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Episode 246: Friday Night friends

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·45m 42s·analyzed·Mar 1, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.038

TL;DR

Intergalactic tournament director Brian Dye, venue operator Bruce Nightingale, and competitor Deborah Tallman discuss 2025 tournament logistics and growth.

Summary

Jeff Teolis hosts three guest interviews on Pinball Profile: Brian Dye discusses organizing Intergalactic, the second-largest pinball tournament (800-player cap, 22-game bank, 10 qualifying entries), and West Virginia's growing pinball scene; Bruce Nightingale talks about Stomp West tournament at Silver Ball Saloon and vintage pinball acquisitions; Deborah Tallman previews the Bell's Bunkin 24-hour pinball tournament in Ohio and tournament strategy.

Key Claims

  • Intergalactic had 560 participants last year, with 470 of those also playing in Pinburgh, now capping at 800 players

    high confidence · Brian Dye stated 560 was last year's participation, only 90 were not also in Pinburgh, so 470 crossed over

  • IFPA rules require taking minimum 10% of qualifying pool to finals; Intergalactic needed 56 finalists from 560 players

    high confidence · Brian Dye explained IFPA sanctioning requires 10% minimum; 560 players × 10% = 56

  • Intergalactic game bank expanded from 18 games last year to 22 games this year

    high confidence · Brian Dye: 'We've increased the bank of games to 22. last year, I believe it was 18.'

  • Seven additional hours of qualifying time added to Intergalactic spread out player base and reduce queue times

    high confidence · Brian Dye: 'we've added overall throughout the entire week an additional seven hours of qualifying time'

  • West Virginia IFPA started with ~10-12 players five years ago, now has league of ~29 players with four competing at Pinburgh

    high confidence · Brian Dye reported growth from 10-12 players when he took IFPA West Virginia rep role to current league of 29

  • Silver Ball Saloon in East Rochester, NY is adding Whirlwind and Black Hole EM machines, plus seeking original Stern Electronics machine

    medium confidence · Bruce Nightingale: already has High Roller Casino and Stargazer; expects Whirlwind and Black Hole soon; has lead on Stern Electronics (first Stern pinball)

  • Bruce Nightingale has Rick and Morty Spooky pinball on order, pre-order position #243

    high confidence · Bruce stated 'I have Rick and Morty on order. Nice. I am number 243.'

  • Deborah Tallman won OBX Classics Championship tournament 'the year before' (reference suggests ~2023)

    medium confidence · Jeff references 'that big one you won, not last year, but the year before at OBX, the Classics Championship'

Notable Quotes

  • “I'm very excited to talk to him and looking forward to seeing him in July. He is the Intergalactic Tournament director. He was a TD last year at Pinberg. Brian Dye joins us right now.”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~2:00 — Introduces Brian Dye as new Intergalactic tournament director for 2025

  • “So we've increased the bank of games to 22. last year, I believe it was 18. And with the $30 donation entry, players will get 10 tickets, and they'll take their best five games from those 10 tickets towards their qualifying score.”

    Brian Dye @ ~12:30 — Key format change: expanded game bank and best-of-10 format for qualifying

  • “There was some concern about how we took qualifiers to finals and whether or not we were abiding by the IFPA rules about taking the minimum number. And the rule is that for any IFPA-sanctioned event, you have to take at least 10% of your qualifying player pool to finals.”

    Brian Dye @ ~19:00 — Clarifies IFPA regulatory requirements and how it impacted Intergalactic's 800-player cap decision

  • “We will definitely need scorekeepers on scorekeepers on scorekeepers. And that's really, really where I'm at right now.”

    Brian Dye @ ~25:00 — Tournament's critical volunteer need; scorekeepers get dedicated 2-hour qualifying window 10pm-midnight Saturday

  • “It is. And we're going to have Whirlwind coming up soon, another good classic. Sure, yeah. And what's the third one we were talking about? I think we're going to bring Black Hole.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~42:30 — Venue adding classic Williams/Gottlieb EM machines to lineup

  • “Black Hole is better than Haunted House. Haunted House is just eight flippers of no fun.”

    Bruce Nightingale @ ~44:00 — Personal opinion on classic game design; Bruce prefers Black Hole's challenge/design

  • “Silver Ball Saloon is one of the best places you play anywhere And you think of my travel, I play all over. I'm telling you right now, this is like no other place.”

    Jeff Teolis — Strong endorsement of Bruce's venue as top-tier pinball location nationwide

Entities

Brian DyepersonIntergalacticeventPinburgheventBruce NightingalepersonSilver Ball SaloonorganizationDeborah Tallmanperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Critical volunteer need for major tournaments: Brian Dye actively recruiting scorekeepers with incentive of dedicated 2-hour qualifying window (10pm-midnight Saturday) exclusive to volunteers

    high · Brian Dye: 'We will definitely need scorekeepers on scorekeepers...two hours set aside purely for scorekeeper qualifying...10 p.m. to midnight on Saturday'

  • ?

    community_signal: Charity integration into major tournament: $30 donation entry allows players to choose between Replay Foundation or Pittsburgh Food Bank; community-driven format

    high · Brian Dye: '$30 donation entry, players get 10 tickets...donate to Replay Foundation or Pittsburgh Food Bank'

  • ?

    community_signal: Deborah Tallman's extreme tournament dedication: competing in back-to-back 24-hour tournaments (Sanctum + Bell's Bunkin) with same-day Denver flight travel; tournament strategy maximization

    high · Deborah: 'I've got to win another tournament. The only way to do that is go to as many tournaments as possible...playing pinball for 24 hours and then driving to an airport and getting on a plane for Denver'

  • ?

    community_signal: West Virginia pinball scene experiencing significant growth under Brian Dye's leadership: 10-12 players five years ago → 29-person league now with 4+ competing at Pinburgh

    high · Brian Dye: 'had about 10 to 12 people...now...league now that's about 29 people strong. We have about four people going up for pinball'

  • ?

    event_signal: Bell's Bunkin 24-hour pinball tournament in Ohio represents growing grassroots 24-hour event format; organized by Jen Rupert with professional event management; venue invested in infrastructure (bathroom installation)

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.137

0:00
it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teels you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher check us out on instagram at pinball profile all right so this is what you do, I guess, when you're 50 years old on a Friday night. You know, no friends, no one's calling or whatever. I actually had an interview that cancelled last minute and no problem. The person was sick. Probably better that we postpone that. So throw on Facebook to the few thousand people that are on there and said, all right, I've got some time. Who wants to come on? I got a few emails, including this person, and I'm very excited to talk to him and looking forward to seeing him in July. He is the Intergalactic Tournament director. He was a TD last year at Pinberg. Brian Dye joins us right now. Hey, Brian, how are you? I'm doing great, Jeff. How are you doing, sir? I'm very good, so it's nice to see, and I always thank people like yourself for volunteering. You did it last year, and I like what you're doing this year. You're not only volunteering, but you're going to be the TD of the second biggest tournament in the world. Are you nuts? Yeah, I'm a little nuts. I've actually been with the replay team since year zero and I wouldn't have it any other way now the first year uh I did play in Pemberg I helped think get things set up uh and squared away to a degree and then I decided to play in Pemberg kind of had a heartbreak qualifier uh actually to the finals to play on Sunday and after that I decided you know what I'm just I'm gonna help from here on out and um I've done a lot of volunteer work with them it's a great team of people and uh there are so many volunteers and people that help bring that show and so many other pinball tournaments together. So, you know, I appreciate the gratitude. And, you know, for me, especially when I go to other shows, I really appreciate everybody that takes their time to volunteer to help make these shows and tournaments as successful as they are. Well, I know you've been working hard behind the scenes. Things like Fight Club. I saw a post from Fred Cochran saying all the banks are ready, the games are good to go. I know you've been working with Eitan and even Fight Club too, You know, people like, I feel sorry for you because you have to play against, oh, great players like DJ Ryle and John Replogle, Chris Stevens. You get to learn a lot about pinball. Unfortunately, a lot of it's on the chin, but there you go. Sure, sure. Yeah. I mean, again, that's one of those things where, you know, the Pittsburgh Pinball League is where I got my start. And we actually live down here in West Virginia, and we've got our own league. and we've got about 29, 30 players, but the Pittsburgh scene was a really good place to start because they were so welcoming and there were so many high-level players that teach you how to play the game and think about it differently. And it's usually always one on the chin for sure, but it's a great group of people and it's always a good time, so that makes it a little bit easier. Brian, I actually look forward to playing great players like the people we just mentioned too because it elevates your game a little bit too. You certainly learn a lot by watching them. And as most great players will tell you, they'll tell you what to do. I mean, I'm always impressed when I see people say, do you know this game? And then you say, in my case, no. And then they tell you what the object is or maybe here are three things that you can do. And they're trying to do the same thing. They just obviously have much better skills. But I really like that because it's more inviting to pinball and competitions and it makes the game more fun. Oh, sure. One of my most fond pinball memories is one of the first times I had met Stephen Bowden. I was playing in my first or second Classics tournaments at Papa when it was still out at the old facility. And he armed me with very key information on Fireball, where the skill shot was. And to a newcomer, I was like, that was really cool, that guy. Maybe this is something for me. And, yeah, I hear you loud and clear about people telling you what to do and different things to look for. It's great. So Intergalactic, I saw the notice that, I mean, last year there were 560 people, and this year you're going to cap it at 800 people. That's amazing if it gets to 800 because you've already got 1,000 playing in the main event, but I didn't think it would be 560 last year. Yeah, it was a pretty high number. I mean, if anybody had participated last year, I know I tried to, and actually I didn't get to play a single entry. I just didn't have the time between doing the TV thing in the morning and then trying to catch dinner, and the wait times were very, very long. So, yeah, 560 was a really high number. Interestingly, only 90 of those participants were not in Pemburg. So a very big chunk of the participants did come over from the Pemburg side to play. So, yeah, we decided to cap it at 800 players this year, primarily because when I first decided to take on the role of tournament director for Intergalactic, There was a really short period of time between when I figured out I was able to do it and the deadline for when I needed to have all my eggs in a basket and to Mark Steinman and the rest of the team about what the rules were going to be, how we were going to run the show. So I threw a survey out on SurveyMonkey, it's on forums and Facebook, and I got a lot of really good feedback. And one of the things that was pointed out was there was some concern about how we took qualifiers to finals and whether or not we were abiding by the IFPA rules about taking the minimum number. And the rule is that for any IFPA-sanctioned event, you have to take at least 10% of your qualifying player pool to finals. So in our instance for last year, 560 players, we should have taken 56, and I'm 99% positive that did happen. However, that really got me thinking, you know, Pemberg, while the cap for Pemberg has stayed pretty static at 1,000, Intergalactic has been growing more and more every year. And my concern was with the convention center, we have a hard get-out time on Sunday. And we're running two different finals for two different events, the Women's International Pinball Tournament and the Intergalactic Championship. and what I wanted to avoid was, you know, growth is obviously always the goal and, you know, I didn't necessarily anticipate or expect, although I would hope it would be really cool to cap it out at 800 and have a completely full field. I needed to be cognizant of how much time we could possibly take on Sunday morning so we could get out on time, people could go catch their flights. Plus, you know, Women's International Pinball Tournament would have plenty of time and their fair share of time on stage too. I think that tournament's really great, and I think they deserve their fair share of time on stage as well. That's a good point too. You know, one thing I like about Intergalactic is it gets out of the way so that people can watch Whipped, and I know that's going to be the case here in 2020. Talk about some of the things in the game. So first of all, this is a best game format. How many games are players going to be able to play, and how many games are in the bank? Sure. So we've increased the bank of games to 22. last year, I believe it was 18. And with the $30 donation entry, players will get 10 tickets, and they'll take their best five games from those 10 tickets towards their qualifying score. And you talked about the donation too. I really like that, Brian. So when you donate, you have a choice of donating to Replay Foundation or the Pittsburgh Food Bank, both great charities. So yeah, it's a great opportunity for us to do something for the community at large or to help the Ring Play Foundation continue to do what it does. And it offers so much to the arcade and pinball community. And again, it's just a really nice way for us to try to reach out to the Pittsburgh Food Bank and help us continue to do the things that we do. What is the hardest thing about TVing a big tournament like this? For me personally, it's trying to see the forest for the trees. You know, it's trying to take all of the feedback that you're constantly getting and teasing out what is actually helpful feedback and what you can take and turn into working information, like what you can turn into actual changes, positive changes that can make the event better, how to accommodate people as best as possible, things on that front, really. The game selection isn't really so much an issue. I'm pretty familiar with a lot of different games across a lot of different areas. Like I said, I've been in that building more times than I can count, And again, with the help of the people in the PPL. Yeah, I guess ultimately it comes down to the organization of the entire thing from top to bottom, from beginning to end, from the first qualifying ticket to the last. And I guess one of the things I'm struggling with right now is how am I going to schedule all these people? How am I going to stay on top of that? And that's definitely one of the more difficult things, like those logistics. I don't envy your position, but I also have complete faith that you and everybody in the Pittsburgh area, certainly with the expertise that has been going on now, in the 10th anniversary of this kind of ReplayFX Pinberg format, I know it's going to be great. I know it's going to be wonderful. And you can still register, too. In fact, if you go to replayfx.org, you'll see a tab that says Pinball, and you can sign up today for this amazing tournament. So is there any help you need between now and July? So actually, as a matter of fact, I am going to be putting out a formal invitation for scorekeepers. Now, we are still trying to finalize, you know, scorekeeper benefits per se. We do have two hours set aside purely for scorekeeper qualifying for the Intergalactic Pinball Championship. That is actually scheduled for 10 p.m. to midnight on Saturday. So you get the entire bank of games completely to yourself and your fellow scorekeepers. if you choose to scorekeep with us during that weekend, which I think is a huge benefit, especially being at the tail end of the qualifying hours, actually the qualifying weekend. But we will definitely need scorekeepers on scorekeepers on scorekeepers. And that's really, really where I'm at right now. Everything else, I'm pretty much set. I've just got to go and make my final selections for games, but where I'm really going to need help. Another thing that's tough with people playing in Pinnberg, you're on your feet all day, you're hungry, you're tired, you're thirsty, maybe the last thing you want to do is come stand on your feet even more and scorekeep for an hour or two. But any amount of time that anybody has to offer for scorekeeping or for any part of the show, I'm not even going to advocate just for my side. If anybody could help out with any part of replay effects, it would be greatly, greatly appreciated. And where do they get a hold of you? So they can get a hold of me on Facebook, Brian Dye. That's Brian with an I, Dye with a Y. You can also reach out to me in my email. My personal email is W as in West, V as in Virginia, A as in Apple, pinball at gmail.com. And just in the subject line, put anything about scorekeeping, and we'll definitely keep in touch. Okay, Brian, that's good. And one thing, too, about Intergalactic, there are more hours to play this year. So I noticed that there's some Thursday and there's some Friday. So that's going to help things move along as well. I certainly hope so. So like I said one of the things that I noticed personally last year was that the queues were just so long Some of them upwards of two hours to play a game You go up and say you picked Twilight Zone or any EM and you get hosed in two minutes That's really tough to motivate people to want to come back. So one of the things I thought about and something that might present a challenge, again, with the need for scorekeepers, we've added overall throughout the entire week an additional seven hours of qualifying time to hopefully even out when people are going over to put in their qualifying tickets. So hopefully that spreads out the player base a little bit and makes those lines a little bit more manageable. And how are things in West Virginia? What's the pinball scene like there? On a bigger scale, we're still relatively new. I had assumed the helm of IFPA West Virginia representative maybe about five years ago now. We had, I'd say right about then, about 10 to 12 people, you know, between selfie leagues and other small tournaments that we were running at the time. And then I took some time off. And there was a gentleman down out of Fairmont, West Virginia, his name was Scott Ruppert, that was running a lot of tournaments and doing a lot of really good things for our scene while I was kind of away and started a league. And slowly but surely, especially after the baby came, I started easing my way back into, you know, running more tournaments, running more events. And I had a team of league officials, big shout out to Cody Elam, Andy and Brian Pickens, and Ashley Talbot. You guys help out a lot. We have a league now that's about 29 people strong. We have about four people going up for pinball, which is really exciting. And in our league, we really focus on teaching people how to play the games and the camaraderie behind pinball and what it can be, you know, really demonstrating the values that the people from the Pittsburgh Pinball League taught me when I first got started to really, really retain people was the kindness that people showed all the time. That's good, Brian, because that's what gets people into pinball. And you know what? They'll probably be teaching somebody someday soon as well. So thanks very much, Brian. I hope people reach out to you. And I'm looking forward to Intergalactic and all the best there when we see you in July. I will see you there, Jeff. Thanks so much for having me on. There's somebody else who wants to talk. Wait a minute. It's Friday night. How does this guy have work off? This guy works every single day, maybe Mondays off. And he might have his own podcast. You hear him on Slam Tilt Podcast. A great friend, Bruce Nightingale. Hey, buddy. Hey, Jeff. How you doing? You're like me, loser on a Friday night with nothing to do.
@ ~53:00

  • “You are a glutton for punishment when it comes to pinball. Yeah, well, I've got to win another tournament.”

    Jeff Teolis / Deborah Tallman @ ~64:00 — Deborah's tournament motivation despite back-to-back 24-hour tournaments and immediate travel to Denver

  • “This place is just magical. And I think that you should come see it sometime is what I think.”

    Deborah Tallman @ ~75:00 — Endorsement of Crazy Martin's in Piqua as exceptional venue for the 24-hour tournament experience

  • “I'm going to be playing pinball for 24 hours and then driving to an airport and getting on a plane for Denver.”

    Deborah Tallman @ ~76:00 — Illustrates extreme tournament dedication and scheduling intensity in competitive pinball

    • Rick and Morty
    game
    Bell's Bunkin 24-hour tournamentevent
    Crazy Martin'sorganization
    Slam Tilt Podcastmedia
    Spooky Pinballcompany
    Pinburghevent
    Pittsburgh Pinball Leagueorganization
    Stern Armyorganization
    IFPAorganization
    Replay Foundationorganization
    Jeff Teolisperson
    Quicksilvergame
    Stern Electronicsgame
    TNAgame

    high · Deborah Tallman: event organized by Jen Rupert, venue Crazy Martin's pushed bathroom install date, extensive food catering, bounties each round

  • ?

    event_signal: Intergalactic tournament expanding significantly: 800-player cap (up from 560), 22-game bank (up from 18), additional 7 hours qualifying time, best-of-10 qualifying format

    high · Brian Dye: 'We've increased the bank of games to 22...increased overall throughout entire week an additional seven hours of qualifying time...capping at 800 players'

  • $

    market_signal: Spooky Pinball Rick and Morty generating strong pre-order demand; Bruce Nightingale position #243 indicates significant order backlog

    medium · Bruce: 'I have Rick and Morty on order. I am number 243.' and 'With Rick and Morty, it's so much more. The sounds, everything else, the video we've already seen. It looks incredible.'

  • ?

    community_signal: IFPA rule clarification: 10% minimum finals requirement from qualifying pool drives Intergalactic's 800-player cap decision to ensure manageable Sunday logistics and fair WIPT stage time

    high · Brian Dye: 'IFPA rules...10% of your qualifying player pool to finals...growth...concern with convention center hard get-out time...WIPT deserves fair share of time'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Bruce Nightingale preference shift away from TNA game: acknowledges game quality but criticizes high price point and limited appeal vs. Rick and Morty's superior feature depth

    medium · Bruce: TNA 'all backflippers all day'...for price point 'just there'...Rick and Morty 'so much more. The sounds, everything else' and 'it looks incredible'

  • ?

    venue_signal: Silver Ball Saloon positioned as premium pinball venue: strong endorsement from traveling pinball expert Jeff Teolis as among best venues nationally; part of Stern Army network; recently added machines and infrastructure

    high · Jeff Teolis: 'Silver Ball Saloon is one of the best places you play anywhere...like no other place' and recommendation to visit East Rochester location

  • ?

    venue_signal: Silver Ball Saloon undergoing machine expansion: adding Whirlwind and Black Hole classic EMs, pursuing original Stern Electronics machine acquisition

    high · Bruce Nightingale: 'We're going to have Whirlwind coming up soon...we're going to bring Black Hole...I have a lead on a Stern Electronics'

    • 13:49
    Yeah. How are you feeling? How was your surgery? Well, thanks very much for asking. All good. Going downstairs is probably the hardest thing, but physiotherapy, it's on the mend. There you go. Getting old sucks. It does, and I'm older than you. Are you really? I thought I was older than you. Maybe you are older than me. What are you, 70? 74.
    14:08
    Okay, you got me by a year. Okay, damn it. Hey, it was good to hear another Slam Tilt podcast this week with you and Ron Halla. That was nice. Thank you. Thank you very much. And Ron's on his own adventure with the TPN Network with Silver Ball Chronicles, too. He's with another Canadian. I thought I had all the Canadians wrapped up, too, in the pinball network. But then Crystal Gemnick's on. She does a great show. I'm looking forward to hers with the plum. And it was kind of nice to hear David Dennis and Ron do that special kind of history, look back at some Steve Ritchie stuff. And what I really like about that, too, it's interesting, because Ron certainly knows so much about the history. He's been at all the expos, and he's just so passionate about pinball. And then you've got David, who's only been into pinball for a couple years. Kind of an interesting mix, but you get to learn a lot, too. I really enjoyed it. Yes, and I can't wait for this week's episode coming up, since I kind of guessed the topic, which was kind of funny, which was Stern pinball of Stern Electronics pinball. Very nice. Something that I know you're very passionate about, too. I noticed that another Stomp tournament's coming up. What's going on? That is on, let me get the dates up real fast since I have it right in front of me. It is April 18th at the Silver Ball Saloon. We are having a max of 48 players coming up for Stomp West. We already have 18 people signed up, which is a good start. It's $20 to join in if you want to join in. You can PayPal me at wizard underscore mode at yahoo.com, and it gets you an entry into the tournament, and it starts at 1 p.m., And it's eight matches of match play. And then depending on how many players we have, we'll figure out finals. And with that $20, you also get a $5 coupon for anything liquor or food at the bar that day. You know what, Bruce? That's what I love about the Silver Ball Saloon. First of all, the games are great. What you and Kat have done there in East Rochester, fantastic. I mean, I know it's a lot of labor, but there's a lot of love, too. And you've got a nice fan base there. You've got great pinball action, part of the Stern Army, too. Yes, we are. You know, I got to tell you, it was one of my favorite stops on the Pinball Profile World Tour when we came there. And you put on a great show along with Todd from Knox Amusement. That was a lot of fun. I think people really enjoyed that. We were very lucky and very gracious to have you and Todd helping us out in a great tournament that we did have. And we're lucky to have our local supporters of the bar and also the people that come from all other areas of the country and Canada. Already for Stomp 3 West, we have five people signed up from Canada. I bet they're from Ottawa, the Castlemans. Yes, they are, the Castlemans. And we have one of the top players in the world coming, of course, from Canada. Phil Birnbaum. You got it. Feel the burn. He is really good. I know he loved it, too. In fact, I think he made the Final Four when we were there. Yes, he did. Yeah, he was there. I was there. You almost got there until you drop-kicked Adam's family, if I recall. Adam's family sucks. And my favorite thing about that was you said, here's a new rule. That will never be in a tournament at my place ever again. Ever again. Done. It's like my Ghostbusters rule. Oh, it's terrible. God, I hate that game. Oh. We have new games since you've been there last. Oh, I saw High Roller Casino. Like, if anybody I know in the world loves High Roller Casino, it's Bruce Nightingale, and now it's at the Silver Ball Saloon. That's awesome. It is. And we're going to have Whirlwind coming up soon, another good classic. Sure, yeah. And what's the third one we were talking about? I think we're going to bring Black Hole. Okay. But you know what? I got to tell you, not a huge Haunted House fan. I love Black Hole, though. It's better than Haunted House. Haunted House is just eight flippers of no fun. And just really a lot of side action and tough shots to hit. I've always enjoyed Black Hole, and people whine about that, saying, oh, you know what? If you go down, it drains right away. No, it doesn't. You got to hit your drops. You got to hit your drops, but unfortunately, it does. It's almost like if you don't do what you do right, you have no chance to save it. So you're screwed. You just got to think right out into the out lane, and you're done. But it is a good game. It's better than Haunted House. It's better than a lot of other Gottliebs of that era. Now, do you still have one of my favorite games that I can't believe is on a location? Do you still have Stargazer? Oh, yes. Stargazer is there. It's so cool. Yep, with the droop-down flippers, so you cannot roll over the inner inserts very easily anymore. I have Dragon Fist. It's probably going to come back in a couple months for summertime, like we always do. And I'm getting, hopefully, a couple more machines, too. I have a lead on a Stern pinball. A newer one? No, no. Stern Pinball. Okay. The first Stern Electronics pinball machine. Oh, wow. I think we've played that at the Sanctum. We have. I love that game. So I have a lead on one of those, so hopefully.
    18:47
    And hopefully in the next couple of months, I'm going to give Zach, who we all know, Zach Fry from my show, and other great – he's a really good player. He's going to grab my cheetah and bulletproof it. Wow. So we'll have that at the bar also. Okay, because I know he's listening right now, and I just saw him in Melbourne, Australia. I was with Ryan C., and I saw something that's going to be headed your way. It is. I saw the Quicksilver. Yes, it's packaged up, actually, and he dropped it off. Wow. So it's coming eventually to the U.S. of A. You'll like it. I saw it. I'm excited because I finally get one, and then Ron has his own, and we actually have a great deal set up where he's going to pay me the difference, and I will have a full Dragon Fist. Ron will lose half a Dragon Fist. I will lose half a Quicksilver, but I will own my own Quicksilver. It's a long story. When you say half, what is it like there's no left flipper? No, no, no, no. When we bought Quicksilver and we bought – here's the funny thing. Ron's Quicksilver and my Stargazer are all from your country, Canada. We bought them in a trade. We traded at the time a new in-box Aerosmith LE for the Quicksilver, the Stargazer, and cash. Okay. And so we each owned one. I bought him out of the Stargazer, but he wanted the Quicksilver for himself for a while. And then he said, I found a Dragon Fist later on. I said, hey, Ron, I'll buy half of this. You buy half of that, and eventually we'll trade off. And now we're at the point we're going to trade off. He'll have his games and I'll have mine. So what do you think of some of the newer things that we've seen in the pinball world? I mean, we've seen Rick and Morty in the stream there. We've seen the heavy metals going to be coming out, a high price point. Very high price point, very high. But maybe they've got them sold. Maybe that's what the collectors want. Kind of reminds me of the Supreme thing. It wasn't for me, but there are certainly people out there that would be looking for that. What do you think of some of the newer things? I have Rick and Morty on order. Nice. I am number 243. Have you come around? Because I know you weren't at first a huge TNA fan. I'm still not a TNA fan. Really? I know the game. What is it about that? I love it. It's a good game, but it's all backflipper all day. It really is. It's a one-shot one. Okay. I don't mind it. I like the music. It's just, for the price point, it's just there. With Rick and Morty, it's so much more. The sounds, everything else, the video we've already seen. It looks incredible. Yeah, it does look good. TNA is a fun multiplayer game, and you say backhand all day. I'll tell you what. That's great that it's backhand all day. Try to cradle up, though. That's what makes that game so hard. It's not easy to cradle up. True, but it was funny when we played it. When we played it at Ron's house. The first time I played it at Ron's house, I broke it. Second time I played it, I actually plunged the first ball because I was already ahead in points. And for stomp three regular, I just plunged the ball. And Ron's like, you should just play it. So I played it, and I got $2.7 million on it. And Ron's like, really? And only on two balls. And he's like, really? I'm like, yeah, I kind of know how to play the game. I just, I don't know. It just doesn't do anything for me. To me, it sounds like the price is the biggest issue, not so much the game.
    21:52
    I know a lot of people get into it. I don't get into it. I'm going to be honest. You would think with me being an old, one-level, no-ramp person. Very old. Yeah, go on. Yeah, you would think it would be like my cup of tea.
    22:05
    It just doesn't do it, which is a shame because I do like what they do. Okay. Their quality is, on the other hand, I know it's getting better every time. Yeah. It's gotten a lot better. I know Zach has an Alice Cooper, a lot better. So I'm hoping that this company keeps on growing and keeps on making better and better stuff for all of us to enjoy. Who doesn't love Spooky and Charlie, though, really? I totally agree. I've never actually met Charlie except for one time. Just a hi, how you doing? I don't think he knew who I was. I just knew him by, you know, hey, that's Charlie. Maybe one day I'll actually get introduced and actually talk to him and actually, you know, have a nice sit down with him. I think that would be a great idea. I think it would be. I can't believe you have a night off. This is great It been good talking to you buddy It is It very good talking to you I miss you brother I miss you too but I going to get there Once the weather gets nice and I can fully walk again Silver Ball Saloon is one of the best places you play anywhere And you think of my travel, I play all over. I'm telling you right now, this is like no other place. If you've never been, make the trip to East Rochester, New York. The food is spectacular. The pinball is better. The bartender across the old bag, but, you know, whatever. He's a nice guy, but hey. Thank you very much, though. I'm very honored for your compliments. And how about Mrs. Pinn? Did you see Mrs. Pinn's new idea? I love her new idea. The World Tour. I cannot wait. This is such an original idea. I was crying, laughing so hard. I love her. Like, I laughed. I thought, oh, okay, that was funny. And then the next thing got funnier and funnier and funnier. Yeah, she's the best. I love both of them. Dr. Pinn and Mrs. Pinn, they rock. Hi, guys. Hello. Hi, Sarah. Hi, Christian.
    23:44
    Hey, Bruce. Thanks very much. Say hi to Kat and condolences too, buddy. Yeah, thank you, sir. Thank you very much. All right. Hey, I love you, man. Love you too. From Bruce, we go to Ohio, and I cannot believe I'm talking to her right now because wait till you hear the week that's coming up for this person. Deborah Tallman joins me right now. Hello, Deborah. Nice to talk to you again. Hi, Jeff. It's always good to talk to you. We had fun at Indus, didn't we? We had a little bit of fun, yeah. So it's Friday night right now. It's 10 o'clock at night, and you're not in bed. And you should be in bed because tomorrow you're going to be playing in the Bell's Bunkin 24-hour tournament in Ohio. That is going to be fun. Yep, I'm still working on getting some stuff ready for the care packages. We're doing bags for each of the participants in it, so making sure that it's kind of splendid for everybody. Like one 24-hour tournament a year is enough for me at the Sanctum. You're like, you know what, it's February, it's the 29th, it's a leap year, it's an extra day, let's make a full day of it. I think it was during InDisc, but I missed the 24-hour tournament in Indiana that I was kind of excited to go to for this year. So, yeah, I've been wanting to double down for some time now, and I've gotten my opportunity. You are a glutton for punishment when it comes to pinball. Yeah, well, I've got to win another tournament. You know, the only way to do that is to go to as many tournaments as possible. We've got to get with the program. Well, you've won a few. Let's not forget, I mean, that big one you won, not last year, but the year before at OBX, the Classics Championship. That was huge. Yeah, but it's old news, buddy. I got an update. You know, there's a guy you may know in Trent Augenstein who plays a lot of tournaments, too. People are going to start to talk, Debra. You know, I heard there's actually more than one Trent Augenstein. Really? Yeah. Yeah, I think that's how he does it. I think you're right. That's a good point. I've seen the Wolverine Trent. I've seen the clean-cut one. And I've seen this one with a new kind of LED hat that really shines on the machine, kind of like Andy Rosa. You're right. LED hat. Are we talking about Steve Bowden? No, no. I'm talking about his. Trent's got that visor where it shines the huge light on. Oh, you're talking. Yeah, yeah. You're talking about his hat upgrade. Totally. Okay. Yeah, it's like a clip on. Totally. Okay. So now that's pretty cool. You're going to be playing 24 hours at the Bells Bunkin in Ohio. Let's talk about that for a second because I'm excited. I got to give a shout out to Jim and the rest of the guys at the Sanctum who put that together and make it such an incredible event because a lot of what we have put together, and by we, I mean this is Jen Rupert's idea. She started the whole thing. Brooke at Crazy Martin's in Piqua, which is where we're holding it. Gillian helping out. And then, I don't know, I was kind of brought on as an additional TD and somewhat little advisor. Jen does her research hardcore, but having been to a 24-hour pinball tournament, I was able to, in a humble way, in a small way, advise the event. And we got a lot of like kick ass things going on. Like we've got we've got the what do you call them? The bounties every every round. Got to love that. You got to get you got to give people a reason to to stay excited for for the long haul. Right. And Brooks putting together a huge spread of food and just made it a really welcome place for us. They just recently installed a bathroom for us. Not for us, but definitely they pushed the install date up so that, you know, we could have this tournament. And I'm hoping what I should do is I should send you pictures because this place is just magical. And I think that you should come see it sometime is what I think. But yeah, Jen's put together a really spectacular thing, and I'm so excited to be a part of it. And I'm excited to be playing pinball for 24 hours and then driving to an airport and getting on a plane for Denver. That's the thing that's crazy, too. Okay, so good luck at the bunk in. The bell is 24 hours. By the way, is there going to be a break or is it straight through? The way Jen did it, it's kind of cool. I'm excited to see how this all comes out. But, okay, so Jen did it by giving us a set. I want to say it's like 16-round set and then space in between each one so that everyone can kind of slide into this 24-hour experience.
    27:52
    I think just about everybody who's coming to this event has never done a 24 before. So we'll have a lot of in-between time to relax a little bit and maybe take some quick Zs. Nice. Yeah. And then, yeah, you fly to Denver because that's going to be a big week. You're going to be playing in the Women's Championship, and that is a tough field. Yeah, the Women's Worlds is no joke these days. I even saw odds go up for that. In fact, I think I'm my bookie. Oh, no. I haven't looked yet. Trent, do you have a link? But I assumed it was just for the States or for something else coming up. No, no, no. Oh, my God. I don't know if I'm ready to see.
    28:28
    Make me some money, Debra. Make me some money. Well, all right. You put some money down on me, and if you lose that money, I'll pay you back. And if you win that money, you buy me. No, don't say that. You'll get kicked out of the IFBA. The president's a real jerk. That's why I wear that T-shirt that's got his name on it as much as I can, as frequently as I can, particularly in front of him. Yes. So good luck. I mean, the Women's Championship has grown. And, I mean, last year, Carrie Wing put on a sensational show. She's got to be one of the ones to beat for sure. Yep, yep, she's good. It's a snow galvan's going to be there, I think. Oh, I don't have a list in front of me right now. And, honestly, I'm just blasted tired already. which would only make that much more interesting an experience at the 24-hour. But, yeah, all the exceptional women who are going to be at this thing. Oh, hey, can I give a shout-out to the local crew? Because I'm really, really excited about that. There are four women in Ohio that made it. Let me guess. I think I know them. Well, for sure, Holly Koskinen. Uh-huh. Holly Koskinen, absolutely. She was the WIPP winner, and she won the States here this last go-round this last year. Did Kim Martinez make it? She did not make it. But she's great. I want to say her and Jen Rupert have a goal to make it to the Worlds. Yeah, yeah. How about Brie Reynolds? Nope, nope. She's good, too, though. There's a lot of good players. Who am I missing? Amy Kesting? Amy Kesting, yeah. There we go. She's one, she's one. Okay, I got two, and you're three. And then the last one, can you name that pinball person? I can't think of it off the top of my head. Who would it be? Megan Brown. Oh, I'm an idiot. I know, Megan. That's great. You're not an idiot, but that doppelganger that goes around on the Facebooks and insults your name, he's an idiot. Debra, I know you've been kind of working behind the scenes to kind of help with sponsorship for the women's event. Can you explain that? Yeah, sure. Just something that kind of came on my radar. I was at Worlds last year, and I think I finished like 5th through 8th, or maybe I guess 9th through 16th. But I played hard, pushed through a round or two. and then after I got knocked out and Carrie went on to win all the cheese and all the fame, I went over to Josh's table and I said, Josh, where's my little envelope with my little $5 reward? And he's like, no, there's nothing. And I was like, what? Nothing? And he said, well, it's just we don't have it funded. I'm like, oh, okay, okay, cool. I said, can't we look for sponsorships or something? And he said, oh, I don't have time. I said, do you mind if I do it? He said, oh, be my guest. So that's what I've been doing. I, because I don't know. I just kind of like felt like around the room like, oh, man, there's nothing like you came to the world. You came to the world championships for women. You qualified for it. You played in it. You might have made it through a couple of rounds. And if you didn't get, you know, fourth place or better, you got book gifts. And I mean, you got incredible experience. You got the camaraderie. You got some whoppers. You certainly get something out of it. But I wanted to try to provide something a little bit more like physical that, you know, those people spent a lot of money to come. And I felt like it was worth it to try to get them some sort of like an award for it. So I wanted to do that this year. And I put together a lot of sponsorship, especially from local people in Ohio who have really stepped up and given us a modest pool so that we can actually pay out these ladies who worked so hard to get this and come to this championship. Boy, Debra, that's amazing. Good for you. I know that there's the Women Advisory Board and they've been working on things like this as well. And also, too, there was the dollar that they were looking at putting in, but that won't be for another year, as you had mentioned. Yeah. A while back, they talked about, in fact, I donated to the cause. They were taking donations, too, but they kind of wanted to go the sponsorship route. So people like you doing that, boy, that's amazing. Yeah, in a couple of years, you know, it's going to be funded. It's going to be bigger than ever. I figured maybe just kind of cover that gap in the next one or two years and just help everybody out, make it more, you know, it's already special. I'll just go the extra mile, I guess. And then when that's all said and done, once you're holding that trophy for winning the Women's Championship, you've got Pin Masters, too, which is double the field this year, 144. Oh, Pin Masters. I know that's your favorite pinball tournament. I'm really sad that you can't make it this year. Do you know what? I want to love pin golf so much. And the first ever tournament I think I ever ran was a pin golf tournament. So I still might run another one. I'll still participate in one. It's just sometimes it frustrates me, the logistics of it. But, I mean, this is a big Stern Pro Circuit event. Like we said, double the field, 144 players in Denver, which will be exciting, too. First time there since moving from Vegas. So you've got to be looking forward to that. I love going to Denver for pinball. Also, I think I figured out why you don't like any – why pinball is not your most favorite thing. I think I figured it out. It's because it was your first tournament that you ever ran, and no one else can live up to that kind of standard.
    33:11
    No, it's not that. You know what? I've played in some excellent pin golf tournaments and pin masters would be great. The things that I have difficulty with are the timing gets put off and unfortunately, you're supposed to play, let's say, at 2 o'clock and, oh, we're not ready until 4 o'clock or the end of the night comes and you're so tired and you still have four holes to play and there's a backlog, those kind of things, which are unfortunately not things you can really foresee when you're scheduling them. So it's just really more of a scheduling nightmare from a TD standpoint And unfortunately, that's just given me a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. But I'll give you an example of where Pinmasters does it right. Think of Chuck Webster and the guys in Maine and the New England Pinball League. I mean, they have got that down to a science. So maybe we can learn from people like them. They're good with what they do. Yeah, absolutely. Well, what have you been doing these days? Can you just give me like a real brief understanding of Jeff Teolis here now? What's your January, February? Anything fabulous been happening? I mentioned this on the last Pinball Profile but I did some traveling went to Australia That was fun Got knee surgery turned 50 and looking forward to March too because TPF that going to be a lot of fun But before that like you said there the Nationals and Pinmasters So it kind of a slow time of year for me for pinball but it going to ramp up I mean May is going to be ridiculous with Yagpin in Edmonton with the New York City Pinball Championships and with IFPA 17 in Florida. So it gets busy soon. We're planning on coming out to Yagpin this year. Very nice. You'll love it. Oh, it's so good in Edmonton. You'll really, really enjoy that. I'm glad to hear that. I hear really good things. Yeah, we're looking forward to that. Obviously, I'm not doing a very good job stalking you on Facebook and on your podcast, so I will try better because then I'll know these things in advance. Well, you know, if you had a podcast, I'd listen to you, Debra, and apparently you might have a podcast soon. Is that true? I will. I've been invited to guest and do an episode on the Pinball Network. I think that would be great because you have a lot to say. You did an amazing job at InDisc in the women's finals. That was great watching you do the commentating with Danny Peck was there. And that would be good to hear you on the Pinball Network for sure. Cool. Yeah. Well, when I can fit that in, I will be definitely doing that. Debra, go to bed. You've got a 24-hour tournament coming up, okay? You know what I'm doing right now? I'm putting tilt plastics in the bags for everybody. It's because they're so shiny and colorful. And I just like shiny new plastic. So I'm taking off all the plastic that covers the plastics, like the film. It is a time-consuming process. So I'm getting that done while we're Skyping, so that's good. Okay. Go to bed. Have fun. Good luck next week. Thanks, Jeff. Thank you. It's good to hear from you. You know what? It's still early for me. I've got some time. Why don't we get another person on here? So here right now, joining us just outside of Philly, in fact, really close to Todd Tucky's place, Robert Mooney joins us. Hey, Robert. How are you? Hey, Jeff. I'm doing good. Happy to be with you. We have a common friend in that Joe Fox character, don't we? We do. He's like the Frank Sinatra of pinball. He's the nicest guy. He's really a knowledgeable collector. He's a good guy to be around. He's like the Frank Sinatra. Does he even have blue eyes? You know, I've never looked. I've never heard Joe sing even.
    36:23
    He's a good guy. I just moved from South Jersey to outside PA, and Joe Fox and his son Joe Jr. came over a few Saturdays ago, along with two other guys from my league, and helped me pack up like 25 games. then I had movers move them and Joe and his son came back the next Saturday and like helped me get them all put back together and up on their legs and running everything again sounds like a pretty good guy if you ask me yeah yeah he definitely is so big Philly fan I know I think even right now you're watching the uh Flyers and Rangers go at it how's Gritty doing is Gritty made it on the ice yet yeah you know Gritty is great my youngest daughter and I went to his first game when like his premiere last season and he like came down from the rafters on a rope and honest to god it was like the Beatles were in the building the place went nuts they introduced that mascot and everyone saw his picture for the first two days it was like what is this thing and then after like 48 hours the whole city is like oh yeah I'd take a bullet for Grady like that's how much everyone loves them now. Well, Philly's really big into mascots, too. The Philly fanatic is legendary, too. And Robert, I'm going to tell you something that you may not know about me. I'm a massive baseball fan, so I assume you're a Phillies fan. Yeah. Okay. I used to be on one of the boards for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and I made a strong suggestion, and I was dead serious when I did it, that somebody should be elected in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame that is Canadian and has really changed certain aspects of baseball. And that person from London, In Ontario is better known as the famous San Diego Chicken. And you think of the mascots like Gritty, like the Fanatic, like all these legendary ones, Yuppie in Montreal, there's just so many that all started because of the fame of the chicken. And you talked about Gritty coming down from the rafters. They had that in San Diego. They had a big egg hatching and stuff like that. So I think it's a good part of the game because for the younger people, you know, that keeps them entertained. And the next thing you know, they start to learning about the sport. So I think that's a big part and maybe someday. in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Just a sidebar. Oh, yeah. Yeah. At the Phillies game, the fanatic is half the attraction. I mean, he gets the attention when he's out there, I mean, especially with the kids. It's amazing how much he's beloved. And have you heard this whole thing? The copyright was sort of running out. That's huge news. And the costume change, yeah. Yeah, that they changed his costume, and everybody has very strong opinions. No one is in the middle on it. I'll tell you something, Robert. I went to Philadelphia. I saw a game at, not Veterans Stadium, whatever the new place is called. What is it now? Citizens Bank Park. Thank you very much. But I had a good time there. I'm in sports media, so I was on the field batting practice interviewing players. Okay, that was all cool. That's kind of part of my job. Watching the game later, walking through the concourse, I saw the fanatic. I totally had to get a selfie with him.
    39:23
    He's so beloved. It's just amazing. And he kind of does the same – he's been doing the same bit for 35 years. And the first guy, I guess, who was in the costume was in the costume with him for 20 years. I think his name was Dave Raymond, and he used to refer to himself as the fanatic's best friend. And he came up with all those moves and stuff that he's still doing today, and it's still entertaining. He takes the attention away from the game when he's out on the dugout and walking up and down the steps and stuff. Pinball needs a mascot, too. Let's just leave that right there. That's just a sidebar. You've been collecting since 1998. You've got 25 games right now that you mentioned. I assume you've rotated a few in, rotated a few out. First of all, what got you hooked into pinball? I guess the main thing was I always, when I grew up, I was down at the Jersey Shore in summer. My family always had a house in Seattle City, New Jersey, which is like halfway between Atlantic City and Cape May. And all the towns around here have boardwalks and all the boardwalks had arcades. And the big arcade, like in my hometown where I spent my summers, the place was like a whole square block on the beach. and they had pinballs. They would have three or four of the same pin all next to each other because the pinballs were just so popular. They'd have three Captain Fantastics and three or four Bally 8-Balls, and they would actually just have them all right next to each other because pinball was just such a big thing. So that's kind of what got me into it. So what was your first game that you actually purchased? When I got a little bit older, I worked at an amusement park in my town, and I would work there at nights, and three or four days a week during the day, I'd work in the arcade, and right next to where I would stand and give out change and prizes and stuff was an 8-Ball Deluxe. and when it was slow, I would play 8-Ball Deluxe. So the first game I ended up buying, like when I could afford it and had a nice basement, was 8-Ball Deluxe. And I kept that up until just about two years ago. It is such a great game too, so not surprised that was one of your first. You actually have a game that I'm fascinated by. I've only seen it a few times. Friends have it, but it's never working. It's an odd game for sure. Rocky, which makes sense for a guy from Philly to have that game. How is your Rocky? Yeah, you know, it's one of my favorites. When you grow up in Philly, Rocky is like a cultural icon. Rocky is everywhere. I got in touch with a gentleman who was like a TV producer from Philly, and he had two Rockies, one in his house in Philly and one in his house in L.A. And I kept after him going, hey, if you're ever going to get rid of one, let me have it, let me have it. And he gave me the call one day and I had it restored. I found an NOS play field from a guy in Italy. And I had it shipped to, what's the gentleman's name that does the clear coating? Mel, Mel Kruseman, or he's like the master of that. I shipped it to him. He put like six coats of automotive clear coat on it. And then it took me a while, but I was able to come up with, if you remember the second Rocky film. Rocky's brother-in-law, Paulie, is drunk, and he sees the pinball in the arcade, and he throws the bottle of scotch through the back glass. Well, the story goes, Stallone would not approve that back glass for production in the pinball because he didn't like the way he looked on it. He was beat up. And so they put it out with a different back glass. And I was able to get another gentleman in Italy who was into it to make me a reproduction of that back glass that Paulie throws the bottle of scotch. So I've actually like got the one in the movie. Spoiler alert, Paulie was drunk in all of the Rocky movies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Okay, so you've been collecting Stern games, Jersey Jack games. You got to pick one. What's your favorite? Batman 66. Very deep. Yeah. Yeah, that was my show when I was a kid, and I was actually working on a re-theme of Haunted House. I was going to make it into a Batman 66. It has three levels, and I was going to make that lower play field the Batcave. And the main play field was going to be Gotham City, and I was going to have the buildings. And then that little upper play field was going to be the villains' lair, and those targets would be the villains and stuff. And then I started to hear the rumors that Stern was coming out with it, and I stopped. But I was actually going through the DVDs with a notebook and making little notes and writing down little sound effects and everything else. That would have been interesting to see, but thank God someone did the work for you and made a fantastic game in Batman 66. Before I say goodbye, Robert, thanks very much for doing this. We have something in common I saw on our Facebook, And it makes sense with your last name. We're both Keith Moon Mooney fans. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was that was my band. That's the one of the few pinballs. But that I'm really I mean, Tommy is very nice. I'd love to have a who pinball. A proper one. Yeah. A real one with with a lot of the songs. Not Tommy. He wasn't my favorite album with them. I'd like to hear who's next. Everything. Yeah. Yeah. I've got an autographed copy of that on my wall in the basement. Yeah, that would be great. Hey, Robert, thanks very much for taking time on a Friday night. I appreciate this. Sure, sure. Happy to talk with you, Jeff. Big fan of the show and everything. Thank you, Robert. Hope to see you soon, buddy. All right, thanks. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. Please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check us out on Instagram at pinballprofile. I'm Jeff Teolas.
    45:28
    Thank you.