Episode 116 - Interview with Jay Stafford 06-28-15

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·11m 21s·analyzed·Jul 5, 2015

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Jay Stafford discusses his pinball collecting journey and IPDB stewardship.

Summary

Nick Baldridge interviews Jay Stafford, a longtime pinball collector and IPDB contributor in his late fifties. Stafford discusses his introduction to pinball in the early 1960s, favorite games across multiple eras, his philosophy on game restoration and original condition preservation, and his pivotal role in building the Internet Pinball Database from 2002 onward alongside Christopher Wolff. He emphasizes the importance of documenting machines in factory condition before reproduction parts become ubiquitous.

Key Claims

Jay Stafford is in his late fifties and first played pinball around 1960-1964 on a Gottlieb machine.
high confidence · Direct response from Jay Stafford to opening question in interview.
Stafford purchased his first pinball machine, Gottlieb's 1959 Seven Seas, at age 15 with money from a paper route, and still owns it.
high confidence · Direct statement from Jay Stafford about his first acquisition and current ownership.
Jay Stafford joined the IPDB team in 2002 alongside Christopher Wolff and Frank Laughlin; Frank has since retired, leaving only Wolff and Stafford.
high confidence · Direct account from Stafford of IPDB organizational history.
Christopher Wolff took over the IPDB from previous operators and changed the URL to its current form (ipdb.org).
high confidence · Stafford's account of the 2002 transition when he joined the project.
The IPDB's core mandate is to document and display pinball machines only as they came from manufacturers, excluding reproductions and aftermarket modifications.
high confidence · Explicit policy statement from Stafford regarding IPDB curatorial standards.
Before discovering IPDB in 2001, Stafford had attempted to document every commercial pinball machine using Dbase3 software in the early 1980s, stopping around 1987 due to life priorities and software issues.
high confidence · Direct narrative from Stafford about his pre-internet documentation efforts.
Stafford and Wolff developed a protocol in Spring 2002 to legitimately bring copyrighted eBay images to the IPDB with proper attribution and explanation.
high confidence · Stafford's account of the copyright and image acquisition process.
Stafford is a guest editor on the Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND), which is webmastered by Jess Askey.
high confidence · Direct statement from Stafford about his IPSND role.

Notable Quotes

“I have a vague recollection of the first game I played. All I recall is that it had to be a Gottlieb 1 player with short flippers with the rounded tops on them, and was likely early to mid 1960s.”
Jay Stafford @ Early interview section — Establishes Stafford's foundational connection to pinball and the era he focuses on.
“When it was my turn to play, I was, modesty aside, pretty dang good at flipping and playing and he was wide-eyed and practically shocked at me, especially since I did better than he. I started playing more pinball after that, and that's when the bug bit me.”
Jay Stafford @ First game story — Reveals Stafford's immediate aptitude and the moment pinball became a lifelong passion.
“At age 15, I purchased Gottlieb's 1959 Seven Seas with money I earned from my paper route. It was my first pinball and I still own it. My sentimental favorite.”
Jay Stafford @ First ownership section — Demonstrates long-term collecting commitment and personal connection to early games.
“I'm just a collector slash player, but not a showroom collector. I'll repair the EM ones as needed, but they seem so sturdy that really all I ever find, I ever have to do is tighten a loose bell in the backbox or something, or replace a broken drop target.”
Jay Stafford @ Repair/restoration question — Establishes Stafford's philosophy: preservation of original condition over cosmetic restoration.
“The IPDB wants to show games only as they came from the manufacturers. This means we do not show repainted reproduction cabinets, Playfields or backglasses even if identical looking. We also do not feature reproduction playfield parts.”
Jay Stafford @ IPDB curatorial standards section — Core IPDB mission statement; reflects Stafford's philosophy about preservation of historical record.
“If you think about it and take the long view it just a matter of time before it no longer practical to maintain a distinction between original condition of the game is not a distinction between the original condition and the restored game. Eventually we oldtimers and we pinball romanticists will lose our voice about original condition because there simply will be so many games brought back to life with repainting and repro parts that the newer folks in the hobby won't be able to care or can't be able to carry on this original condition theology to a practical degree.”

Entities

Jay StaffordpersonNick BaldridgepersonChristopher WolffpersonFrank LaughlinpersonJess AskeypersonWayne NyanspersonInternet Pinball DatabaseorganizationInternet Pinball Serial Number DatabaseorganizationPinball PastureorganizationGottlieb's Seven Seas

Signals

?
historical_signal: Detailed account of IPDB origins: Christopher Wolff took over in 2002, established current URL, and partnered with Stafford to build image library from eBay sources with proper copyright protocols.
high · Stafford's narrative: 'In Spring 2002, I contacted the IPDB, which had just been taken over by Christopher Wolff from the previous folks who, understandably, went on to other things in their lives. Wolff changed the URL to what it is today.'
?
restoration_signal: Stafford articulates a long-standing curatorial principle: IPDB documents only original factory-condition machines, excluding all reproductions and aftermarket modifications to preserve historical record.
high · Direct policy statement: 'The IPDB wants to show games only as they came from the manufacturers. This means we do not show repainted reproduction cabinets, Playfields or backglasses.'
?
community_signal: Stafford expresses concern that the influx of restoration activity and availability of reproduction parts will eventually make original-condition preservation philosophy obsolete as younger collectors embrace restored machines.
high · 'Eventually we oldtimers and we pinball romanticists will lose our voice about original condition because there simply will be so many games brought back to life with repainting and repro parts that the newer folks in the hobby won't be able to care.'
?
collector_signal: Stafford has owned Gottlieb's 1959 Seven Seas for over 40 years since purchasing it at age 15 with paper route money; rare example of game ownership spanning decades.
high · Stafford: 'At age 15, I purchased Gottlieb's 1959 Seven Seas with money I earned from my paper route. It was my first pinball and I still own it.'

Topics

IPDB History and StewardshipprimaryOriginal Condition Preservation PhilosophyprimaryEM and Electromechanical Pinball GamesprimaryPinball Collecting and Personal Collection StoriesprimaryReproduction Parts and Restoration CultureprimaryBingo Pinball MachinessecondaryGame Mechanics (flipper sizes and types)secondaryArchive and Documentation Methodologysecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Stafford is reflective, articulate, and deeply passionate about pinball preservation. He speaks fondly of his collecting journey and the IPDB mission. Some underlying concern about the future of original-condition preservation as restoration culture grows, but delivered matter-of-factly rather than with frustration. Baldridge's closing is warm and appreciative.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.034

What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only. This is Nicholas Baldridge. Tonight I have an email interview with Jay Stafford at the IPDB. To begin. How old are you? He responds, I'm in my late fifties. What was the first game you remember playing? He says, I have a vague recollection of the first game I played. All I recall is that it had to be a Gottlieb 1 player with short flippers with the rounded tops on them, and was likely early to mid 1960s. I was fourteen and with a new friend, who knew I had just returned to the USA from living abroad in an isolated environment for much of the 1960s, so I had not been exposed to many normal conventions of American teenage youth like pinball. We were in a dairy store that had one pinball machine, and he asked me if I wanted to try playing pinball. I indifferently shrugged my shoulders and asked him to go first so I could watch. When it was my turn to play, I was, modesty aside, pretty dang good at flipping and playing and he was wide-eyed and practically shocked at me, especially since I did better than he. I started playing more pinball after that, and that's when the bug bit me. Two of the earliest games I recall playing and that I can recall the names are Bally's 1964 Bull Fight and 1966 Bizarre. What is your favorite game? It's hard for me to pick just one favorite game. I really like Gottlieb's 1965 Skyline and 1965 Ice Review, Bally's 1979 Star Trek and 81 8-Ball Deluxe, and Williams' 1965 Alpine Club. What was the first game you owned, and how old were you when you purchased or were given it? At age 15, I purchased Gottlieb's 1959 Seven Seas with money I earned from my paper route. It was my first pinball and I still own it. My sentimental favorite. You don't see too many, if ever. I told Wayne Nyans, its designer, that when I bought it, who would have ever guessed that someday I would meet and know the man who designed it. Have you ever played a bingo? If so, what did you like about it? Yes I played a number of bingos but you know I really do not encounter them that much I own one bingo Bally 1956 Nightclub but it always seemed to go on the blank and finally I put it in storage I not drawn to bingos although I play them but to me the biggest action on bingos happens before you shoot the first ball as you coin for the features Kinda like an intellectual pursuit, that initial coining over and over, followed by a comparatively anticlimactic shooting of the balls. A bit like playing Bally's Spectrum. Do you like to repair or restore machines? If so, what's your favorite era or manufacturer to work on? He responds, I don't restore games and most of mine are really nice anyway, or nice enough. The rest of them, I'm content with their aged look. I'm just a collector slash player, but not a showroom collector. I'll repair the EM ones as needed, but they seem so sturdy that really all I ever find, I ever have to do is tighten a loose bell in the backbox or something, or replace a broken drop target. I can repair my EM games to the 50s through the 70s with pretty much an equal enthusiasm. My next question is, 2-inch flippers or 3-inch flippers? He responds, You know, either 2-inch or 3-inch flippers is fine by me, but I have to say that after playing a stretch of 3-inch flipper games, it can make a difference which 2-inch flipper game I next walk up to play, because that is when I most notice the differences in flipper efficiency between one two-inch flipper game in the next. And then don't forget those two-inch impulse flippers of older games which simply do not compare to the three-inch flippers or even a non-impulse two-inch flippers. I note that you have photo credits on the IPDB on several older machines. What attracts you to them? The photo credits you see on the IPDB with my name under them often do not reflect a personal interest in the game being photographed, But instead reflect my desire to populate the IPDB with images of games that I see when out and about. That said, I find pre-flipper games can be quite interesting in terms of any unique or creative features they may possess and the position of those features in the historical timeline. My next question, how did you get involved with the IPDB, IPSNDB? Back in the early 1980s, pre-internet and pre-IPDB, I bought a PC clone and Dbase3 software and started to document every commercial pinball machine I could find. This lasted until 1987 when other priorities in life took over. That and the horrible upgrade from Dbase3 to Dbase4 which seemed to turn everybody away from Ashton Tate, including me. So I dropped the project and dropped computers altogether. In 2001 I decided to buy a new computer and investigate this internet thing, whereupon I stumbled upon two pivotal websites. The first one was the Pinball Pasture website and two of its subsites the Serial Number Database and the Internet Pinball Database aka the IPD The IPD had practically no images maybe one image a listing if any The second pivotal website was eBay where sellers of pinball machines naturally showed many photos of their games A light bulb went off in my head and I wondered how I could get the boatload of eBay pinball images over to the IPD Not everyone realizes that a photographic composition is an automatically copyrighted thing, at least In Spring 2002, I contacted the IPD, which had just been taken over by Christopher Wolff from the previous folks who, understandably, went on to other things in their lives. Wolff changed the URL to what it is today, the IPDB, and he and I worked out a system and a set of protocols by which I could legitimately bring copyrighted images to the IPDB with an explanation, and not just have the website be a receptacle of unexplained images replicated Jack Kupidge falling spare P accents generic Qin, I'm a guest editor on the IPSND, the Internet Pinball Serial Number Database, which is a separate website from the IPDB and whose webmaster is Jess Askey. I can't sing enough praises about Jess and the IPSND as that website collects information to form a historical picture of the games in terms of how many are surviving and how many games were made before and after any production changes that were made to the playfield, backglass, and or cabinet. I refer to his website a lot. How many folks work with you on the IPDB maintenance? When I joined the IPDB team in 2002, which itself was brand new in 2002, it was Wolf, Frank Laughlin, and me. Frank had carried over from the original IPD as editor, but has since retired, so it's now just Wolf and me. Wolf is the webmaster who keeps the site up and running and also writes the scripts for it, And I provide content and interface with our users and their submissions. Wolf also handles the ratings section of the site. What can any pinball collector do to help the IPDB? I'm really thankful that you asked this question. As most of our users know, the IPDB wants to show games only as they came from the manufacturers. This means we do not show repainted reproduction cabinets, Playfields or backglasses even if identical looking We also do not feature reproduction playfield parts For many years I been in a quiet race against time trying to photodocument pinball games in their original factory condition before they get so old and worn that the only way to save them is to add these reproduction items to them If you think about it and take the long view it just a matter of time before it no longer practical to maintain a distinction between original condition of the game is not a distinction between the original condition and the restored game Eventually we oldtimers and we pinball romanticists will lose our voice about original condition because there simply will be so many games brought back to life with repainting and repro parts that the newer folks in the hobby won't be able to care or can't be able to carry on this original condition theology to a practical degree. Also, the volume of talent in the hobby to restore games increases every year, so this too is a factor in the race. In addition, I don't know every game intimately and I do not keep up with the increasing availability of after factory parts. The so-called mods that we exclude from the IPDB. Even changing the LED color scheme in a game to something other than what the factory would do is an after factory modification. So the one thing I would ask our users to help me with, the one thing I cannot actually The only thing I can do all myself is to continue to identify for me when pinball machines for which they are familiar have been repainted or have reproduction parts or have these modifications performed on them. If our users see images on the IPDB that do not represent factory issued product, I ask to hear about it. If users can be very mindful to only submit to us game images that do not have any of these after factory changes, then that would be excellent. We want the IPDB to be viewed 20 years from now in the same way as today, as a record of pinball machines as they came from the manufacturers. Lastly, I just wanted to thank Jay Stafford and everyone at the IPDB for their invaluable service to the collector community. I reference the IPDB daily to read new schematics or verify artwork and mechanisms, so I very much appreciate the fact that this resource exists. I will also note that the IPDB has a PayPal donation system and if you use the IPDB as much as I do then I would highly suggest that you go online and shoot him a buck or two. You know, anything helps. But even without donating this resource which is invaluable is available for anyone to use. And thank you for listening. My name again is Nicholas Baldridge. You can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com and you can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Cast, via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at bingopodcast, you can follow me on Instagram at nbaldridge, or you can listen to us on our website which is 4amusementonly.libsyn.com Thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time.