Episode 376: Euro Trip with Rachel and Holly

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·26m 3s·analyzed·Oct 15, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Rachel and Holly discuss their European pinball tournament tour and women's league growth before UK Open.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Rachel Risto and Holly Koskinen at the UK Open in Croydon about their European pinball tournament trip spanning Sweden (Borås Open) and the UK. The conversation covers tournament experiences, community-building through pinball, the women's pinball league ecosystem, upcoming Whoppers 6.0 format changes, and personal travel highlights including Abbey Road and the River Thames. Rachel and Holly discuss how pinball has connected them with people worldwide and their concerns about the new efficiency-based Whoppers format potentially discouraging new players.

Key Claims

The Borås Open had 160+ players competing in a single house venue, matching District 82 participation but in a much smaller space
high confidence · Rachel: 'it was over 160 players that came out for that event which i thought was crazy which is in in terms of district 82 that's just as many people but in a much smaller space than dd2 is'
The Borås Open may have been the organizer's last year running that tournament
medium confidence · Rachel: 'i also believe that it may be the organizer. it sounds like it might have been his last year this year to run that tournament'
Ladies' Flex Wisconsin league achieved 25 women on a Wednesday night league, their highest participation to date
high confidence · Holly: 'at this point, our last season, one of our last seasons this past year, we had 25 women on a wednesday night league, so that was our highest participation to date'
Rachel has been a Beatles fan since age four and has a Let It Be tattoo
high confidence · Jeff notes Rachel's 'Let It Be tattoo' and Rachel states 'I've been a Beatles fan since I was four'
Whoppers 6.0 format will shift to card format emphasizing consistency over high scores, representing a major change from previous versions
high confidence · Jeff: 'This card format, which you'll see it in disc, which you saw years ago at Papa... This is really testing how consistent you can be. You don't have to blow up scores. You just don't want to have any bad ones.'
Rachel's early pinball career (2019) was influenced by being told to 'play everything' which she now believes has negatively impacted her Whoppers efficiency metric
high confidence · Rachel: 'when I first started playing, people were like, play everything. Play as much as you can... so now that's coming back to bite me in the rear end'
Ed (Copenhagen-based pinball figure) encouraged Rachel to attend the UK Open and informed her about the Borås Open tournament
high confidence · Rachel: 'my pal Ed that's in Copenhagen... he was also very encouraging. He's like, take a look at this. There's this tournament in Sweden the weekend before'

Notable Quotes

“Live every day like it's your last, and don't hold back if you can because this experience is absolutely wonderful”
Jeff Teolis @ ~28:00 — Thematic statement about Holly's health recovery and the value of travel/community
“I found my tribe I found my people. And I always describe our ladies league as like Golden Girls, but on steroids with more beer and more nerdy stuff.”
Holly Koskinen @ ~35:00 — Personal testimony about women's pinball league community and belonging
“The number one thing, and I talk about this all the time. pinball it's not just about pinball it's about the people and it's about the connecting with people”
Rachel Risto @ ~24:00 — Core insight about pinball community value beyond the game itself
“I think that it's going to humble a lot of players. Especially in Wisconsin.”
Rachel Risto @ ~48:00 — Direct concern about Whoppers 6.0 format impact on competitive landscape
“Where I have the concern about how the Whoppers are going to change is the ability to get new people into the sport... I think that's a huge miss that was not thought about.”
Holly Koskinen @ ~50:00 — Explicit criticism of Whoppers 6.0 onboarding/accessibility implications
“I cried a whole bunch at Abbey Road because it was a beautiful thing just to be there to find that connection.”
Rachel Risto @ ~60:00 — Personal emotional moment demonstrating deeper travel impact beyond pinball
“When you're standing there waiting to play your game, what are you talking about? You're talking about pinball. And I think that's one of the best parts of that.”
Rachel Risto @ ~59:00 — Description of pinball community bonding mechanism
“Tower Bridge... was the first time I saw Tower Bridge, and I was just emotionally overwhelmed.”
Holly Koskinen — Personal travel highlight demonstrating emotional impact of the trip

Entities

Rachel RistopersonHolly KoskinenpersonJeff Teolisperson Neil McCraepersonEdpersonTom GraffpersonMolly JohnsonpersonZan Sprouse (Zanadu)person

Signals

?
event_signal: Ladies Flex Wisconsin league achieved record participation of 25 women on Wednesday night league in recent season; league actively recruiting through tournament-training hybrid model and shifting away from summer tournament frequency to avoid burnout
high · Rachel: 'our last season, one of our last seasons this past year, we had 25 women on a wednesday night league, so that was our highest participation to date. But also try to run kind of... everybody's kind of got burnt out. So now we're trying to do more... structured training'
?
event_signal: UK Open positioned as major international tournament with broad tournament offerings (main, classics x2, ladies, high-stakes, kids divisions) attracting North American and international players; described as part of Stern Pro Circuit
high · Jeff: 'And it brings people from all over the world, certainly from Europe. But there's a lot of North Americans this year, myself included.' And event description of multiple tournament divisions running simultaneously
~
sentiment_shift: Strong positive sentiment about women's pinball leagues as inviting, non-competitive entry point with mentorship opportunities; emphasized multiple times as crucial for gender diversity in competitive pinball
high · Rachel and Holly both stress inclusivity and learning culture. Holly: 'our ladies league as like Golden Girls, but on steroids' and structured training initiatives. Jeff: 'these women's leagues... are still that inviting aspect'
?
community_signal: International pinball community (Europe) prominently features pin golf tournament format as standard; North America predominantly uses match play and Stern Pro Circuit formats, representing significant regional divergence
high · Jeff: 'in North America, we do not see a lot of pin golf, very rarely... Whereas every time I come to Europe... pin golf is almost pretty prominent. They really embrace it here' vs North America emphasis on 'pin masters for the Stern Pro Circuit'

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.078

0:00

it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teoles you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we're on facebook we're on twitter slash x instagram you can email pinball profile at gmail.com and if you'd like to show your support on patreon that would be wonderful it is certainly not necessary the show will always be free but i cannot thank the supporters enough like rodney c like william m and david m and gme law and so many others thank you again for your support we are about to start the uk open here in croydon just south of london and in fact there are a lot of people coming this big event run by neil mccray is spectacular and part of the Sturm Pro Circuit. And it brings people from all over the world, certainly from Europe. But there's a lot of North Americans this year, myself included. And I've seen these two travelers and their little exploits on Facebook following along. And I love seeing the excitement of one Rachel Risto and also Holly Koskinen. Hi, Rachel. Hi, Holly. Hi, Jeff. Hey, guys. I love that you've done this, not just massive trip. And we'll get to the UK Open in a second. But that's not where the trip started. You were in Sweden, the Borås Open. How was that, Rachel? It was absolutely incredible. The games were set up very difficult. It was a blast. The people were amazing. I had so much fun. And Holly? I mean, the Borås Open, I can concur with that. The games were set up very difficult. The Swedes definitely bring the heat as far as competition goes. So super stoked to play against them and to see their space and eat their food and see their culture. So it was awesome. I have been to Sweden. Tell me about the food. What do we got here? I've seen the Swedish chef, but it's not really the same, is it? No, not at all. Well, the first thing I want to say about Sweden is that it was incredibly safe for us to travel. Oh, nice. As solo women, female travelers, that was great. Just being able to walk down the street at midnight back from the tournament back to a hotel, I never felt safer. Oh, that's so good to hear. Yes. The food itself, I think, was great. Definitely more, how do you want to describe it, Holly? I don't know. I was absolutely surprised. So you have exuberant amount of Fika's, which are apparently coffee. Those are the coffee breaks. Yes. Yeah. The coffee. I thought I made my coffee strong. Oh, no. I got stepped up a couple notches. And now when I go home, we're going to have to step it up, you know, to drink like tar when we get home. But the coffee was excellent. You can definitely taste like the chemical lack of chemical difference in the food from the U.S. for sure. A lot of Italian food, a lot of pasta, a lot of pizza. Like there was pizza and like coffee. Everywhere. It was unbelievable. And I think kind of to Rachel's point, too, I think walking around in Sweden was the first time that I felt like if I were to be a man walking in America, that's how safe I would feel. That is very encouraging to hear and a great endorsement of Sweden and some of the fine cultures here. But I love that you've taken this trip because first time for both of you to come to Sweden. And is it for UK as well? Yes, it's definitely my first time to Europe, and I can't believe that it's pinball that brought me here. But you know what? You've done it right. This is what I like about this, because, yes, as wonderful as both these tournaments are, it's not like it's just the tournaments. I would imagine the tournaments are going to be wonderful and great, but your memories are going to be probably everything but the tournaments. Yes, absolutely. It was all the sightseeing. Sweden was absolutely beautiful, breathtaking. I am a nature lover, so I was able to find flowers that I've never seen before and take pictures of those to look up later. So things like that mean a lot to me, too. It was just really an incredible, incredible time. Well, that's so nice to hear. And what made you two decide to make this a huge trip? I mean, you're both wonderful pinball players. And Holly, I've seen you do so well, of course, one of the legendary Whipped Wins. And Rachel with the Ray Ray podcast, which I enjoy very much. But you do so much with wonderful Fox Cities Pinball and District 82. So I guess was this just a chance to see different pinball or Europe or all of the above? I think it was all of the above. Neil McRae came to the Super Series at District 82 last year, the last two years, and he was very encouraging about me coming to the U.K. Open. So I just decided, why not give it a whirl? It's also my birthday weekend while I'm here. Happy birthday. Thank you. 25. Yes, exactly. So when I decided I wanted to go, I knew that I really needed to find a travel partner. And so I kind of just put that out. And Holly knew she's big into traveling for different tournaments as well. And it just kind of worked out that way. And once we knew when the date was for the UK Open, we just – The trip got bigger. Well, my pal Ed that's in Copenhagen, if you know Ed. Oh, yeah, very well. Yes. And he was also very encouraging. He's like, take a look at this. There's this tournament in Sweden the weekend before. You should come play it. And I'm like, hmm. Well, if we're going to do it, if I'm going to go for a week, if I have to fly nine hours, we might as well make it as big as possible. I hate flying, Jeff. Oh, do you? Yes. So that was part of the hesitation of the whole thing, but I made it. Good, good, good. And Holly, I can see obviously Rachel's excitement, but I'm seeing it in yours too. It's just, this was an absolutely perfect trip for you. And it's not even done. No, I mean, it's not even done. I mean, this is like the final kickoff weekend, obviously. But, you know, as many of you know, I have had a battle with Lyme disease, and so I finally have regained my health mostly. Thank goodness. Thank you. I'm waiting for my doctor to declare my remission status, hopefully. So, yeah, it's like I didn't get to travel a lot in my 30s, so now it's like how can I make up for lost time and really kind of get ahead and get to see various aspects of the world and meet new people. So it's been a wonderful experience. You know, that's a message I like to tell people. Live every day like it's your last, and don't hold back if you can because this experience is absolutely wonderful, and you've been through hell and back, Holly, and I'm glad to hear things are getting better and you're able to do this wonderful trip. Thank you. Okay, now this is a pinball podcast once in a while, but it's more about the people. I love that. For the pinball aspect of it, the Boras Open, and you're used to District 82, Rachel, there were always kind of three tournaments before things really blew up in the Whopper field and Boras Open was one of them. What they would do with the wonderful Bulls and Balls in Fulda in Germany where we saw some of the pre for the IFPA 18 World Championships And of course your backyard District 82 Yes So I like you to compare because I never been to Boras Open to people who maybe been to one of the other events What's Boras Open like compared to, say, District 82? The first thing is the games at the Boras Open was, the games were set very difficult. I appreciated that there was no rubbers on the outposts. I appreciated that games were set up hard. It really kind of, you know, calls the herd there in terms of the best player in you needs to come out. In comparison to the tournaments at District 82, I mean, Whopper-wise, I think it was a 200% and 300% tournaments that they had there. Because they're multi-days as opposed to one-days and playoffs and things like that. Yes, and it was a classics and an open. And they also did a pin golf, which was a really nice warm-up to the event. So you got an opportunity to play most of the games the day prior, which is nice. Like at District 82, where he does sometimes like a Thursday night event as the warm up before a big tournament weekend. The only thing that was a bummer is that I didn't get an opportunity to really check out the stream much there. But it was nice that they did, I believe, stream finals. So everyone should go check that out. I also believe that it may be the organizer. It sounds like it might have been his last year this year to run that tournament. right which is why it was over 160 players that came out for that event which i thought was crazy which is in in terms of district 82 that's just as many people but in a much smaller space than dd2 is wow yeah it was incredible absolutely incredible and the organizers did such a great job the game techs and the collective of players that that's their house that i got to go play in they were so kind and also very helpful which was also neat was be able to connect with a couple podcast listeners that live over here in europe that was very surreal as well well you're certainly whether it's the podcast or whether on fox city stream you're you're making a name for yourself and as great players as well too rachel thank you holly rachel mentioned the pin golf tournament i just came from dinner uh with peter blakemore and and jim and dina lindsey from jdl pinball and of course Peter's special and lit. And we were actually talking about pin golf, and I was explaining in North America, we do not see a lot of pin golf, very rarely. I mean, we know about pin masters for the Stern Pro Circuit, but you just don't see that happen. Whereas every time I come to Europe, and I've been a few times, pin golf is almost pretty prominent. They really embrace it here, and we just don't see that in the States, or in Canada as much, do we? Yeah, I mean, I have not seen that in the States as much at all, but I do think it's like a good welcome tournament format. I got to get paired up with some people that I didn't know or I knew through somebody else. So that was a nice way to kind of kick things off and get a good kind of understanding of where the games were set. I agree with Rachel. The games were set very difficult. The organizers ran everything very well. And I'm very, very excited to get my Boris Oakman shirt because if it is the last one, I will have been very gracious to be able to have attended. There are people listening to this podcast that may not be tournament players. Obviously, people like pinball. Maybe they're collectors. Maybe they just want to get into it. So when we talk tournaments, it might be foreign to some people. But for me, and I'm wondering the same for you, tournaments took me to a whole new level. I liked playing pinball, but when I found there was a competition, it was, like Holly mentioned, a way to meet people. And now nine years into it, I can say, and you probably can too, I know people all over the world. And I'm not a stranger when I go to some of these places. And here I am traveling by myself to the UK Open. And it doesn't matter because I know so many people. I don't feel like I'm alone. I would imagine you feel that too. And maybe you can explain to people that don't play in tournaments. That's one of the biggest benefits you probably didn't even realize was there. Absolutely, 100%. The number one thing, and I talk about this all the time. pinball it's not just about pinball it's about the people and it's about the connecting with people and if you're not a tournament player and you're looking for a community of your own you can build your own community through people through your hobby and so if your hobby is collecting cars or snowmobiling or whatever the heck it may be and if you can find a community through that but pinball has brought me a huge community in my life and it is like you said Jeff it is to me it's still bonkers to show up in a different part of the world and be recognized. And Tom Graff over there at Foxy's Pinball Stream, I have to thank him for that, for giving me that introduction to the world. I haven't heard of Tom. Some guy in the top 100 who knows. Great Patreon supporter. I love Tom. But yeah, it really is a trip. And to know that I have friends wherever I go and people that care about me and are concerned about my well-being wherever I am, it's really incredible. It's more than just pinball, Jeff. It's more than pinball. Do you know, I know the two of you very well, I feel, and it's great to see you, but Holly, Rachel, and I'm sitting here with Howard from Baltimore and Rodney's from the Delaware Pinball Collective, and we're having a maybe a little wobbly right here, ching ching. But I really don't know much about your lives outside of pinball. I can assume we all come from different backgrounds and stuff, and we don't ever talk politics we don't ever talk religion we don't ever talk things that might be hot buttons for some people it's just pinballs are common ground and when you too do this big trip where you travel across the pond to come to sweden and to great britain you are welcome and that's the nice thing about pinball is you do feel safe and you do feel like you're with your long lost friends almost yeah uh and i'll tell you what like the the columbus girls have really given me a home You know, obviously, I think I've mentioned this maybe before. I grew up as a competitive artistic roller skater for many, many years. Oh, I love it. You know, but I grew up with games like Twilight Zone and TX Sector and Hardbody and, you know, Roller Disco. Like, really good games. No skateboard? No. No skateboard. Funhouse, though. Okay. Funhouse. So, you know, grew up with playing in general anyway. But then I ended up getting into it. A friend of mine at the time, she's like, hey, there's this ladies league. do you want to sign up for this? And I had a completely different friend group then, which is very, very interesting as far as like personal expansive growth and, and reason season lifetime friends kind of thing. Now that person who got me into this, we're still friends, but yeah it like once I met the Columbus girls I was like Oh my God I like I found my tribe I like after how many years And I was like in my early 30s I like I found my tribe I found my people And I always describe our ladies league as like Golden Girls, but on steroids with more beer and more nerdy stuff. And so like, for instance, like right, we're wandering around Piccadilly Circus the other day, and we happen to wander by this candy shop. And I'm like, I don't eat a lot of sugar. You know, beer is probably the worst thing that I do do. but ended up wandering through there. There's these whole walls. There's like four walls of Pez dispensers.