps make the show successful So that be a good part of it When I was doing the best in play for the past five years at Pintastic it was best in show for a while, but then some people didn't want to get their games played. That's why I changed it to best in play, because you're going to be able to play these games, not just look at them.
    19:21
    And I did, I think, nine categories, like early 70s, late 70s, early 80s, I kind of spaced them out to a whole bunch of different categories. Are you doing, you said you're doing about three or four categories, or what are you doing for categories of the best in show stuff? I want to say, and again, this is on Marvin's end, and we haven't even crossed that bridge as to which we're doing, but I know we'll do best in show. He normally does things best 80s machine, best EM.
    19:54
    And I'll be very honest with you, the rest of them, I'm not up on. I'm kind of lining up food trucks and beer. I was going to say, you probably have a lot more to worry about than that piece of the show. Yeah, I mean, that piece will come together. I mean, it's enjoyable. We had the Ohio show. My son and I restored, well, he restored a game I helped him years ago. He did a Doctor Who, powder coated and everything, and he got best of show. And it was really great to see the smile on his face when he got it.
    20:25
    We realize that these people, you want to tell people, hey, thank you. This is awesome. And give them some type of kudos for what they do. It's a great way to get nice games to show up at your show, too, to give recognition for bringing a really nice restored game. Yeah, agreed. I have some questions around your main tournament. Okay. Do me a favor and describe to the audience the format of this particular tournament and what people should expect.
    21:03
    Well, I will do my best to navigate that. Again, that is another part that is Marvin's side of it. I am not a tournament player. I've never been one. These guys are very adamant about what they do, and I'm not a good player. I never seem to enter myself in any of that Marvin has done these for years at the Ohio show I believe Tom Beezy's doing some of the layout for them originally last year they were
    21:34
    doing a I'm going to get this all screwed up my apologies but they were doing an IFPA style tournament and there were a lot of rule sets to it we did decide because of the current climate yeah the current climate let's just say that we had to space out the machines for the tournament so that's a hurdle we had to get through we decided we were going to do something
    22:05
    in the form of a knockout tournament i believe he's doing something the same style for the women's and we have not yet decided if we're going to have a kids tournament this year when we went into the decision to go ahead and have the show, we lowered a lot of our expectations and said, let's just have a show that people can come and enjoy. We're not looking to make a huge splash. We just want to get this off the ground and get things started. We knew we'd have a couple hurdles to go over. So we've reduced some of that stuff. The actual tournaments, I can be very
    22:40
    honest with you, are going to be a little lighter this year. There's going to be knockout style tournaments um even the hardtop tournament is going to be the same style we're gonna i think we're gonna use some match play stuff um but i'm sorry that i can't really give you a lot of information on it because i don't have a lot of information on it well i'll i'll i'll bring it up i read through the website and i'm not a tournament player but i'm a tournament junkie i love watching people play i see it divided into two different categories you've got a players and b players
    23:12
    and I guess my question surrounds the A players. It's saying that if you have an IFPA rank of 600 or above, you're put into the A bracket. Are you expecting, given your location, a demand from that community or people coming because there haven't been a lot of tournaments recently? You've got some pretty good players in Ohio. Are you expecting a pretty good crowd for the A tournament? I think we will have a decent turnout on both. Literally, Papa in Pittsburgh is one hour away from where our venue is at. Actually, an hour and 15 minutes away. So all those people that were going there and used to that big tournament, a lot of them are from this area.
    23:56
    In fact, at my brewery that I hang out and play games, we had last night, we had our league night and Alec, I always screw up Alec. Kamarcha. Yes, yeah. Yeah, kicked my butt all night long. So, I mean, some of these local players out here are some of these top players. They do have a lot in the area, which is tough for guys like me that want to play and compete. we just get robbed on, but we think we're going to have a decent amount.
    24:29
    We'll know more in the next couple of weeks as we ramp up and start announcing early registration for everything. We haven't even announced, you know, the ticket sales have been open, but we haven't pushed anything. We wanted to get all the ducks in a row. And when I talked to you guys last week about, Hey, I need a few more days to get things lined up. My biggest concern was making sure that we had the permits in line for the alcohol and that we had the insurance in line. Without those two things, I would have pulled the plug the day before the show, just because obviously we can't deliver what we promised.
    25:05
    So those pieces are in place. So now we're looking at all these other pieces and the tournament is one of the things I'm on the phone with Marvin constantly every day. And, you know, we're talking about what are we doing with this? What are we doing with the tournament? How are they coming with that? And what's really nice about our partnership is I handle a lot of the logistics and he handles a lot of that anything to do with the tournaments and anything to do with the actual real pinball side like we talked about the awards and things like that do you know if the tournaments will be capped in numbers in other words they may have or 32 something along those
    25:42
    lines um they may have to be and that's something that we're discussing as we speak because we in when we originally decided to do the show um we had a little bit of resistance but we had a few people saying yeah you know that'll be great and i'll come and as this month has progressed um we've gotten a ton of really good feedback in fact most of our vendors when we called them hey we're doing the show they're absolutely i'll be there can't wait and i was kind of blown away by that i figured i'd get some vendors that were just no you know i'm i i'm not comfortable
    26:18
    but they're gangbusters. One of our biggest vendors is Cointaker who is about, I'd say three, four hours away in Pennsylvania. They're coming loaded for bear, big truck, a lot of games, a lot of LEDs, parts. And I'm a big vendor guy because I restore games. I like to see the people bringing the mods and bringing all these new pieces and parts and things to make the game. So when all these people started saying that they were coming, I realized that, well, we might have something.
    26:52
    And the feedback I'm getting from the pinball community, people that I know, is they can't wait. And they're all chomping at the bit to come. And again, I'm not sure where we're going to be. We have plenty of room. I'm concerned about do I have enough armbands for everybody? Are we going to have enough solo cups? one of the caveats to our show is that normally this time of year in Northeast Ohio they have Craft Brewing Week which is kicked off, we were going to kick it off last year
    27:23
    and it ended with a show called The Big Tap-In which is a one day beer festival with 40 different breweries and that's not happening so I'm finding that a lot of the craft beer drinkers are looking at our show as a place to go. That's terrific I mean, that's a great cross-promotion, being able to attract people who just want to drink beer, people who just want to play pinball, and people who want to do both. Yeah, well, it's nice that we'll be able to introduce all these craft beer drinkers to pinball.
    27:54
    I literally had some of them that I've discussed with the show, and they're like, so you have pinball. Okay, so you're going to have craft beer. Oh, well, we're coming, definitely. It's unique. So, yeah, we're excited. It's coming along. I had no idea how much work was involved to get everything lined up, but I'm happy to see we're making progress every day as to getting. I'm a big stickler on trying to make sure that everybody's going to have a good time. I obviously don't want any issues, problems. So I'm keeping myself up at night thinking of, well, what about this?
    28:26
    What do we do with that? And each day we're progressing very nicely. So yeah I imagine it quite a monumental task to have a plan for every conceivable hiccup or whatever for this thing you know must affect your sleep sometimes to make sure it all It has a little bit, not to the extent that I would never say I'd never do it again, but being my first show, my partner, Marvin's like, Hey, it's fine to worry about it. He's done so many of these that, you know, he knows what to expect. And me, I'm,
    28:58
    I'm a cross the T dot the I guy. So I'm over here, you know, chewing fingernails and he's just looking at me, shaking his head. You'll do fine. Get one under your belt. I got the sensei with you. He can pay. I'm sure he could tell you all the pitfalls. Running a big show. It used to be in the show business at one point in time, totally unrelated. There's a lot of, a lot of pieces to the puzzle. I have one last question about the tournament
    29:29
    Do you know if it's going to be streamed online Anywhere? I am not aware, I do not think so I know the IFPA stuff has all been closed down We had to take that off Because of current conditions But we haven't even yet Reached out and asked If they're interested in Starting, because we are We are on the tail end of what we had to deal with And we are going forward in life And it's time to start turning some things on and that might be one of them. So I know that my partner will reach out to them
    29:59
    and see what's going on. We are also, we have a couple of friends that do a lot of the camera work at their different arcades. So we might do some of that. I'm not sure, again, not my- It's a good promotional vehicle. You've got some great people who do YouTube channels in the Ohio area. I'll make the announcement, you know, hey folks this might be an opportunity uh yeah maybe there's a maybe there's a match they can
    30:32
    they can reach out to us my our email phone numbers are on the website uh the website is www.pinbrewfest.com um so they can uh get on there and get a feel for everything that's going on and there's a page on there where they can contact us you know we're we're open to anything that's going to help make the pinball show a great great event uh we plan on doing this for a good long while uh we'll get the first one under our belt and each year we'll just keep going with it so
    31:05
    ohio is uh we have three shows in ohio well actually we had four we had the ohio pinball show which is not happening this year um as far as i know we have so our show is our inaugural show, The Cleveland Show, which my partner Marvin is half-owners of The Cleveland Show, which happens in the fall. And then there's another show down in Cincinnati around Christmas time. So I don't know where I was going with that, but anyway. Pinball Mecca, that's where you were going. Yes. The pinball state of the United
    31:38
    States. I was going to say, and one thing I'm very excited about is our logistics. We are in between Buffalo and Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Columbus, Cincinnati's six hours away. So we're looking at, we're going to get quite a draw from the area, which we expected we would. Pennsylvania's just opened up and people can come and go as they please into our state,
    32:09
    which was nice. We're just hoping as we're timing it, it's going to be an easy event for everybody to attend. Well, I appreciate it very much. I can't thank you guys enough for helping us to get this thing off the ground. Well, hey, bartender, there's a big boogie in my beer.
    32:40
    Hey, bartender, there's a big boogie in my beer. He got one eye red and the other one blue The big old bug drinking all my brew Hey bartender, there's a big bug in my field Boris Beecher Be honest, how many times have any of you, or either of you, driven nine hours to go buy a game? I'm guilty. I'd say
    33:11
    six hours I did eight I think eight was my top six years ago I've calmed down since I did a round trip from the Jersey Shore to Rochester New York and back all in one day with my buddy what was the game we bought two hot doggons from a guy named Mike who owns the Church of the Silver Ball in Mississauga, Ontario.
    33:42
    He dragged them across the border, and we met in the Denny's parking lot. They were in various shapes of disrepair, so my buddy actually restored both of them, one for him and one for me. Nice. I've gone as far away as Canada, a road trip up there to get a Bally Mystic. I literally, when we were getting the show ready, I wanted to have a few unique games. I haven't announced it yet because I've just been so busy. I have Galactic Cowboy.
    34:16
    What the heck is that game? Gunfighter. Cosmic Gunfighter. I have a Cosmic Gunfighter. I have a Stargazer. Nice. Now you're talking my language. And I just picked up a Ringer. Oh, Ringer, yeah. That's a great game. That is so much fun at shows. I mean, that's a great beer drinking game. Yeah. But I found a joust in Canada. This guy posted it one day, and he says, you know, we're cleaning out this warehouse from this operator.
    34:51
    There's this in here. I don't think I'm going to do anything with it. And I immediately sent him a text and said, hey, sight unseen. I'll give you some s*** for the game as is. No question about it. Wow. and he texts me later and he says hey i had five people reach out to me immediately for the game he says three they were all like at two thousand dollars and three thousand dollars it's just they were trying to steal i know what there were restored he says so uh i'll sell it to you so i bought this thing problem is that shipping it's a pain in the ass that the the border shut down
    35:27
    so it's literally sitting at a friend's house out in canada and my buddies in buffalo are willing to go get it and bring it to the show but you can't get across the border to get now you can't get across it was a pain in the ass beforehand keith even with the border open i did i did it once i went from here in southern new hampshire to montreal and back in one day to pick up a skateball that was shipped across canada so yeah i've had my shit that was easy the guy says what do you have i have a pinball machine no you don't yes i do here look oh okay go ahead
    36:02
    yeah it was it was simple as that he didn't even look inside i mean i could add all kinds of contraband but he's like yeah go you're good same with me same with me with that uh the mystic game they looked inside like what is that pinball machine okay off you go no big deal Dave who? Dave D-A-V-E yeah Dave so anyone out there that wants to explore getting their games worked on, getting their games restored
    36:34
    or buying a restored game from me you can check out my website at pinballdoctor.com that's pinballdoctor all spelled out or you can reach me at dave at pinballdoctor.com or you can reach me at drdavespinball at gmail and that's drdavespinball at gmail. See that bear lapping up that good old country water? Sure makes a big hairy guy like me thirsty.
    37:05
    That's when I wrap my lips around a tall, sweaty, edible bottle of good old country bear whiz beer. As my daddy said, son, it's in the water. That's why it's yellow. Bear Whiz Beer. Bear Whiz Beer, liquid products and the Bearwoods Brewery, Animal Missouri.
    37:48
    Outro Music