Episode 436: Pinball Profile Top 10 Most Intriguing People of 2025

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·19m 10s·analyzed·Mar 16, 2026

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Pinball Profile Top 10 for 2025 highlights community leaders, designers, and IFPA governance amid OBX safety fallout.

Summary

Jeff Tillis presents Pinball Profile's Top 10 Most Intriguing People of 2025, highlighting competitive players, community leaders, and industry figures who shaped the year. The list prominently features responses to the OBX incident in November 2024 (the IFPA Women's Advisory Board and Josh Sharp), rising design talent (Karl DeAngelo, Brad Albright, Ian Harrower), and content creators. The episode reflects on community safety, competitive integrity, and the balance between inclusivity and governance within competitive pinball.

Key Claims

The IFPA Women's Advisory Board dissolved after the OBX incident in November 2024 due to frustration over lack of action and feeling their advisory role lacked real power.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis, Pinball Profile host, discussing the Women's Advisory Board's dissolution
Josh Sharp, as IFPA President, holds sole voting power over IFPA policy and direction, despite input from advisors.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis explaining the IFPA governance structure
The IFPA has over 150,000 members playing competitive pinball globally.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis citing IFPA membership numbers for 2025
Karl DeAngelo's Winchester Mystery House for Barrels of Fun sold out instantly upon release.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis describing the game's commercial performance
The IFPA admitted making a mistake in certifying the OBX event and has since implemented new diversity and inclusion codes and conduct codes.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis discussing IFPA's post-OBX response
Jöran Engelbrektsson traveled outside Sweden for the first time in six years to compete at the UK Open in 2025.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis describing Jöran's return to international competition
Stefan Riedler of RS Pinball in Austria ran the European Pinball Championship 2024 with 377 competitors.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis praising the event organization
Retro Ralph has 75,000 YouTube subscribers and creates content focused on pinball, arcade collecting, and retro gaming.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis acknowledging Retro Ralph's content creation reach
Brad Albright created art packages for both Winchester Mystery House (Barrels of Fun) and Portal (Multimorphic) in 2025.
high confidence · Jeff Tillis highlighting Brad's graduation as a professional pinball artist

Notable Quotes

“In November, Pinball had one of the most vile scenes ever. I can't think of anything else like that since I've been playing.”
Jeff Tillis @ ~08:20 — Sets the context for the OBX incident that drove the dissolution of the IFPA Women's Advisory Board and became a central theme of the episode.
“The only vote that matters in the IFPA is that of President Josh Sharp.”
Jeff Tillis @ ~12:45 — Explains the power structure and governance limitation of the Women's Advisory Board, highlighting the source of frustration.
“The decision he made to certify the IFPA event at OBX when a group feared for their safety by a bigoted employee was not a wise choice.”
Jeff Tillis @ ~14:30 — Articulates the core criticism of Josh Sharp's handling of OBX while distinguishing between the decision and personal character.
“I'll say this as the highest compliment. I had no experience playing the legendary Valve game on any platform. I didn't know Portal. Didn't matter. When I played the Multimorphic version of Portal, I was immediately in awe.”
Jeff Tillis @ ~42:15 — Demonstrates how Ian Harrower's ruleset design successfully adapted a video game IP to pinball mechanics, a key achievement for his 'graduation.'
“You are what pinball should be and you are a great example for all of us to learn from.”
Jeff Tillis @ ~56:30 — Closing statement about the Arizona pinball community, emphasizing collaboration and mutual support as a model for other regions.
“The richest get richer, so to speak. Fun tourneys that pack arcades can be deemed by Josh as too efficient, meaning they get too many whopper ranking points in a short amount of time, and so these events get squashed.”
Jeff Tillis @ ~13:50 — Articulates a major criticism of IFPA policy favoring long tournaments over efficient, venue-friendly events.
“Petitions have been signed. Businesses and sponsors have been contacted to not show support for the IFPA. None of this would have happened had Josh and IFPA found a better resolution for the OBX event.”

Entities

Jeff TillispersonJöran EngelbrektssonpersonJosh SharppersonIFPA Women's Advisory BoardorganizationKali CampbellpersonStefan RiedlerpersonKarl DeAngeloperson Brad Albright

Signals

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community_signal: IFPA Women's Advisory Board dissolved after November 2024 OBX incident; board members felt their advisory role lacked real power to address safety and discrimination concerns.
high · Jeff Tillis: 'Their frustrations had peaked and they couldn't stand for the actions and lack of actions that took place in November... the IFPA Women's Board found out that their hands were tied.'
?
industry_signal: Josh Sharp's sole voting power as IFPA President creates tension between advisory boards and actual policy influence; criticized for prioritizing long tournaments over efficient events.
high · Jeff Tillis: 'Only vote that matters in the IFPA is that of President Josh Sharp... Fun tourneys that pack arcades can be deemed by Josh as too efficient... Josh loves long tournaments.'
?
business_signal: Post-OBX fallout includes signed petitions, contact campaigns with sponsors requesting they withdraw support from IFPA.
high · Jeff Tillis: 'Petitions have been signed. Businesses and sponsors have been contacted to not show support for the IFPA. Leagues and players have opted out of the IFPA.'
?
personnel_signal: Karl DeAngelo graduated from streaming/software roles to official game designer at Barrels of Fun; Ian Harrower advanced from homebrew P3 programmer to Multimorphic commercial title; Brad Albright established as professional playfield artist with two major releases.
high · Jeff Tillis on Karl: 'he became an official game designer for Barrels of Fun.' On Ian: 'Ian has graduated to the next level.' On Brad: 'congratulations Brad on your graduation to becoming an authentic pinball playfield artist.'
?

Topics

OBX incident and safety in pinballprimaryIFPA governance and Women's Advisory Board dissolutionprimaryEmerging designers and artists (Karl DeAngelo, Brad Albright, Ian Harrower)primaryCompetitive pinball and tournament formatssecondaryContent creation and video streaming in pinballsecondaryCommunity collaboration models (Arizona example)secondaryJöran Engelbrektsson's return to international competitionsecondaryVideo game IP adaptation to pinball (Portal)mentioned

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.057

It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teoles. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter, X, Instagram, at pinballprofile. We've got a great Facebook group as well. You can email pinballprofile at gmail.com. And if you'd like to show your support, don't worry, the show is always free. And thanks to great people like Lua W., Francis W., Jake C., Bart V., John L., Sean I., and more for keeping this show going. That's patreon.com slash pinball profile. Welcome to my annual tradition of bringing attention to some of the people that turned heads in the previous year. Wait a minute, it's March. I know it's late, but if the Oscars can run in March, well, then I can highlight 2025 too. Here's how the Pinball Profile Top 10 Most Intriguing People of 2025 works. The only rule to making this list is you cannot have been on the list the year prior. There are some amazing people who would be on year after year after year, so this rule gives others a chance to be recognized. Last year's list for what they did in 2024 was Rob Burke of Pinball Expo and Past Times Arcade, the late Nick Shako of Ohio, Penny Epstein who gave us Papa 21 and the awareness for the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, Stern's software engineer Raymond Davidson, the IFPA The Win's World Champion, Danielle Peck, Streamer, Podcaster, Dentist, Tom Graff, Abe Seidler from Abe Flips, Writer, Director, Filmmaker, Christina Capra of North Carolina, the three companies that took it to the next level, Spooky Pinball, Multimorphic and Turner Pinball. And finally, we highlighted the pinball media. So let's find out who made the list for 2025. You hear people debate who are the greatest pinball players ever. Keith Elwin is often referred to as the GOAT, the greatest of all time. Daniele Acari, the Italian veteran, is still going strong. Look what he just did at INDISC. While younger players like Jason Zahler, Zach McCarthy, Escher Lefkow, Raymond Davidson get a lot of mentions too. In Sweden we watch Arvid Fliegara and Viggo Lovgren continue to climb the rankings. But those two Swedes likely were inspired by another fellow countryman, Joran Engelbrektsson. Yorien is second only to Keith Elwin for major championships with seven including an IFPA World Championship, a Pampa Championship and five European Championships. But why we mention Yorien on this top 10 list is because he's not been as active in pinball for some time, mainly just only playing in Sweden. But in 2025, he traveled out of his country for the first time in six years to play pinball. He attended the UK Open and played well in all three events. Will this mean perhaps more of one of the greatest competitors in the last 20 plus years? I could go on and on about Yorian, but I'll save that when you hear from the man himself on the next Pinball Profile. Moving on, I mentioned that I'm getting this episode out before the Oscars. Well, that's not the only reason for the long delay. In fact, if you look back at Pinball Profile, I didn't do much in the podcast for the last few months. How come? In November, Pinball had one of the most vile scenes ever. I can't think of anything else like that since I've been playing. The place was at Flipper's Arcade in North Carolina for the OBX Stern Pro Circuit event. For those that don't know what happened, I cannot give it the time it properly deserves by quickly summarizing what took place. Quite simply, a group of people did not feel safe and the proper actions to correct this immediately were not taken. Now I will remind you before I mention this, Pinball Profile is not an endorsement of anyone mentioned. This is a podcast that has always highlighted different people in the hobby. That being said, the next two on the Pinball Profile's top 10 most intriguing people of 2025 are the IFPA Women's Advisory Board and Josh Sharpe. Let's begin with the IFPA Women's Advisory Board. They were first founded years ago and it was a long time coming. There have been many different members throughout its time, each coming from different areas and representation that you find in the pinball landscape. This board was a way for pinball's largest growth demographic to be heard. Leagues like Bells and Chimes, events like the Southwest Bells Pinball Rodeo in San Antonio, and the Women's World Championship, they all benefited from the IFPA Women's Advisory Board. If you've ever played or witnessed a women's event, they're all about having fun and it's so exciting to watch. Which if I recall, is why I love pinball. But sadly, after the fallout from OBX, the women's board dissolved. Their frustrations had peaked and they couldn stand for the actions and lack of actions that took place in November I wasn there I not on the board so I can only imagine the pressure they felt to quote do something for the many people that were marginalized When in fact, the IFPA Women's Board found out that their hands were tied. Why? Because unfortunately, the IFPA Women's Advisory Board's biggest misunderstanding was the significance of the word advisory. That women's board could and did come up with a ton of great ideas, policies and suggestions that have shaped today's competitive scene for the better for everyone, not just women. But when push came to shove back in November, the only vote that matters in the IFPA is that of President Josh Sharpe. Sure, he could be swayed or convinced if there was a good suggestion for improvement, but it's his sole vote that decides the direction of the IFPA. That being said, I really wish the Women's Advisory Board still existed. But again, I'm not in their shoes. I feel their frustrations when they felt their voice went upon deaf ears. In looking back, the IFPA Women's Advisory Board should hold their heads high and should be proud of the work they did and the voice that they provided to so many. Before the Women's Advisory Board, there was Josh Sharpe. His shaping of the IFPA has grown internationally with over 150,000 members playing competitive pinball. The League's tournaments and ranking systems have created traffic in arcades, aided pinball sales and given a lot of content to pinball streamers. It is a person's choice to participate in an IFPA sanctioned event. There are rules to be considered to have your IFPA results submitted. These rules have changed, often from ear to ear, to the delight and frustrations of many. Also in 2025, the growth of virtual pinball has been expanded to the rankings of the IFPA, Which for many is more accessible than the high cost of owning a physical pinball machine or traveling to events. Now when you have 150,000 plus IFPA members, you're going to get a lot of different opinions on how things should be. The biggest criticism of the IFPA and Josh Sharpe is that they only care about the top players. The rich get richer, so to speak. Fun tourneys that pack arcades can be deemed by Josh as too efficient, meaning they get too many whopper ranking points in a short amount of time, and so these events get squashed. Josh loves long tournaments. So do the top players. Viewers, venues and organizers may not appreciate battles going until 3am, but Josh doesn't care. But what about the criticism he takes for things like the fallout of OBX and being called transphobic? First of all, Josh is not transphobic. The decision he made to certify the IFPA event at OBX when a group feared for their safety by a bigoted employee was not a wise choice. But he felt the IFPA was given the go ahead to proceed on the Friday. After all the facts came in, the IFPA admitted they made a mistake. They put checks and balances in place for future events and TDs to be able to handle this situation and a new diversity and inclusion code and also a conda code were inserted. But still, they allowed an event to be considered for the IFPA when discrimination and harassment was rampant. The fallout of this? Leagues and players have opted out of the IFPA. Petitions have been signed. Businesses and sponsors have been contacted to not show support for the IFPA. None of this would have happened had Josh and IFPA found a better resolution for the OBX event. It's easy to be an armchair quarterback and say you would have done this, you would have done that. I applaud them for the changes they've made moving forward should something like this ever happen again. But unfortunately, the IFPA feels they did everything they could in admitting the mistake, We've been doing our best to help you get the game to where you want it to be, and we hope you enjoy this full game series. We'll see you next week. Have a great week. Have a great week. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. The Kali Campbell What a year for Kali. She kicked off the year by winning the Women's Championship at INDISC in a field of 68 great players. Then Kali, along with Kari Wing, gave us one of the most exciting finals ever on the big stage. It was at the Women's World Championship. It was one of the most epic battles since we saw Daniele and Johannes battle it out on Bram Stoker's Dracula back at IFPA 16 in Italy. But aside from Kaylee's playing excellence, she is a real leader in her community in North Carolina. She's organized events for the benefits of others, she's assisted when asked, and most importantly she is now a member of the IFPA executive staff along with Ashley Weaver Travis Murie Christina Capra and Emily Cawson all great choices As we know with the IFPA the buck stops with Josh Sharpe but Kaylee voice of reason will hopefully provide guidance for the future Number 5. I was fortunate to attend one of my three favorite events of the year. It was a first time event for this place, but the stakes were high. In previous years, there were some concerns about the European Pinball Championship. It rotates from country to country as a pinball major, and it needed to be held at a higher standard. Stefan Riedler of RS Pinball in Austria took on the challenge and ran a perfect event. With help from many of Europe's top TDs and techs, Stefan held a multi-tournament event with 377 competitors. People came from all over the world. There was the main event, the classics, the country challenge, a Jersey Jack pinball tournament With all the JJP titles and the winner Lucas Ott getting his own JJP machine, tons of guest speakers and a free play area with every machine you could imagine from all the spooky and American pinball titles, every new Stern and the latest from Barrels of Fun and Dutch Pinball. Stefan did such a great job, he's doing another big event this year in Austria from May 14th to 17th. I highly recommend it and I promise you, you'll be in good hands whenever an event is run by Stefan Riedler. The next three names on the Pinball Profile Top 10 Most Intriguing People of 2025 are what I like to call graduates. They've taken the next step in pinball with what they did in 2025. Now when you hear the first name, you might ask yourself, how could this person graduate when they've already done everything they can do in pinball? Well, they did something new, and it was pretty impressive. It's Karl Karl DeAngelo. Is there a more experienced streamer with what he does on IE Pinball? He is one of the creators of the very popular and now pinball major INDISC. Can you do any better than his tutorial LCD screen videos for Stern Pinball? I mean other than matchplay.events, can you create a more sought after software package than NeverDrains.com? What else is there to do for Karl? Well, we found out in 2025 when he became an official game designer for Barrels of Fun with the instantly sold out Winchester Mystery House. For so many pinball machines, the mindset is, let me play it before I buy it. There are a few exceptions. Keith Elwin's games come to mind, as you know what you're going to get, a unique layout that's challenging for the experts yet approachable for the beginners, and a ruleset that comes with no concerns. Spooky Pinball has had a great run lately, with titles like Beetlejuice and The Evil Dead. People are clamoring to get theirs before they sell out. But now we can add Karl Karl DeAngelo's games as something we trust before we play it. And, if you've been working on the instant sellout for his first machine, I'd say Karl's games for Barrels of Fun in the future are a serious case of FOMO. It also doesn't hurt that you might be one of the nicest people in pinball. So you have a wide range of people that will always support your efforts. Another graduate. We go to Texas. They say everything's bigger in Texas. Well 2025 couldn't have been any bigger for Texan Brad Brad Albright. Brad gave us two art packages on two games in 2025. You mentioned Karl's Winchester Mystery House for Barrels of Fun, but also Portal for Multimorphic. With those two now in your portfolio, congratulations Brad on your graduation to becoming an authentic pinball playfield artist. We always knew you had it in you. We've seen what you did with Roto Dave's homebrew of Motorhead. But with these two mass produced games last year, Brad has showed the diversity in his different styles of art. For years we've seen Brad attend Expo in Chicago and Texas Pinball Festival. His 3D art and posters have been sold to hobbyists around the world, and his toppers with the electric playground were an instant hit. I'm sure the offers will continue to roll in for Brad, and I know this won't be the last time we see his work on pinball machines. As we talk about Brad Brad Albright's graduation to the next level, we can say the same for one of his partners on Portal, Ian Ian Harrower. For as long as I've been playing competitive pinball, Ian and I have found ourselves in the same circles. He lives about an hour away, so we play in a lot of leagues together. He's always been a supporter of different pinball ventures and he prides himself on his admirable moral compass. And you know what, when he puts his time into it, he's a really good player as well. But I noticed less and less of Ian's playing. He still found time to help me co-TD the event The Beast in Buffalo, New York, but little did I know he was working his tail off programming for the game Portal. I had no idea. And what a pleasant surprise it was to play this incredible game. I'll say this as the highest compliment. I had no experience playing the legendary Valve game on any platform. I didn't know Portal. Didn't matter. When I played the multimorphic version of Portal, I was immediately in awe. Where the ball going Can I complete the task And a whole lot of wow moments that you love in pinball The Portal pinball game is both unique to pinball and yet an ode to the original gameplay Multimorphics growth continues with each title and so does the evolution of games itself Ian's always been an admirer of rule designers like Dwight Sullivan for Dwight's passion for gaming and different paths of play. After dabbling with P3 games like Birdwatcher and Blood Bank Billiards, now Ian has graduated to the next level. This very popular Portal IP has made many first time multi-morphic owners. It helps that Ian's rule set for Portal successfully creates the perfect balance of being true to the video game, yet practical for pinball. Number 9. As someone who has provided pinball podcasts for 10 years now, I'm thoroughly impressed with those in the hobby who provide video content. I turn on a microphone. Being in radio for 30 plus years, it's pretty easy compared to those that film hours of footage, edit and produce nice little packages for our enjoyment. Jack Danger has done it for years on Deadflip. I get a kick out of content from people like Kerry Hardy, or Manu Smith from Mystery Pinball Theater 3000, or Erica's Pinball Journey, or Tom Graff's endless streaming on Fox Cities Pinball. But with 75,000 subscribers, you have to give it up to Retro Ralph. His focus on pinball machines, arcade collecting, and retro gaming culture is top notch. Add to that the work he does on the JBS Pinball Show with Jamie Burchill and Cale Hernandez, 2025 was a banner year for Retro Rolf. What I like about his work is that he connects people to pinball for those that might not have access. You feel like you're right there with Retro Rolf when he's examining the games and getting a deeper look. His passion, preservation and sense of nostalgia is great for pinball in general, and I think we all look forward to his next creation. Let's recap the first nine of the Pinball Profile Top 10 Most Intriguing People of 2025. One of the greatest competitors of all time, Yorin Engelbreksten from Sweden, the IFPA Women's Advisory Board, Josh Sharpe, President of the IFPA, Kaylee Campbell of North Carolina, Stefan Riedler of RS Pinball, Karl Karl DeAngelo of Barrels of Fun, i.e. Pinball, INDISC, Neverdrains.com, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. Pinball artist Brad Brad Albright, Multimorphic programmer Ian Ian Harrower, and pinball content creator Retro Ralph. Finally for the tenth spot on the Pinball Profile Top 10 Most Intriguing People of 2025 is a special community. Many people in fact. I have been fortunate to play pinball all over the world and have been equally as blessed to know many of the players. In each area I go to, sometimes you'll find the subgroups, groups that stay within their own. Usually sometimes these groups don't play nice together. Some of these places will pit players against players, leagues against leagues, and even schedule events that compete with other events in the area. I've never understood that, but I recognize it happens quite a bit. From what I've learned, that is not the case for the pinball community in Arizona. I've been fortunate to go to Arizona the last couple of years for the awesome Starfighters Pinball Festival in Mesa, Arizona. It is just something to witness this community get together from all different arcades and groups to put on this massive event for the benefit of others. There is this mutual respect I've seen for arcades and leagues. They work together. The Electric Bat Arcade, they have their nights. Star Fighters, they have their nights. And even Atomic Art with what the Kennedys do, they have their own kind of lane as well. It's what makes Arizona strive. They support one another. Their community comes together when they lose someone at such a young age like Cody Curtis, who was remembered fondly at Star Fighters. When I see what people like Tracy Lindbergh and John Schoppel and the Curtis family and so many others there in Arizona do, it makes me want to come back every single year. You are what pinball should be and you are a great example for all of us to learn from. That's it. Maybe next year we will put this list out before March. I'm sure we will. But thanks for listening. This has been Pinball Profile. You can find everything on pinballprofile.com. We're on Twitter, X, Instagram, at pinballprofile, a great Facebook group as well. You can email me, pinballprofile at gmail.com. If you'd like to show your support, don't worry, the show will always be free, but our Patreon members certainly keep us going, so thanks so much to Ken G, GME Law, Jerry S, Tony V, Derek S, and more. That's patreon.com slash pinballprofile. I'm Jeff Teelveson. Mike Ryan Justin Michael Ian Phillip Steve Gil Coach Robin Josh 시간 You