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Houston Arcade Expo Founder Keith Christensen - Episode 2

JBS Show·podcast_episode·55m 20s·analyzed·Nov 8, 2023
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Houston Arcade Expo founder Keith Christensen discusses 22 years of community-building, collector passion, and event philosophy.

Summary

Keith Christensen, founder and director of the Houston Arcade Expo, discusses the event's 22-year history (starting in 2002), its evolution from small gatherings to a 330+ game showcase at the Westchase Marriott, and the community-focused philosophy behind maintaining an accessible, fun atmosphere rather than scaling into a massive convention. He shares his personal journey from arcade collector (107 pinball machines, 70+ arcade cabinets) to community organizer, his musical background in punk rock bands and current project 'Loader Popcorn,' and details about the November 10th expo featuring tournaments, musical performances, artists, and cross-platform gaming (pinball, arcade, console, tabletop).

Key Claims

  • Houston Arcade Expo started in 2002 at Fitzgerald's with ~60 games

    high confidence · Keith states: '2002 was our first show. And that was at Fitzgerald's right over here.'

  • The event has been at the Westchase Marriott since 2017

    high confidence · Keith: 'I think 2017' when asked how long at current venue

  • The expo currently features 330+ games and still growing

    high confidence · Keith: 'Yeah, we're up to 330, I believe. That's incredible. And we're still not – we don't have game preserves, the rest of their stuff.'

  • Keith has a personal collection of approximately 107 pinball machines and 70+ arcade cabinets

    high confidence · Keith: 'Yeah, I have, I think, 107 pins right now. Probably about 70 bids. Wow.'

  • Keith's first arcade acquisition was a Centipede in 1996, first pinball was High Speed in 1998

    high confidence · Keith: 'my first game was in 1996 six it was a centipede... and I think 98 was my next purchase, and I got a high-speed pinball'

  • Keith intentionally does not want Houston Arcade Expo to become as large as Texas Pinball Festival

    high confidence · Keith: 'No. Okay. Because that's a – I mean, that's a huge space that you would need... I don't want to end up one of the big convention center'

  • The event features multiple tournament formats including Space City Open, Bells & Chimes women's tournament, and Diverse Field

    high confidence · Jamie: 'I was reading here the other day you have not only the Diverse Field, but it's console games... There are tournaments for every part of the expo'

  • Keith founded a punk rock band called 'Loader Popcorn' with Chris Pallas and others; planning to perform 3-4 songs at the expo

    high confidence · Keith: 'We started a band called Loader Popcorn... At 11 o'clock on Saturday, we're going to do probably three or four songs'

Notable Quotes

  • “I don't want to necessarily become a giant monster of the show. I like it where we can have fun, and it's a great social pinball arcade console, classic computer event where everybody kind of blends in.”

    Keith Christensen @ ~21:00 — Philosophy statement: Keith's deliberate choice to keep the expo intimate and community-focused rather than pursue exponential growth

  • “Lost a bunch of money. Yeah. Had a blast. Didn't, whatever.”

    Keith Christensen @ ~4:30 — Reflects his passion-first approach to organizing the original 2002 show, prioritizing fun over profit

  • “my love for pinball and video games and this allows me to do this stupid podcast”

    Jamie Burchill @ ~51:00 — Meta-commentary on how community passion creates content and connection opportunities

  • “You tell two friends and so on and so on. And it just kind of grows that way.”

    Jamie Burchill @ ~47:00 — Reflects organic, grassroots community growth model that powers the Houston pinball/arcade scene

  • “if Pinbot 2.0 brings in a new guy, God bless him. Yeah. You know, whatever. You're right. But I'm just saying. As a purist. If you try to put that in my Pinbot. Watch out.”

    Jamie Burchill @ ~63:00 — Generational debate within community: purism vs. accessibility; collector tension around 2.0 remakes

  • “You're in a good spot right now, and you're in a good place. Yeah, we'll keep riding it. Ride the wave until we can. Ride until he bucks you.”

    Jamie/Keith @ ~87:00 — Keith's philosophy of sustainable, organic growth without forced scaling

  • “the Houston community itself, we're really spoiled and lucky, Keith, that we have these wonderful people, great locations, and we can play pinball pretty much every day of the week”

    Jamie Burchill @ ~74:00 — Acknowledges Houston's exceptional infrastructure and tournament frequency for pinball

Entities

Houston Arcade ExpoeventKeith ChristensenpersonJamie BurchillpersonWormhole PinballorganizationSpace City PinballorganizationChris PallaspersonTim HoodpersonJay Welchperson

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Houston has exceptional tournament infrastructure with competitive play available 5 days/week, attracting younger players to Space City Open and other events

    high · Jamie: 'we can play competitively five days a week'; Keith notes younger players showing up at Space City tournaments

  • ?

    event_signal: Houston Arcade Expo 2024 (November 10) featuring 330+ games, multiple tournaments (Space City Open, Bells & Chimes women's, Diverse Field), live music performances (Loader Popcorn, Harp Twins, Radio Cult), and artist vendors

    high · Keith confirms event details, game count, and performer lineup; Jamie discusses streaming plans

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Strong nostalgia and cross-platform gaming interest (pinball, arcade cabinets, console games, tabletop gaming) drives event attendance; music/party atmosphere integral to event identity

    high · Keith emphasizes 'old 80s deal' atmosphere, 'roller rink kind of old vibe'; Jamie discusses experiencing Popeye arcade, multiple game formats at same event

  • $

    market_signal: Debate around 2.0 remake games (Funhouse 2.0, Pinbot 2.0, etc.) - tension between purists/collectors and accessibility advocates; sentiment mixed on whether remakes help community growth

    medium · Jamie expresses purist skepticism ('I don't know about that') but acknowledges inclusivity argument; Keith pragmatic ('if Pinbot 2.0 brings in a new guy, God bless him')

  • $

    market_signal: Deliberate strategic choice by Houston Arcade Expo to remain mid-sized (~330 games, hotel venue) rather than scale to convention center size like TPF; reflects preference for community intimacy over market dominance

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.166

0:00
Anyway, welcome to the Wormhole. I am Jamie Burchill, and you are listening and are watching to our podcast, Wormhole Pinball Presents. Today, I'm joined by Keith Christensen. You are the organizer and director, I guess, of the Houston Area Arcade Expo, which starts this Friday, November 10th, at the Westchase Marriott here in Houston. Welcome, Keith, to the Wormhole. First time. Thank you. Yeah. That was an awesome, beautiful place. Shake hands. Okay. Thank you so much. It's not my joint. It's a conglomerate, if you will. It's Tim and Christine own the building. I told you real quick they were going to build a bar here with John and Leslie Spates. And then, unfortunately, they could not get parking. So because there's no parking here, as you saw, they could not get a liquor license. And because you can't get a liquor license, you can't have a bar. And then, of course, that was February 2020, March 2020, world shutdown. Timing was pretty good. Yep. So we just, after we quarantined here pretty much a year before we really let anybody else in. There were about eight or ten of us. Ah. The core community. The wormhole, like six. So we just quarantined here. And then little by little, as our spider web increased, we just let more people in. And then when, you know, obviously the Houston Arcade Expo was canceled during COVID in 2020. Yeah. But we did it in 2021. Right.
1:31
The vaccines were just coming out. And I think we were good. Yeah. I ended up getting COVID from TPF this year. Did you? But never got it at our show. Well, I love the Houston Arcade Expo. I've been going since 2019 because I'm fairly new to the pinball community. And I was checking out your website, HoustonArcadeExpo.com, and specifically the history section. And you have videos and pictures all the way down to 2002, right? Yeah, 2002 was our first show. And that was at Fitzgerald's right over here. Well, now it's a parking lot, but that was Fitzgerald's, the club. And I did sound from there from 92 to 98. Okay. And basically we were having parties at our house and whatnot, with pinball parties and video games and having people over. And then I was like, let's do a show. And then I contacted Sarah, who owned Fitch Drills, and I said, yeah, we did it downstairs. We had about 60 games. Wow. Slammed them in in the morning, set it up, had the party,
Texas Pinball Festival (TPF)
event
Fitzgerald'sorganization
Loader Popcornorganization
Mark Shieldsperson
Trinicomorganization
Game Preserveorganization
Eric Stinsonperson
The Harp Twinsorganization
Jerry Thompsonperson
Emo'sorganization

high · Keith explicitly rejects TPF-scale growth model: 'I don't want to end up one of the big convention center... I like it where we can have fun'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Jerry Thompson (Stern Pinball employee, drummer) performing at Houston Arcade Expo; indicates Stern presence in community and cross-pollination with musicians

    high · Keith: 'Jerry Thompson from Stern. Oh, that's right. He comes up and plays. He's a drummer.'

    • 2:48
    and then basically couldn't go home because it was like we started the show. And, you know, basically I was doing drying off in the back of the big truck that we rented because you could take a shower, like a sponge shower, and then party, drink, go home, and then go back the next morning and have to lower everything up. And, you know, and that was, I mean, that was, it was fun. Lost a bunch of money. Yeah. Had a blast. Didn't, whatever. And then I was like, look, let's just do it at a hotel. Okay. And then that's when we started doing it at a hotel. And we had, you know, me, Callan, Dan Ferguson, John Arsenault were kind of all involved once we got to the hotel section. And then as time progressed, they kind of dropped off because I was basically doing all the heavy lifting. Okay. Making things happen. And here we are. So how long have you been at the Marriott there? I think 2017. Wow. It's a really good venue. It's perfect. They allow you the opportunity in that back area to just, well, party, right? I mean, yeah. Well, I mean, you know, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. No, no, but it's an area where they kind of – it's excellent back there. I really love it back there. Yeah, we get kind of left to our own devices pretty much, which has been great because we've had – we've been at other hotels. We were at the hotel over there by the Astrodome. It was a Marriott at one time. No, no, it was Crown Plaza, I believe. And the owners hated us, and they didn't want us to do it. They shut us down at 2 o'clock. Right. And it got worse as time went along. And so then we moved to the 290 location, which we were there until 2016. And that just became a nightmare. They got under new owners, and then now we're where we're at.
    4:44
    And it goes well. I like it. I don't want to necessarily become a giant monster of the show. I like it where we can have fun, and it's a great social pinball arcade console, classic computer event where everybody kind of blends in. It's like you may be going up there, so I'm going to see some pinball. And they go, oh, man, I used to play that TRS-80 Model 1 when I was a kid. Let me get on that for a little bit. And then vice versa. And then people like, you know, so there's a cross-pollination. I think it's, you know, if you've never been to the Houston Arcade Expo, what I love about it, obviously we're focused on pinball, right, at the Wormhole. But you're right, console games, you know, arcade games, you know, there's tournaments for every – it's such a big part of the expo as well because there's tournaments for every part of the expo. I mean, I was reading here the other day you have not only the Diverse Field, but it's console games. They have a tournament for video games. I don't even really know what the – what was it? The tabletops were. I didn't know what tabletops were. Well, we were trying to get – that's like, you know, Pokemon cards. Yeah. That's a whole other kind of fandom or whatever you want to call it or gamers. And, you know, D&D, all that type, but that's what the tabletop games are. Oh, okay. I wasn't familiar with that. And we've had some traction over there with somebody coming in and kind of doing a few games. But so far, I mean, I just kind of put it out there to hopefully that somebody will step in and say, hey, we'll run a few games for you. And then, you know. It's about volunteers, right? Yeah. I mean, you need a lot of volunteers to make this happen. Oh, yeah. You know. Yeah. And just on the pinball side with Space City Pinball and the Bells and the Wormhole Booth, We need volunteers constantly to man those booze and just to show people how to even flip a machine. Because we're all about just increasing the awareness for pinball, right? Yep, I'm in for that. Absolutely. You've been doing that for a long time. What's your origin story of collecting? Because you have a huge collection of arcade and pinball machines. Yeah, I have, I think, 107 pins right now.
    7:09
    Probably about 70 bids. Wow. Probably about 20 computers and stuff like that too. Yeah, Gandalf, that's my office. So I got to go for the first time this year, and we sat down and we were bullshitting for a little bit. But I really – what a place. What an amazing place that you're building there. And that's – all the artwork and stuff like that, that's all Jay Welch. Jay Welch, he's a volunteer. He just – hey, let's rent the place next door and set up an arcade. Okay. boom and he's over there printing you know and if you look at all the artwork on the wall it's you know a lot of flyers from old shows right in bands that you know i've been in in bands that we all kind of like in the underground in the 80s and stuff like that so it uh he did a super great job on that so how long have you been collecting so okay so my first game was in 1996 six it was a centipede okay so i was up we i was uh i started a computer company called trinicom right i saw you on linkedin you'll get a little alert that i was uh sniffing your profile for the interview uh and uh we're up there helping a customer and he's a this guy roy baker and had a just incredible jukebox collection but then he had a bunch of video games and then I was like oh my god I can own right a video game and he had a fire pinball and you know I could own one of these and so he needed some work done on his computers and so we you know worked on some stuff and then next thing you know I'm driving home with a working centipede I know crammed in my trooper two and Jay was with me and he was like You know, leaned up like this, and it was in the – anyway, got there, and then I think 98 was my next purchase, and I got a high-speed pinball. That was my first pinball. In 98. And then next thing you know, I'm raiding warehouses all across Texas. And that's how I met Callan Hendricks. Okay. we ended up going to a warehouse and it turned out that part of his stuff was there and I met him there and we were buying some stuff from another operator anyway, and so I bought stuff done warehouse raids with my friend John Arsena we went up to the north Louisiana I took a train basically over to Lafayette we piled in, rented a U-Haul and basically did the tour of Louisiana. Just picking up machines. It was like some guy had a furniture warehouse and he used to own a route and he had hundreds of videos and pins just all in this big furniture warehouse and it was like 200 degrees out there and we're loading them up. I've been there and done that, but I didn't take a train. Me and Tim did do a drive down to Port St. Lucie, Florida to pick up seven machines. There you go. And that was an ordeal in and of itself, a story for another time. Yeah, it's, you know, I miss it in some ways because there's the adventure of just getting there and the road trip. And then getting in there and getting dirty, especially if they're in a warehouse, you're getting in there dirty, picking stuff up. And then the whole thing about haggling with the guy or whoever and, you know, haggling with the prices. and luckily I was able to pick up eight pins from a rural, a true warehouse raid over the summer. I brought my two sons with me and we all, you know, they were helping me breaking them down, loading them up. I'm sure they're experts right now. Well, yeah, I mean, they're getting there.
    10:59
    So talk about your love for music too, right? Because I'm very good friends with Chris Pallas. I love Chris Pallas, one of my favorite people on the planet. and a hell of a drummer, how did you hook up with your band and some of the bands that you've done and then convert all these pinball players to drummers? I mean, he's a drummer now. He doesn't even play pinball anymore. Well, he was a drummer before I met him. So, yeah, so my musical background is I was in, you know, punk rock bands in the 80s. Ah, unbelievable. I played, you know, Carrie Voltaire and, you know, and then Emo's. I had kind of a psychedelic jam band. We played, you know, every Tuesday night Emo's down here.
    11:47
    What instruments did you play? Were you singing or? I played bass. Okay. And then kind of in my kind of 1453 B.C. era, I was doing singing and playing bass at the same time. It was kind of more like a three-piece psychedelic grunge type of thing in the 90s. Awesome. And then started doing some stoic statuary, which was all keyboard work. And two beautiful backup singers, and we did that for a while.
    12:20
    And anyway, so that, you know, and then I got a degree in audio engineering and minor music. And I did sound at Fitzgerald's from 92 to 98. I missed Fitzgerald's, too. Oh, yeah, that was a... And I'm not a native Estonian. I moved here in 97, and I found that place as quickly as I could. What a neat place. Went to a bunch of concerts there. And you're a native Estonian, right? Yeah. Your whole life. Born and raised here. That's awesome. Yeah, so music is ingrained into me, and then when we first started the show, a part of the show was to have lights and music, kind of like the old 80s deal, right? Right. And as it grew, you know, we had a quiet section for, you know, like, you know, the EMs and stuff like that, you know, in a different room. But the main place was, yeah, needs to have that, you know, roller rink kind of old vibe. And it does, though. Right, right. And so, you know, as it grew, we would get flamed on Pennside. Like, oh, my God, it's too loud.
    13:27
    And I was like, okay. let's get bands yeah so we started doing bands so we doubled down and just kept doing what we're doing and just i love that you know because you know that's fine you don't have if you don't want to come and experience it you don have to you know yeah i mean i love the guests that you have there the guests musical guests you know uh scott denisi puts on a hell of a show Yeah All right Are you guys going to be putting on a show I know you've been practicing. Yeah. No, we're going to have a practice tonight.
    14:00
    Me, Chris, Aaron, and Mark Shields. Okay. He's a big video. He's got a bunch of pinballs as well. And we're doing it. We started a band called Loader Popcorn. Awesome. And that evolved from a party. That's how I met Chris. Okay. He came to one of our parties, and we were just messing up up there. And he came up and started playing drums. And the next thing you know, it was like, oh, let's create an arcade pinball. And we wrote songs and all that stuff. We lost a member quit, and so it kind of fell apart. But we still have a bunch of songs, so we're going to practice tonight. At 11 o'clock on Saturday, we're going to do probably three or four songs. Awesome.
    14:46
    It is a really great time. Is it called the Houston Area Arcade Expo or the Houston Arcade Expo? Well, it was the Houston Area Arcade Group.
    14:58
    Originally, that was the group because it was an email list. This started in 98, something like that. I was like, well, we need to start an email thread list. And so we had that going, and that was the big way to communicate. Okay, sure. Before, you know, Facebook and all this stuff. And then that was the – it was the Houston Area Arcade Group, Houston Arcade Expo, and then it kind of morphed into just Houston Arcade Expo. Okay. So then finally I got it – you know, got the LLC and do all the business stuff. because, you know, you have to, you know, after a while you have to, like, you know, do all that. Yeah, it can't just be a party. It's got to be – and it's not just a party. It's really – it is an amazing place to be, and I tell everyone about it. Like, because Tim Hood got me sucked into pinball. He got me fully into this. And then – because I used to do a podcast, and I used to do a soccer podcast. And so he's like, well, you've got to stream and all that. Forget all that story. But anyway. That's awesome, though. I mean – It is fun. I absolutely love it. It's like the old commercial. You tell two friends and so on and so on. And it just kind of grows that way. And I came in 2019. I remember seeing you walking around with your GoPro and your 360 camera. And then you hand out all these awesome party favors. And people are dancing when DJ Chris Lowe is out there. And I was like, well, this is fantastic. And then I can play Popeye right there or Tron or these phenomenal pinball machines. And then I could play the Popeye video game, which I freaking love because I was – That was mine.
    16:36
    I bring my Popeye every year. Well, because it's – dude, it's funner – it's more fun than people think that video game is. I know it is. All right? I put a lot of quarters in that as a kid. And, you know, that's another wormhole that I can't go down. That is Star Trek. Oh, okay. And then you'll hear – when you hear it by yourself, that's why I turn trailer off because it doesn't shut up. It's a Spanish game. Yeah, I have a Dragon's Lair that I can't get the track sound off. Is it an original Dragon's Lair with the laser disc? Yeah, with the laser disc and everything.
    17:11
    Are you bringing that? No, actually, Mark Shields is bringing his. My problem is, it's usually Wednesday night. I get all the snacks and everything for the VIP room. So my truck is completely full. And then we have movers coming into the office and they're pulling all that stuff. Sorry, I jump around all over the place on these interviews, and I apologize. Maybe I'm ADD. No, I'm fully ADD, dyslexic, obsessive, compulsive. You name it, I got it. But I just like Dragon's Lair because it was the first 50-Center, right? Was that the first 50-Center that I remember? Probably so, yeah. I don't remember going to an arcade and pumping in 50 cents and then really not doing anything but just being enamored with the graphics. I remember when it came out, and then I would find it on location. I worked at Plitt Cinema. I was a projectionist at Plitt Cinema for a while.
    18:06
    That's cool. I started at the ticket guy and the cleaning the thing, and then they realized that was technical. So they stuck you up in the booth. They stuck me up in the booth, and I worked with the union guy. So when the union guy wanted off, he would let me do it, and I'd learn how to splice the film and do all that stuff. Anyway. Super cool. They had a Super Punch-Out, PlayChoice 10 with a dual monitor, and they had a Dragon's Lair. And that was in the early 90s. That was 10 years after it came out. Yeah, and it still probably did well. Oh, yeah. That's the problem with them today is the laser disc. You can't find anyone that knows how to repair a laser disc, right? Well, there were some interface boards that allow you to do a modern player. You know who has that? Game Preserve down at NASA has one of those. And then a lot of people are doing just switch over to SD, you know, just remove the laser disc out completely. Okay. But I have the board that allows you to use the newer player, but with the original disc. I always get to the GD drawbridge, and I always go the wrong way, and that's where I screw it. It's right in the beginning, and I screw that up. I know. Anyway, forget it. Sorry, forget it. When he's going.
    19:20
    Dead. 50 cents gone. See you. But then I had to go into my pocket and get some more. And that's one of our Loaded Popcorn songs. It's called Free Play.
    19:30
    It's about going to an arcade now where everything's free play. Right. And the stakes aren't like it used to be. No, man. Back in the day, that may have been your last 50 cents for the day. Well, I grew up on Long Island, and so I collected cans. Okay? So next time you throw away a can, it says five cents for New York and New Jersey and Connecticut and all that crap. Well, I collected cans. I would go to my neighborhood, get cans, and we would go to the arcades. And this is, you know, mid-'80s, and we went to and played these games. And we were enamored by Tempest. We were enamored by, you know, the pizza place at Tempest. So I grew up playing these games. In Texas back then, we had the glass, one liters. And so we'd get a quarter back. Oh, wow. Or 15 cents back for the glass. I had to do five times as much. One liters. Yeah, so we didn't have the can. And so my parents would buy those, and we would take those to the local Lewis and Coker, and I would get a buck or whatever, and then they had a Phoenix. And that was my thing. The Phoenix was me and my buddy Joe played the crap out of that. And then on the other side was a 7-Eleven down in Hillcroft where I lived, and I still remember they had a Flash. and I remember the first thing the flash yeah it was flash and uh I remember the first time seeing it and actually getting one and looking at the artwork up close and I had this weird kind of flashback because I remember when I was little looking at all the people and going oh wow this is cool you know and uh it just kind of gave me a I sucked at pinball and and so I didn't throw a lot of quarters in there I just sucked at it I was so much better at the video games starting with, you know, from, and then I had the console games from the Atari, then, you know, obviously to the Commodore 64, which, which you have console Commodore 64 guys at, and I geek out with them every year. And they're like, who is this pinball nerd that keeps asking me the same Commodore 64 questions? But I played the shit out of Commodore 64. No, I was TRS-80 guy. Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah. At the color computer. And that's where I actually learned to program. Yeah. I learned to program basic on the Commodore 64. Yeah. So when I ended up doing Trinicom stuff and doing database programming and a lot of website stuff, a lot of the commands were still the same from back. It was a lot of the basic string command, handling strings and mid-string. Go sub, go to. Yeah, all that crap was all the same. Yeah. It was like, boom. That's wild. That's how I, you know. Yeah. My dad going out to Katie to save money on tax to get me my first color computer. Wow. put me on the trajectory of doing this whole chicken with chow.
    22:19
    But that's awesome, right? I mean, it's just so fantastic that you can then – it is an amazing – you never know where this world is going to take you, right? And then all of a sudden our love for video games and my love for wanting to be on the radio growing up in Long Island, I wanted to be Howard Stern, right? So, I mean, that's just – when I first heard his ass, I was like, what the hell is he doing? That is unbelievable. He's pushing the boundaries. And then I was like, well, I have to do this for a living. And then, you know, I didn't do it. But then my love for pinball and video games and this allows me to do this stupid podcast. And so we're – and, of course, the Twitch channel is really growing. So we're doing some neat stuff down here. Yeah, no, I mean it's all about, like you said, connecting people, pushing the boundaries. How can you – because that's – I mean you end up with an echo chamber. at certain points, but how do we reach out and bring more Jamies in? How do we bring more Tims in? How do we bring more people into the hobby to keep it going? Because we don't need these gray hairs. We need the younger, for us, for Jack Ravenous, and we need it to continue to grow. And that's why the wormhole is so important. That's why the Houston Arcade is so important, because what we say is just come. And the tournaments. The tournaments. The tournaments in Space City, I'm seeing a lot of younger people showing up there and everything. That's a true testament to what Phil, who was our first interview, built. And what the Joneys and all the great guests and Tim have done. The TDs and everyone just putting that together. Because the tournament, I'm more of a tournament player. And that's how I met the Chris Palaces and everyone. And that's how they introduced me to you guys. and it's through the tournaments. And that's really what our Twitch stream was. But I geek out on playing the different kind of games. And when I go to a tournament and I see something really rare, I geek on it. Yeah, you want to learn the rules. I want to learn all of it. And this is why I don't know if this is – I'm seeing all these people redoing these games, making Pinbot 2.0. I don't know about that. I think there's like a certain point where it's a fine art and you're just, you know, you're just trying. I don't know. I don't particularly. Well, you're a purist, but no worries. I mean, you're, it's. We were talking earlier about the LCD versus LED. Yeah. You know, and that, look, if somebody, if Pinbot 2.0 brings in a new guy, God bless him. Yeah. You know, whatever. You're right. But I'm just saying. As a purist. If you try to put that in my Pinbot.
    25:08
    Watch out. Pinbots have really – we got a pinbot right in the back. Or, no, was it Bride of Pinbots? Bride of – I don't know. One of those 2.0 remakes. Well, what was the other one they did?
    25:19
    Roadshow 2.0? Did they do another Roadshow? I think it was Roadshow. Or Bill and Ted. Not Bill and Ted. Ted and – Funhaus. Okay, that's what it is. Freddy's Nightmare. Yeah, that's what it is. I'm like, I'm sorry. But you do have a huge list of games on the website. If you go to Houston Arcade Expo and look at the list of games, you can see and geek out on, oh, my God, they're going to have this. They're going to have that. Yeah, we're up to 330, I believe. That's incredible. And we're still not – we don't have game preserves, the rest of their stuff. Yeah. Oh, so it's going to grow. Yeah. And that's a whole other side over there. Shout out for the game preserve and Joe Reyna who helps out.
    26:01
    You know, Eric Stinson. Oh, Eric's great. Blake is propelling artwork through the whole pinball thing. Well, if you're watching us, I'm wearing one of his designs for the Space City pinball, and I'm wearing one of his designs for the wormhole itself. Nice. I mean, he did these. Yeah, no. Because he's incredible, right? Yeah. I want to interview him, too, because I find that to be fascinating. I really want to focus not on the Houston celebrities, if you will, in our community, but just great stories and get them out there. because the Houston community itself, we're really spoiled and lucky, Keith, that we have these wonderful people, great locations, and we can play pinball pretty much every day of the week wherever we want to go. We can play competitively five days a week, and we've just got your show here, which is just like our Super Bowl, you know. It's just fantastic. Yeah, no, I appreciate everybody's, you know, enthusiasm and help, you know, to make it happen i mean that's it takes yeah it takes a village to do it and then it takes a lot of people to come in and buy tickets and buy booths yeah and you know and that's another thing i want to touch on real quick is all the artwork so we're going to have all kinds of artists there yeah people creating um you know different uh fandom things and um you know i think That's just an awesome way to help. I like to get there Thursday. We set up our wormhole booth and then we going to be streaming the Houston Area the Space City Open and the Bells and Chimes the women So I got all this crap I got to bring right And I got to set it up in the rig But I like getting there Thursday when people set up and just having conversations with everybody. Yeah. And like, what are you doing? What got you into this art and cool stuff? There's just a really great eclectic group of people there. It's awesome. Yeah, I know. But that's, I mean, our mission statement basically is to how to figure out to make it more fun.
    28:08
    You know, I have a day job. I have my thing. Yeah, we all got to work to do this. And I hope that this continues. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's a lot of work and responsibility to get all the, you know, all the T's crossed and I's dotted and everything aligned. and it takes a lot of belief that it'll happen.
    28:33
    But at the same token, you know, I don't want it to become a complete burden to where, you know, I'm just like, well, I don't want to do this anymore, you know. Do you think it could get as big as like a TPF? Do you think you would want that? No. Okay. Because that's a – I mean, that's a huge space that you would need. Yeah, I don't. um tpf has it's i know the guys who organize it they're great guys and everything but that's a whole different okay kind of feel and ball game you know um then what what we're doing here i mean i i i like the um i mean could we use a little bit more space yeah but you know i don't want to end up one of the big convention center with you know 50 foot Right. You know, ceilings and all that. You know, it – You're in a good spot right now, and you're in a good place. Yeah, we'll keep riding it. Ride the wave until we can. Ride until he bucks you. But you have a bunch of guests and speakers coming. Let's see. I really want to party and hang out with Tim. What is this, Kittrow?
    29:43
    Tim's fun, yeah. Yeah, he's a fun dude. He'll be playing with Radio Cult. Oh, he will? So, yeah. Okay. So if you stay late, because we have the Yacht Rock Toast at midnight where you get your captain's hat. Yeah. And you get your lay. And we do the champagne toast. Awesome. Non-alcoholic. What's that, Friday night? Saturday. Saturday night. Friday night is the 80s dance night. Okay. And that's going to start by 1130. And DJ Gandalf, which is me, will be DJing both nights. I've been killing myself trying to get the playlist and get my rig, and I got all these lights synced up. Anyway, that's a whole – I can't wait to see it. And that's what we're going to do. You'll see me on the dance floor, man. I'm there every year. I hope so. Yeah, so we're going to get – that's where all the 80s pictures. Oh, okay. I sent mine in. Yeah, so I got yours, and so I put everybody's name. And, you know, I mean, this is 80s. That's what I want. I wanted real people that we know. Mine's a glamour shot. I literally went to the mall. I was a mall. It was a mall glamour shot. Next to the arcades, there's a glamour shot. I got one of me. I think I was in seventh grade or whatever. I had Sex Pistols, Clash. I had all my buttons on there. I was just like, all the acne going. Yeah, just badass. The Harp Twins are coming again.
    31:04
    Wait, real quick. Yeah, so Saturday Night Radio called their second set. People walk up and play. So Tim will come up and play. Oh, cool. Jerry Thompson from Stern. Oh, that's right. He comes up and plays. He's a drummer. He's going to come up and play. So, anyway. And then the Harp Twins. Yeah. They don't play on that stage. They play in the back, in the side. Limited seating. Okay. So, get in there quick to get your – but it's in our speaker room, and it's a very intimate, awesome place. And this is their third year to our show, and they're great. Yeah, they are. They're people. Awesome to hang out with. and uh actually but their first year uh they were were uh i got video of them playing the uh iron maiden oh that's pretty cool because that was their claim to fame was they were doing iron maiden covers on the harps and stuff and uh and now they're joined with the uh wolf wolf gang guys who do like kind of like like viking uh drumming and stuff i gotta get in there this year. I got to get in there. Oh, it's worth it, man. I know, but I'm always commentating on the damn stream. So it just takes away sometimes. So I'm not doing as much streaming this year. We're just going to ease it. Just do the finals and then the women's finals because I really want to really want to hang out more. That's, that's, I mean, that's enough. That's the crust. Yeah. That's what I'm supposed to be doing. That's, that's the, um, you know, the mission i guess i don't know the that's the the i don't know final line for the music show is come hang out you know and and you know come absolutely talk about how i'm going to win this stern venom pro how do i win this uh you buy how much are they buy tickets 25 perfect uh a play um A ticket and then five for $100.
    33:00
    Perfect. So far I've lost money every year on them. Oh, you do, right? But it's so much fun. I feel bad for you losing money, but let's get some people to buy some tickets. Let's go. Yeah, hopefully. Yeah, so. But, you know, once we get that thing paid for, because we have to get that from Charles. Okay. Joysticks, which is another great guy. He helps out in this a lot. Joysticks, Charles with joysticks. He brings a bunch of games. There's a lot of logos in here from joysticks. Tim buys a lot of machines from Charlie. Charlie's one of my next interviews. Just getting his schedule is brutal. Yeah, he's super busy. I mean, I still need some more games from him. But, see, Marco stopped coming. And so now he's pulling up all the stops and bringing 25. Yeah, I saw the list of games. He's bringing 25, right? 25, plus a bunch of other stuff. So, I mean, there's still other things that haven't quite made it on the list yet. You've got to ask him his story on the Guns N' Roses.
    33:54
    on like GNR or whatever the machine that he has there alright I'm going to ruin it go ahead here we go to 1820 before the Guns N' Roses concert Charlie comes up and Christine Hood is with us and Christine knows Charlie very well because Tim buys a lot of his collection from Charlie which I buy as well so Charlie goes you're not going to believe this I got a call from Guns N' Roses, and they wanted one of their machines for their backstage for them to play. So they gave me some free passes, and I delivered a machine to their backstage. Nice. So he goes, he picks up the machine that night. There is, if you know that machine, it takes winners of today, right? Yeah, pictures. Pictures. It hasn't been turned on since because there's Slash, Axl, everyone where the winner, you You could see Axel was today's grand champ.
    34:55
    Oh, really? Yeah. So he hasn't turned it on. He hasn't turned it back on. He won't let anybody else play it, I don't think, because it's got, you know, Guns N' Roses playing the damn machine. Wow. There should be a way you could get that drive.
    35:08
    I don't know. You should talk to him about it because he came back and he was geeking out with us. He's like, you're not going to believe the picture. So Axel kick slashes butt. I don't want to ruin the story. Charlie needs to tell the story. I might be exaggerating it, but who knows? I'm a podcaster. That's what I do. Yeah, I'm a podcaster. Awards are big at the Expo. You do a really good job of awarding. In fact, last year, Wormhole was fortunate enough to win Best in Show for the Big Bang Bar we brought. Mm-hmm. And so you've got Best of Show. Yes. Best Original or Modded Pinball. Best Original or Modded Arcade. And Best Original or Modded Console. Yes. Those are huge, man. People geek on that stuff. Yeah, no. It's definitely getting people a pat on the back and you display this trophy. Because people are proud. You forgot one. There's also the Dan Ferguson Memorial Award, which we'll get into. No, go ahead. Talk about it. Please. So Dan was the elder statesman of pinball in the Houston area. He had the Lone Star Pinball Museum out in Hockley. Right. And all throughout, since I got into it in the early – well, it's 2000s all the way until his passing in 2017.
    36:29
    He would have parties, get-togethers there, and he just had the – it's like this five – out in the country, but seven times bigger. Well, most of this is from his museum, Tim Bott. So Tim is very familiar with them, and so is John. They used to go there, and John learned how to repin machines from them. Okay. So I've never met him. I didn't have the opportunity to meet him. Anyway, so after that, I said, well, let's do an award every year.
    37:05
    We have a show that's basically in memory of Dan. Oh, that's lovely. And so it's passed around. And so far we have, you know, Brian Foytek won it the first year because I chose the first one. Yeah. He chose the Dornays. Great. And they've chosen, we'll find out. Oh, that's lovely. What a wonderful tradition you're starting there for that great fan. And then whoever is this year would choose the next one and so on and so on. That's really, that's a great way to remember him and thank him for all. Look at this beautiful art and some of the, you know, the things in here that, you know, And there's still a warehouse full, right? I mean, as I understand. I mean. Yeah. No, the family is, as far as I know, it hasn't been touched. No, right.
    37:54
    So we'll figure out what they're going to do with that stuff. Yeah. No. Yeah. It, you know, it needs to breathe. It does, because it would be such a shame for that that's collecting some dust. You know, I mean, we need to let people see the beauty of that collection. Yeah. Because that's what you guys really are at the end of the day. I mean, you're collectors, and this is a way for people to show off their collection as well at the Easton Area Arcade Expo. I think that that's such a cool part of it. We're all just caretakers for the same ideal or hobby or whatever. Because, I mean, this stuff will be here as long after we're gone. so we're just you know helping to preserve and um you know mark gammons picked up a 1968 it's right over there and it's you see the back of it it is rock uh makers pinball machine rock makers and it's like a ripoff of the flintstones but it's german okay so they're cleaning uh dinosaurs and they're making rocks i'll show it to you after but it is so cool to then go on the pin side and go on and check out how many were produced and how rare it is and how those cool things and it just i geek out on that i i did that i mean i had a varkon okay i'm not familiar with varkon oh you don't know okay so varkon is the first and only pinball that was made in a williams video game cabinet okay so it's an actual top bottom top like a stand-up like defender so style cabinet okay so before circus well yeah yeah this is back in the early 80s i mean well in circus is not even really in a video game cabinet per se okay this is an actual you know with with the top header like this trying to throw knowledge and then i know what i'm talking about anyway so inside it's got a play field about size of a baby pac-man play field really and it's tilted and it's got a mirror so it looks like when you're playing it it's the balls kind of floating around and it's got all those those killer uh uh you know stargate and defender robotron you know all the eight bit you know awesome sounds going on to it and it was called varkon and i have a video on my YouTube channel where I found it. I actually was at a warehouse back in the 90s looking around and I said, what is this? It says Varkon. I had no clue what it was at the time.
    40:29
    I picked it up for $80. Then got it and fixed it up. Slowly it was like, oh my god, this is like Uber Air and everything like that. I had it for about 10 years. It was great, but after 10 years of wanting it, it was time because it wasn't you know it's time to move on it it wasn't a you know um an indian williams indiana jones it wasn't right you know i'm saying i get it it it's it and same thing with jowl had the jowl spin ball the head-to-head so sometimes i kind of like jowl it's good but but what's okay i'm gonna play myself with jowl and even with two players after a while it's like yeah what am i doing here you Exactly.
    41:15
    And so I sold that stuff. I mean, I wish I kept it now because I probably could retire at this point. Sure. Just on those two. You never know, man. I just saying you know rarity is awesome and we need to preserve that But else at the same time it may not necessarily be the funnest I know Tim bought two of those with the big mirror and they had joysticks and then this would be your flipper and then this you could move the machine Hyperball? Called Jolly something. I don't know. So Hyperball was one. I used to find these all the time in the 90s or the early 2000s. And basically you would have two grips like this. And it was a ballet game or Williams game. And it would shoot a stream of little balls like this. It would be like. Yeah, Charlie had one. Yeah, you shoot your targets and everything like that. So you know what it's called in economics? The opportunity cost. Not the opportunity cost. Diminishing marginal returns. You remember that in economics 101? Your first banana is delicious. Your second banana tastes better than the first banana. And the third banana is just not as good. And so that point is called diminishing marginal returns on that scale. And that's the issue with those games. Like, they're great. They're nice for a collection, maybe at a museum. But the playability, you're just not going to keep playing. Right. And that's your diminishing marginal return. Right. And that's what happened to those two. I was like, well, crap, I'm going to get a ghost mode or whatever at the time. I say Ghostbusters or whatever. Sure. I need, you know, I got to, okay. You could play that forever, you know. That's some of the issues with some of the older pinball machines. But I still like, you know, Sorcerer. There's not a lot going on in Sorcerer. But gosh, damn it, if you could hit that damn. Dude. I like Sorcerer. I mean, I can't hit that ramp. TNA. Yeah, sure. Total nuclear annihilation. That play field is bare minimum. Right. But I can find a machine. I have a video on my YouTube channel of me, me, Scott. Well, no, Scott was in the background. It was me and the Bare Naked Ladies guy. Oh, yeah. It was me, him, and a couple other people playing the Whitewood of TNA.
    43:38
    When he drug it to T. Nobody's heard of Scott. Yeah. He shows up. Boom, it's there. And we're on it. And all four of us that were playing a little four-player game was like, yeah, this is awesome. It is awesome. And it's so simple, but it's just, I don't know, it captures you. There's something about it. You know, anyway. It is something about it. Yeah, there's those games that just talk to you. Yeah. You know, and that's why, you know, I love the new people that are building machines. This hobby is continuing to grow, and it's awesome. And I think on that, definitely, I think everybody, all the manufacturers should be helping each other. Yeah. But. That'd be nice. I'm just saying. Utopian world. Right. But you got to, I mean, I was thinking about this the other day. I was like, okay, so we have a handful, maybe a little bit more of serious manufacturers out there, right, making pinball. Yeah. Their overall impact in the entertainment budget or revenues is such a minute fraction of a fraction of the multi-billions of dollars out there. And all I see is people fighting each other about who's messing up, who's better than this. Wow, pinstripe. I'm just saying. Everybody is just – and it's just like – I'm going to tell you a Penn State story when you're done.
    45:09
    It's just like really, if you just look at the overview of the tribes fighting each other on the little planet, and they're not seeing the big asteroid coming.
    45:23
    I'm saying? You know, so – and I think industries, they have meetings where all the manufacturers get together and they share – I mean they don't share secrets and stuff like that. But they also trade. So anyway, that's kind of – yeah, that's my utopian hippie side of me. No, it's good. I like it. But I'll post this on Pinside and I'll say, who is this cool dude Keith talking to this jerk off Jamie? You know what I mean? And I just can't go on it. So I can't – I cannot be a part of – my anxiety kills me. Oh, on Pinside. On Pinside. Oh, yeah. They just rip me to shreds. And guess what? Guess what, dude? This is nothing. I know. You ever been on Rec Games Pinball? No. So back in the 90s. Really? It was just as bad. Yeah. But it was Rec Games Pinball. Like an AOL chat room just about pinball just ripping on it? It was a news group, yeah. Oh, okay, yeah. Posting and it would stay there and there'd be threads and then flaming and, oh, my God. You know, and then it was the same stuff on Pennside or the Stern.
    46:34
    I've been on there and people are constantly trolling people, you know, saying, you know, oh, I hate this game. Or, you know, they'll just make a statement and they'll be like pile on of a thousand people. You know, and it's just like, oh, my God. All right, just doesn't talk to you. Okay, the game doesn't talk to you. Fine, move on. Right, exactly. Just don't play it. Don't put your quarters on it. Who gives a shit? Don't buy it, you know. Yeah, it is so negative, and I can't. And so my wife won't. Why? I don't know, man. My wife won't let me. I'm not even allowed to have Pintside to even go to it because we were very fortunate that we did the commercials here for Labyrinth. Right? So we were just very fortunate that they chose us. And one of them, the lighting was a little dark. I'm not a professional lighter. Look at the – I mean, you know what the hell I'm doing? It looked great. No, it looked great, dude. But somebody bitched about it. Oh, my Lord, dude. Pinside had two – three pages of the lighting was shitty. And I just can't be a part of it. Go ahead if you have to take it. No, I'm good. So we're almost done. We've got to get you out of here because you've got piano. You've got stuff you've got to do, man. And I just will bullshit all day. Yeah, I want to touch, but I like where we're at right now about the rage, the keyboard ragers in our hobby. It's just so detrimental. I think if somebody just gets their first pinball, they go on pin side, it may turn them off from the hobby completely. You're going to see all this stuff on there. It's like, oh, my God, I'm not going to hang out with all these crazy people. Yeah, I bought my World Cup soccer. right it was my first pinball machine so i go to pin side and i join a world cup soccer group on facebook and they're lovely because they love the machine right i go on pins like just got world cup soccer you'll be bored with it in three weeks yeah right i still have mine and it's still at my house because i love that well i grew up playing soccer so i was like all right i want this machine my kids used to call it puppy pinball sure growing up because they had the puppy on there i mean he's a little obnoxious his name is striker and i'm not a huge striker fan but you know it is what it is it's fun but yes is it once you beat germany kind of annoying okay all right there is diminishing marginal returns but it's still a really cool first pin for me i like it i still have mine in my active collection at my house yeah there you go and like you said it's it's you know it's like you know it's your flavor you like it i dig it you know i'm from long island and new jersey i want to why are you going to cast this freaking negative energy towards you just because maybe somebody doesn't and i don't think in the day it doesn't have necessarily have anything to do with pinball it has to do with people's personality right i don't know but it's just because i wanted sopranos and god forbid i put that out there that jamie wants the sopranos because i'm from up there and i love that show yeah they'll crap all over that machine and and And I'm like, okay, is it the best darn ever made? Probably not, but it's fun. It gives a shit. I know. I mean, that's what I'm saying.
    49:42
    You bought the ticket. You're going to ride the ride. Yeah. Me and you are simpatico. We're on the exact same sheet of music. You're going to enjoy it. You're going to play it. You're going to enjoy the theme. Maybe it's not the best player. I like Houdini a lot. A lot of people just hate it. It's just hard. It's hard. It's difficult. I housed that machine early in my playing, and Tim lets me house some machines, and that one kicked my ass. It just hurt feelings. It hurts feelings. And if you're new at pinball, that machine's going to hurt. It's going to demoralize you a little bit. But I'll tell you, when that – Joe Balzer didn't play around with it. No, he didn't mess with it. He could have widened it a little bit. For Christ's sake, man. You know, those little right side little pass on the right side. I mean, help me out, dude. Okay, real quick, Houston Arcade Expo, Houston Marriott, Westchase, 2900 Briar Park, Houston, Texas. So we got Friday you open at noon, right? Yes. Okay, so you go to noon at 2 a.m. and then Saturday. Well, 2 a.m. is.
    50:50
    Ish. Okay. Three, four. I was with you last year, and you bought how many Grand Slams? You don't have to do this again. I'm not putting you up for it. But you bought, like, was it the last year or the year before? Two years. The last two years. The first year, me and Chris were hanging out jamming, and we were hungry at my house. And I was like, dude, let's just buy a family Grand Slam. He's like, okay. And then next thing you know, we had food delivered, and we were just, like, amazing. And then we were hungry and doing the 80s dance night on Friday night. And then I was like, dude, let's order a whole crap ton of them. I think you got, like, 30 or something. Yeah, and we had them all set up. I know. I was like, do I wait for the Grand Slam or do I go to bed? And I chose bed, and that was a mistake, and I regret it. Take care of that. It will be back at some point in the evening, but I won't tell you when. No, no, it'll be good. This way people stay, and it is fantastic. Thank you, Keith, so much for joining me here at Wormhole Pinball Presents. It's important to me to grow this community and just show Houston what we're doing. because we're doing some really cool things here. Oh, yeah. You've been a major, major part of that. Thank you so very much. You're welcome. I've got to read this little thing here. You can check us out on Twitch and YouTube. Just search for Wormhole Pinball. Donovan, our boy Donovan. Do you know Donovan Wade? I'll introduce you to him. He does our social media and does a really good job. And for renting the Wormhole, because you can rent this cool little thing. I saw that the Van Halen. Yeah. We had Mammoth Van Halen, and we had Wolfgang here for his birthday party, and I'm trying to get him back. And they were here when Alter Bridge came. Nice. And I geeked out because I'm a big Alter Bridge fan. And so they walk in, and I reached out to their producer. And they walk in, and I didn't think Miles Kennedy, who's the singer there, he also sings with Slash and Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators, with Slash and the Conspirators. Anyway, I saw Miles, and I went, holy shit, Miles Kennedy. and I went okay I promise I'll be professional from this point out so um anything else I mean did I miss anything did I miss anything uh swap meet oh I love the swap meet swap meet Saturday morning at 8 a.m okay I used to go up and make it there but I don't think I've made it the past couple years it's tough because it's Saturday morning right people are out there they love it you know they're you know there's games console stuff all kinds of stuff out there yeah and you know if you have uh cabinets they also sell there's a bunch of guys that'll sell like an old pac-man or miss pac-man yeah what are those called the boards yeah yeah just boards yeah yeah boards like that and then uh you know sometimes pinballs will show up you just never know you never know what could show up on there uh the cosplay we have the the big uh costume contest at um 4 30 on saturday um that's fun it is super fun we have all these people come and dressed up and they can win a trophy and a prize and stuff like that. Trivia with Blake and Eric. What day is that? That's on Saturday at 4. See, I'm always streaming. See, I've got to get some people to come and take the booth for me. That's what I'm saying. I'm missing all this great stuff, but my wife will go check that stuff out. Yeah, so they go out and they do trivia for Pinball Arcade Console. Cool. And they hand out prizes.
    54:18
    Let's see. Yeah, so music Friday night. It's going to be all electronic style type music. Matt is great at 1030. You need to check him out. He does incredible kind of punk rock electric music on an Atari 2600. Oh, that is really cool. It's amazing the stuff he does, and he's a great guy. And then JG and the Robots is another fantastic thing. I've gotten to see him. and then a oscilloscope. I can't remember the name. They'll check it out at HoustonArcadeExpo.com. Yeah, check it out at HoustonArcadeExpo.com. Check it out. Good stuff. Keith, thanks so much, man, for taking the time. I know it's out of your way, but I really appreciate this. I'm going to post this tomorrow night, and let's get going. Yeah, let's do it. We'll see you. All right, man. It's going to be great. Thank you guys so very much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Take care.