Baseball season's underway. Well, you better get ready for a brand new day. Hey, Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are going to win today. They're sending go, Cubs, go! It's time now for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teolis. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Ah, the Windy City. Look at that. It's the fall. You know what that means. Pinball Expo is around the corner, bigger and better than ever. Don't believe me? Rob Burke's here to prove it. Hey, Rob, how are you? Good, Jeff. Glad to hear from you. Thank you for calling. This is the show of shows. This is the one that really got it all started, isn't it? If you think about it, when you talk to people like Josh Sharpe or something, hey, tell us about Rob Burke. His immediate words are, he is the godfather of pinball shows because this is now in its 34th year. It's been an amazing run, and it just gets better. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun, and just the thought it would go this far is kind of really exciting for me. And when I think back after the first year, I thought to myself, this is it, because my whole idea for doing the show was to honor my heroes, who were the designers and the artists. I always felt they never got the fame and the glory, the accolades they deserved. And about six months going into the following year, I started getting phone calls. When's the next show? I said, well, there is no next show. I'm done with it. They said, oh, no, no, man, this is too much fun. You've got to do it again. So that was it, and we've never stopped. You created a monster. It's interesting because Richard Buchel, who wrote the book on pinball, I think he made it through two chapters before he passed away, but he called it a love-in, Pinball Expo's a love-in. And you can imagine the very first year we had it, where people had heard about, for instance, Steve Young through his silver, what do you call it, silver ball? Silver ball collectors quarterly, he called his publication. And to hear about this guy, but to finally meet him. Richard Conger, again, some of his names you don't know, but he was a very big collector in California. To have him show for it. So all these people came under one roof, all at one time. And for many of us, it was the first time finally seeing these people face-to-face. So it was a magic that I don't know if we'll ever duplicate, but it was really, really special. That is just one of the amazing features at something like Pinball Expo, which is coming up in mid-October. You mentioned some of the vendors and some of the talks. I have not been to Expo yet, but I've been able to watch some of these great streams online or from people's footage. We're now in the age of cell phones with cameras and whatnot. And I remember just even last year, how many people tuned in to Buffalo Pinball's broadcast of the reveal of Jersey Jack Pinball's Pirates of the Caribbean. It was one of the biggest things I've ever seen. There was static in the air. It was wall-to-wall. And we had asked the hotel to bring extra chairs, but that didn't help. There was just so many people there for that. And Jack did a great job of promoting his game. And to bring it to our venue was terrific. Yeah, it was really great. We've had a lot of special moments like that. and Expo's kind of known for having the new games revealed and the information revealed to the public, and it's been something we're proud of, and we continue to do so. See, I look forward to that, whether in person, being at the event, or even going back and watching the footage. Being there is obviously the best choice, and we'll get to some of the details on how you can be at Pinball Expo 2018. But some of these older ones, and you just mentioned it, over the years, all these greats, Are these archived somewhere? Will these ever be released? Because that's something I'd be fascinated to find out, especially about some of these people that are no longer with us. Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of these. I have footage of this on VHS, so you can imagine how old that format is. I guess you're just making the effort to do it. I know in the first or second year it was available on CD. Someone downloaded it because I was offering the tapes for sale in the early years. But the other thing about those early years is so many of those people, like you say, The living legends are not gone between Steve Kordek, of course, and Elvin Gottlieb. For me, one of my favorites was Harvey Heiss. Harvey Heiss was the designer at Genco. Steve Kordek actually worked under Harvey Heiss. But all these greats were at our show. Jerry Kelley, who did some of the artwork at Bally back in the day. There's so much rich history of the Expo. You are right. There are videotapes available. It's just a matter of me making the effort to put them onto a CD format or something that people can enjoy. As we talk about the different generations that are involved in pinball, I mentioned Josh Sharpe and his family. You certainly know Roger, who's one of the, I guess, board of directors, really, of Pinball Expo as far as the marketing is concerned. Your family's been involved. Now you're kids, and it's got to be nice to come full circle. Well, yeah. In fact I mean I started the show before I was married and that was part of the prerequisite to date me is you have to like pinball So that was a big plus for my wife Bridget But it been interesting and people have seen my kids grow up and I seen other people grow up whether it be the Sharps and there been others They grow up before your very eyes, and they've seen other adults. We've lost a lot of people. What's interesting with the Expo is you see about anywhere from 40% to 50% new faces every year. Either people get burnt out of going or they lose the interest. So there's always a new wave of people coming in, and we're seeing that as well this year as well. Well, that is the growth of pinball. You see that in tournament players and league players. It's just been exponential over the last four years. When I joined, there were 23,000 in this IFPA, and now we're at 62,000 in just a short time. So these are all people that want to get into pinball. Maybe they lost it like I did and went away in those dark ages when arcades started to disappear. But you kept it going. And it's interesting that in 84 when you did this, 84 was kind of the time when video games were starting to get very, very popular. And the arcades had more of these than they did pinball machines. Yet you started as a pinball show. And it's only recently that you've added the great arcade element to Pinball Expo. Right. To back up your statement, actually, the 84s only sent the questionnaire, but 85 was the first year. But I remember Steve Kordek saying that pinball always goes through these highs and lows periods. But you are exactly correct. When that Pac-Man came out, Pinball really took a drastic hit. And the manufacturers were still around at the time. I think the most we ever had was five different Pinball manufacturers at one time at our show. But the video gave it a big hit. And those were some waning years of the Expo because it just quite was the intensity. For one, there wasn't all the different manufacturers there. And like anything else, you know, Pinball's coming back. And it's amazing to me. Yeah, I think part of it is because of the incredible marketing these pinball factors are doing now and also the fact that they've got some great themes for their games. So whether you're into pinball or not, all of a sudden you're interested just because of the theme alone. If five was your record, I think you're going to beat that easily with all the different companies that are up and coming, and you've got a great one that's going to be there, American Pinball. They've got a special tournament. They're giving away a Houdini pinball machine in a little American Pinball tournament. Yeah, so their tournament is kind of separate from the one we do with Trent Augustine. And they're kind of using the same format we did back in the early years when we had these tournaments. But basically the top 16 guys get into the qualifying round, and then they just lug it out, and best score, highest score takes it. So it's a chance to win a machine there. You can win a machine through the other tournament with Trent Augustine. And actually you can win the tournament with our raffle. What we're doing is for everyone that comes to the show and buys the full package, which costs $175, but they would get a free raffle ticket, and if their name is drawn, they get a machine. And I believe that's going to be a new Stern Pinball Deadpool machine. That's correct. Still in the box, still sealed. So we are really busting loose this year. I'm trying to make it fun for everybody. I've incorporated so many tournaments this year that I don't care what level of interest you are or what skill set you're at, you have an equal chance of winning this. And the one thing I'm kind of looking forward to is the big ball bowler tournament. So anyone that's been around for a while knows that they have these big ball bowlers, typically in the bars and so forth, and the ball is about as big around as a softball. But the high score of that game, and there's no qualifying round or whatever, just the high score wins a $6,000 ball bowler. I mean, it's just crazy. So we have that tournament going on. And we have an arcade tournament with Doc Mack from Galloping Ghost. He's bringing down 60 games, 60 arcade games, of which he's going to pick 10 the day of the show that will be part of the tournament. And I'm not quite sure how Doc is going to be doing his tournament, but the winner of that will get like a championship belt like these professional wrestlers have. So that could be a lot of fun if you're into the arcade part of it. Then we've got the tournament with the Pong, the Atari Pong tournament. And we have from the company called ICE, they're doing their Super Checks tournament. And these other tournaments, you won't win a machine, but you'll win a trophy and some sort of prizes as well. So there's just so much happening there. I don't know if you'll have any time to sleep. Well, that's so funny you should say about not sleeping. We'll get to that in a second. But you're right, just to recap these big prizes. You've got the Deadpool raffle for those who buy full admission. You've got those vendors that actually bring a game. Anybody who brings a game, you get a raffle ticket, and you could win a High Roller Casino game. So that's nice. American Pinball, the Houdini Contest. Someone's going to win a Houdini pinball machine. You've got the Stern Factory Tour. You've got these other tournaments, too. I love that Big Ball Bowler. I've got to go to Bruce Nightingale's and practice at his Silver Ball Saloon. He's got one of those there. It's so fun. Yes, St. Louis Ball Bowler. They killed the idea of one. Why don't you give a machine away? I said, well, why not? That would be kind of fun. Anyone could win. I mean, women, kids, anyone really has got an equal shot on that ball bowler. That's going to be really a lot of fun. So it's going to be nuts, man. It just going to be so much intensity at that show this year And this show is going to have a different feel like it ever had before You said about not being able to sleep There is a 24 free play area Right. We're separating it from the vendor hall because we just like to have the security of having the vendors and the goods they bring for sale under lock and key. So there will be machines in those rooms that people can play for free. But we're also going to have a separate room, which will be open 24 hours, which they can just play to their heart's content. Another thing that always draws my attention to these type shows, the tournaments are great for a player like myself, but not everyone's a tournament player, and it's a lot of people that are collectors. So you've got great panels that are going to be there. Yeah, that's something I started years ago on these seminars. I've always been pretty proud of that because I think the seminars are really a unique part of the show. Other shows have followed since that time, but we have had some great speakers, and it's kind of cool to meet these people up close and get a chance to meet them, talk to them, and many times, if you have the interest, get a picture with them. It's a huge lineup of what you've got there. Todd Tuckey's going to be there. Boy, if there's a guy who's got some stories, it's him. Oh, you know, he's got a great following. But Todd's got some really interesting seminars, and he's always very entertaining. He's been to our show several times, and like yourself, I'm looking forward to seeing what he's got up his sleeves this year. There's so many others, too. David Thiel, who was recently a guest on this show, he's going to be there as well. You've got the group from Deep Root coming there. So this is really the first exposure that anybody is going to see to this new pinball company that's been working hard behind the scenes in Texas, and now they're going to be all up front and center. That's very, very unique. Yeah, Robert Mueller is coming down with his team, and the one person who's coming, I haven't seen the Expo for years. He was very involved from Expo from day one is Jon Norris. So Jon Norris is an interesting story because he came to Pinball Expo, and he had designed the game on his own. And when one of the guys was giving a seminar, I think it was Gil Pollack or something, he said, hey, how do I get in this industry? And he kind of gave his thoughts. And John said, well, I've got a machine that I built on my own, and I'd like to share it with someone. And Gil Pollack said, bring it down. And the next thing you knew, Jon Norris was working for Premier Technology. So it's been kind of fun to see these kind of stories happen. And this was the very, very early years of Pinball Expo. But there have been other people that have got jobs as well as a result of Expo. I imagine Scott Danesi, who's also going to be speaking there, he'll be there on the Saturday doing a talk. He's a guy who brought out the original Total Nuclear Annihilation and now doing very, very well with Spooky. So, yeah, you get some of this kind of stuff. Now, also, too, let's look at the other side, too. This is the first time many of us have seen John Papadiuk back in the pinball circle. We know he's been working with Deep Root. So it's kind of curious. I know there's going to be a panel, and Robert's going to be hosting that. I wonder if there will be questions from the audience for that. I would imagine there might be one or two. Oh, yeah. I'm sure there will be, and let's hope John is there to answer them. We've talked about so much. I hope I've mentioned that there's also a lot of kids' tournaments, too. That was something that's really grown over the past few years, so it's kind of nice. You know, when I go to bigger shows and festivals, you know, replay, so many of us listening to this have been there. If you bring your kids, even though they might be there for 10, 12, 14 hours, It's tough to get them to leave because there's so much to do. So the kids' tournament is another great attraction at Pinball Expo 2018. Yeah, that's something that we did years ago, and we brought it back again with the help of American Pinball. They want to have a tournament at their booth that will include kids, and also going to have a tournament for the women's division. So, you know, we're trying to cover all aspects, so no matter who comes, really the whole family can come to the show and just have a great time. I will say this, that, you know, the Expo has gone through a lot of different phases. We've had our great years, and some years not so great. But I will say this, that anyone who's been to Expo in the past, you're going to see a show this year that is going to be unlike a show we've had in a long time. The amount of intensity and effort that we're putting into it is an amount of effort I've never done before as far as getting the local media involved and to get the attractions and events going on that will reach an all-time high in intensity. and we just have a lot of positive things happening. I've got a new team that I'm working with, and we're all out for a calmer goal of having everyone's experience be the best experience we've ever had at Pinball Expo. Rob, you touched on the new team, and I know in the last year or so, there were some, not concerns, but just curiosity. Where is Pinball Expo going to go? There was a division between the partners, and you're giving us some great reassurances that this is a different team with a different focus. so if you had been there in past years and you might have had any concerns, you're putting those to rest right now. To rest, yeah. The feel that you have walking the show will be night and day different from the past. Between the amount of vendors, between the amount of games, the events going on, it's just going to be over the top, I guess is the best way for me to put it. In your words and I don believe I heard any audio of you since this time last year in your words why was the change needed Well you know I was noticing with the Expo that it was losing its zip It was losing its excitement It was losing its appeal. It was losing its flavor with people. And part of it was because I had a vision of Expo, and my partner had a similar vision but yet a different vision in some of the ways that he thought we could promote the show and get people involved with the show. And like anything else, you know, everyone's got their ideas on what can be done. And our views were just becoming more and more strained as far as how the show could be promoted and how it could be better. So, you know, I approached him last year about buying the show, and that finally happened. And because of that, I'm putting an influx of money into the show that I think will allow people to have an event and a time of their life. And they'll see that my heart's there in the right place and that I walk my talk and the event will be something to speak about and to talk about for a long time. Rob, a lot of shows ask people to bring games, and certainly that's what makes the shows so big. We saw that just recently at Cleveland Pinball, a great show. And it was just the floor was filled with all these fantastic games. You've got that nice little carrot, too, that you're offering in winning that high roller casino game. For anybody who brings a game, you're going to get that great raffle ticket. Yeah, it's going to be something really special we're doing this year, Jeff. You know, my goal is to fill up that hotel with wall-to-wall games. And what I'm asking for your audience, if anyone would consider bringing games to the show, So the more information will be on our website, but basically the more games you bring to the show, the more raffle tickets you'll get. And what's special about that is if your name is pulled for the raffle, you win a Stern High Roller Casino pinball machine just by bringing the games. So what we're doing is the more games you bring, the more the raffle tickets you get in return. So if you bring five games, you get 10 raffle tickets. Ten games, 20 raffle tickets. So we're just trying to make it to the point where the more effort you put into it, the more raffle tickets you get. Also, there's a cash incentive with that as well to help cover any expenses you would need to bring the games to the show. So we want the experience for the attendees to be special. And the more games there are, of course, the more excitement there is. And like I mentioned earlier, Doc Mac is bringing 60 arcade games. I myself am probably bringing around 60 or 70. So if we can't hit 350 to 400, I'll be surprised because this is what the show is all about and this is what I want to do. And I'm even going to bring a few special games out of my collection. One is a Gauntlet of Spirit. It's a game you don't see every day. And also I'm bringing several of the early Stern pinball machines, one of them being Split Second, another one being Iron Maiden, one Stargazer. These are all fun Stern games that you just don't see every day. So these games will be at the show as well. So for those listening in, feel free to contact me via e-mail or just see the form on the website. But we'd really appreciate your help and cooperation and giving us your effort to make this show great for everybody. Find out more information about that at pinballexpo.net, and you can see how you can help bring a game and win maybe that high roller casino. But it'll just be such a fun experience too. I know people that have brought games there, homebrew games. And my buddy Mark in the city brought his Nightmare Before Christmas game there. That certainly got a lot of play and excitement, too. I forgot to mention one other thing. For everyone that brings a game, they will also have a special invite to a VIP welcoming party, which we're going to have Thursday at 430. So it's before the hall actually opens. But for those people that bring a game in, they'll get invited to that event where they can just eat and have a great time and drink and kind of socialize before the show actually opens at 6. Rob, I don't mind spreading the word on this program to the thousands that listen and the enthusiasts for all things pinball. I think you're going to do well, whether you're on the show or not. I think there's some new excitement in Pinball Expo 2018. So I wish you the best of luck, and I hope to see you soon. Jeff, I thank you so much. And get ready and tell all your friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever, that you won't be available that weekend because you're going to be busy at the show. Rob will even write you a note, too. There you go. Hey, all the best. I look forward to seeing my past friends and future friends. I'm sure that you're going to have a great time. And please seek me out and say a quick hi to me. I'd appreciate hearing from you guys. Thank you, Jeff. Rob Burke here on Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at pinballprofile, email us pinballprofile at gmail.com, and please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. I'm Jeff Teolas. Yeah. Come together. Yeah. Come together. Yeah.