All get around, he's on the rebound, hear the sound of our buddy, oh lordy, it's Orby, pinball now to rejoice, he's tugging pinball, craft beer and coffee, mixed with syrup and honey, he wants to laugh with his family in a random tangent, stories of his boys, he's on the poor man's pod network, we're gonna get more listeners, Welcome back, Pinball Nerds, to episode 654 of your fifth favorite pinball podcast. My name's Orbital Albert, and on today's show, I'm so excited. I've got Lauren Michelle, formerly, of course, of the Backbox Pinball Podcast, one of the few pinball podcasts to ever hit 100 episodes and then you know her you love her you've heard her do a commentary for Fox Cities Pinball podcast uh or sorry for Fox City's uh live streaming and of course you've heard her before uh right here on the Poor Men's Pinball Network in the Ray Ray Show and also um the Tribe Multiball. Welcome to the show not only Lauren Michelle, but Rachel Risto. Hello. Hello. Hello, friends. Wow, that was an intro. Wow. Hello. Happy to be here. Hello. And I nailed it first try, right, ladies? Pretty close. Well, let's go one by one. Let's start with Lauren, because a lot of us haven't heard from Lauren in a while. I know it's been about a year and a half or so since we've heard from you with Backbox, but I know you're still very busy in the competitive, you know, especially the women's side of competitive pinball, but all things competitive, I'm sure. Maybe just give the listeners, maybe especially if they're newer here and they don't really know much about Backbox, just the quick cold notes version. We don't need to hear your pinball origin story by any means, but maybe just tell us about what you've been up to since Backbox has been done. And is Backbox, I guess my first question would be, are you on just a hiatus? You're not sure. You might come back. You might come back with a new pinball podcast. Just let all the listeners know. They're curious. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having both myself and Rachel on. I really appreciate it. I went on a hiatus. It started out as a hiatus, but going on a year and a half, I don't know if we can call it a hiatus anymore. I was just going through a lot. I, you know, went through a divorce and just was kind of like working on my mental health. And as much as I love the show, it was just something that I needed to put to the side. But I feel there's still a lot of stories to be told. And I, you know, would love to see other people, you know, really walk into the women's pinball space. But I haven't really seen that yet. So I don't want to say never say never because I have been asked quite a bit about whether or not the show would come back. Of course, that's a decision I would have to make with my current podcasting partner, Rebecca. Shout out. She's amazing. And I don't want to say no, it's not coming back. But you never know. Stay tuned. I would like to see it come back. I don't know what it would look like. But I don't want to say no, the door's not completely shut. But it's kind of propped open right now. But besides the podcast, I have still continued playing competitively, and I currently play with the Bells in San Antonio. Nice. Well, shout out also to Rebecca, of course. How many of the 100 episodes did she do with you? Quite a few of them, right? She did just over half. I did the show for about a year. I think I hit about 50-ish episodes. and I really decided, and both of y'all can attest, doing a podcast is difficult, but when you have somebody do it with you or if you have people on the show, it makes it a little easier because you have somebody to play tennis with. So yeah, I've always enjoyed having a partner on the show. Well, shout out to both of you and thank you so much for doing 100 rad episodes primarily featuring women in pinball. And I think that that was really needed. And it's really cool and interesting that you were able to be that voice in pinball for that amount of time. Because still to this day, a lot of those, you know, you had so many guests that are still relevant in today's pinball. So that's really cool. And if we get to hear a show from you in the future, great. And if not, maybe you just come over onto my show once or twice a year when you have something cool to talk about. Who knows, right? Either way is awesome. All right. Rachel, tell us really quickly. I know a lot of people get to catch up with you more so, of course, from live streaming and other commentary. But just give us an idea of what else you've been up to recently and where people can find you and hear what you've got going on. I don't even know where to start. Well, the podcast, I want to answer the podcast question. I, you know, I haven't been doing any podcasts. I'm not doing anything with Ray Ray Show. I'm pretty sure that's over, which is OK. I'm always open to that door down the road, but that's OK, too. and also with Tribe Multiball Tim's just not into it if you're a Tribe member you can just get on to him about that but he's just not into it and I love Tim he's busy with other things and Raymond's also busy with other things and that's okay but I feel I'm in a place where I'd like to maybe do a podcast on my own I've been thinking about it and rolling it around so we'll see if something happens in 2026 the Tribe has already given me my podcast name do you want me to reveal it or should we wait oh i want to hear it rachel reach against the machine reach against the machine i love it yeah so nothing trademarked that yet yeah um so yeah i don't know what have i been doing on running ladies flip wisconsin doing that playing at district 82 did far less traveling this year uh just focused on running women's boot camps with ladies flip i also i can i have to be proud of this i am proud of it and talk about it but I also did an episode for Wisconsin Life on PBS Wisconsin little featurette about that's right myself and women's and women's pinball and it is so cool it was I think I blacked out for that whole experience but what a cool opportunity to talk about women's pinball and that's also what we're here to talk about today um you can catch me of course on Foxy's pinball stream I'm on commentary um if I'm not doing commentary I'm often in the stream as a uh that's about it i think with my pinball stuff i run um the open at midwest gaming classic i don't know you know me or be i just get involved and do stuff you know um yeah i'm all about um i think that's everything well i really miss the ray ray show because the neat part was i'm rachel even your even years ago when you were doing that podcast your understanding of like game theory and and rules and all that kind of stuff is leaps and bounds ahead of me but when you were on there with uh Raymond Davidson you would ask him to break it down for you so that you could understand a brand new game and when I heard him explain it to you it helped me understand it so I miss that show I miss Backbox but I would I will say this I've gone on not one but two hiatuses and both times I chose to come back for different reasons and if either you guys choose to come back, great. And if you don't, that's cool too, because you've both given so much to pinball for so little in return as podcasters that I just appreciate it. And honestly, I'm stoked to have you both here on the show. Now let's just jump right into it. Cause you know, we got stuff to talk about you both. Uh, you know, you both, from what I understand are working on a show and I think Lauren, you're maybe even more involved in it, but go ahead and tell us a little bit about that. And from what I understand, you're here to talk about it and to get players but also possibly possibly you know get some sponsorships from it and some help on that level as well so tell us all about this upcoming show we have sure again thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about it what i am involved in it it came to fruition over the last few years this is the third annual southwestern bell pinball rodeo it is a women's weekend event going on in late january it's january 31st february through february 2nd It's in San Antonio, Texas, and it is strictly a women's pinball event. And historically, women's events, they usually are part of larger open tournament weekends, but it's usually like the last tournament. They're put in the side room. It's always like on a Sunday. So it's challenging to get those points in the women's bracket just because if you're going to an event, you're only playing one, one women's event as opposed to like several other open tournaments. And this was a, this was an opportunity. Um, and I have to give a shout out to the tournament director, Christina Cheeseman. This was, this was her vision. This was her, um, blood, sweat, and tears. We all help, but, um, she really has, you know, put this together and, and each year challenged herself to make it bigger and better. Um, like I said, this is going to be our third go-around and each year we've had more and more women come um we have had the most points awarded through a women's weekend um ever uh collectively there are other women's events but collectively we have five tournaments over three days and how many players um right now um we're we're about to hit 100 players okay that's incredible i've never played and i'm not trying to interrupt, Lauren, but I just want to add that, like, as another woman that plays pinball and plays women's tournaments, congratulations to you and to Christina, to the whole team, because that's incredible to have over 100 women, or at least 100 women in one tournament in a tournament weekend. That is absolutely bonkers, and also to bring that amount of points and that amount of whoppers into the state of Texas and into women's pinball is incredible, so congratulations. I'm so excited. That's just, I have to say that. I have to call you out and say that because it's really an incredible feat. Go on. Sorry, lest I digress. No, no. Thank you so much. And it does take a lot of work. If you've ever put on a tournament, imagine like five over one weekend. We do it in a hotel. We've done it at our city's convention center. And it's just, there's a lot of moving pieces. But the biggest thing is being able to make women's pinball front and center the thing, like giving women an opportunity to like, this is your weekend. This isn't about the open. This is about the women that love pinball and travel for pinball. And, you know, it's expensive to travel for pinball. And we understand that. So if you're coming down, not only are you coming down to collect some whoppers, but also we want to make it an experience. We want people that you're going to walk away with something. Yes. You're going to walk away with memories, new friends, some fun swag, and just a really good vibe overall. Well, you said one of your goals for this year. Sorry, Arby, I'm just going to take over your whole podcast. You said one of your goals for this year. I know that's fine. You said one of your goals for this year is that every woman walks away with sponsorship right Or excuse me every woman walks away with some type of sway Right So we hoard things that we win collectively all of us And we go out like our hat in hand. And we've just had some donations from in the previous years. We've had like Marco and Spooky and Stern came in big. um and just so you know even if you come in like i'm i'm i'm not an okay player but you know i'm not finishing in the finals but it's an opportunity that like at least you walk home with maybe a trans light or some fun um you know koozies or something you know you'll get something for coming to the tournament anyway we always usually do a little like you know when you check in like previous years we've had a bag um key chain so we want people to walk away with some stickers we love a sticker yeah um but it is just we want to make sure people walk away with something so uh for for us you know our sponsors have have played a huge part and and texas pinball is very competitive and also i know there are a lot of events uh we we are in the same month as uh the other big one of the biggest tournaments in the country which is in disc um so we know that you have a choice on where to go where to spend your money and and we want to uh entice women who play to come and enjoy themselves and have a good time and hopefully walk away with something wow this is okay i do i do have a question though is okay you're saying it's called a pinball rodeo that is that just a cute name for like it's over three or four days and there's multiple different tournaments and if so what are the different styles of tournaments that would be there So, so Texans, it's rodeo season. So in San Antonio, we have one of the largest rodeos in the world. Right. Takes place here in San Antonio. And it is in February. It is, it is always February. So we had thought, first of all, we understand it's hotter than bleak here. And that's a hard sell for most people. The nicest time of year is January, February, if you were going to come to San Antonio. So we thought, hey, let's do it this time of year. We're not conflicting with TPF or any of the other big seasonal events in Texas. It was kind of an opportunity for us to kind of not only fit in a women's weekend, but also kind of tip our hat to San Antonio and the big rodeo mod that we have in February. But there are multiple events. Just to answer your question. They are, we have, we're working on our amazing race. That may change. Oh, no. Don't even get started on it. But we also have a stripes tournament. We have a group match play. We have different types of tournaments that have different types of points because each one of the tournaments have a different vibe. and we have a tournament in the evening that's like a you know rodeo disco for lack of a better yeah one of the names you have these great names for the different tournaments right oh my oh my god the two-step or what is it yeah no and it's so like i mean i have to give out like some like serious shout out to christina she came up with such clever names and um of course we have the hoedown throwdown we have and you know i'm gonna look look it up just to make sure that i don't mess it up but it's great and here's also the part of that i unfortunately couldn't go earlier this year i was sick but i watched a whole bunch on stream along with lauren we had a good time and uh who's in the booth and but it's great because all the gals dress up for the different events and so you'll see a lot of hats and boots and just amazing outfits it's that's part of it a big part of it i love that i just i also wanted to say it's also such a great opportunity for women that are competitive that are looking to seek to like get into a women's world championship this is a place where you can go bank a lot of points if you want to do it yeah i mean that's the thing it's like if you're going to come and spend all this money yeah you know we definitely want you to like you know how you know be able to big opportunity exactly exactly so we have um the magnificent seven which is a best game format we then have the texas two-step which is currently amazing race that may change um then we have our main match play which is the rodeo roundup we have a target match play that's that rodeo disco called the hoedown throwdown and then we do have a strike tournament which is like kind of like our consolation tournament on Sunday and that's our do-si-do um so it's all kind of like fun you know rodeo Texan kind of you know vibe fuzzy fun yeah it's a vibe like I have a I wear all of my bedazzled you know tasseled you know fringy cowgirl gear um all three days Rachel you saw some of this it's amazing it's amazing I feel like I'm going to have a big crafting session in January because I'm going down this year I'm going to play probably a tournament but my goal is to do commentary and stream so that's that's my connection it's all the other people that are doing it or be I'm just along for the ride yeah I am I've got a cowgirl hat already you know I'm starting to plan some stuff out because that's that's a big part of it too is just go and have a fun time um it's really incredible it's really an incredible weekend it's an incredible opportunity for people in the hobby to step up and decide to provide sponsorship and not just necessarily like a translate or something but monetary right right yeah i mean we would thank you thank you for that uh that intro the it's cost money yeah like but you just you don't think about you just everybody's like oh prizes that is a small part of it we have to do things like insurance we have to pay you know, for people to transport the games. We have to pay for the ballroom itself. There are just so many things that we have to lay out money for. And yes, we fundraise, but our sponsors, I mean, if it wasn't for our sponsors, we really wouldn't be able to do this. So not only, you know, swag is great, but sponsorship at any level, we have lots of different tiers and different opportunities for people to sponsor. But, you know, $10 covers, you know, bands for, you know, when things break. You know, it all matters. So, yes, we love monetary cash donations are fantastic. But also we appreciate, you know, swag and whatever you can donate. We definitely appreciate it. Who did the, just out of curiosity, who or I guess more importantly this coming year, who's going to be doing the live streaming for you guys and i'm also curious uh who won some of the tournaments last year so um we had some big names that played last year um i the one that's sticking out stephanie traub who is a fantastic uh competitive player she won the amazing race um alice uh alice young um she won two of the tournaments um so it is like kind of like become a who's who of women's competitive pinball um but we are going to be streaming we me and rachel rachel has so graciously decided to come and sit in the the booth with me and commentate and we are going to be doing that on our platinum sponsor and i haven't even mentioned them yet um i have to give a huge shout out to what's brewing that's where we play um that is kind of like our clubhouse of sorts it's just our tournament is so big and this tournament weekend so big we can't host it at our coffee shop where we play. We had to move it off-site. But they are our Platinum sponsor along with MJM Amusements. And they are just wonderful, bestest boy amusements as well. But we are going to be on the What's Brewing stream, streaming the event. And then you're going to have live coverage all three days between myself and Rachel. Yeah, girl. And a lot of pinball. It's going to be a lot of pinball. I can't wait. I'm really, really looking forward to it. I love doing commentaries, you know, and I love highlighting women, especially anytime I'm in the booth. That's number one thing, especially if I know them, I want to talk about them, where they're at, where they play, especially if they're leaders like you, Lauren, you know, where you're, you know, running tournaments and, you know, doing bell stuff and so forth. I think it's really important to always shine that and make other women shine. So I'm really, really excited for the opportunity to do all of that. And talk about pinball, too. I mean, call it a game, of course. now okay as a marketing guy i gotta ask both of you guys this is a question for both of you whoever would like to go first um and and i guess maybe lauren would know more about it for this specific event but what are some of the things that uh someone who sponsors at any of the levels what what is something that the sponsors would get back obviously they would get really cool fun shout outs uh from both you and rachel like during the actual tournament at the what's brewing uh you know you know right through that live stream but where else would the sponsors maybe get like hyped up would they get like you know maybe a coupon or like something cool in the swag bag you know would they have maybe a banner or something there I guess probably not like at all the levels but maybe a more premium level and maybe just talk to like the different levels or what would be included in that sort of thing no I appreciate that so we have different sponsorship tiers we have starting up to $100 we have our rodeo friends here and we give you a shout out on our programs and also we thank you during our opener we have our iron level which is up to $250 again your logo will be featured on our website and we'll also give you thanks in our program then as you get on to the bronze level which is anywhere from $250 to $500 you're looking at official radio t-shirt and swag we have silver from five to 750 and that's going to be um that that's when you start seeing your logo pop up on twitch um and also you'll get all of the aforementioned uh tiers as well uh we do have a silver uh from 500 to 750 they um again get more prominent viewership on on twitch we have a gold level sponsorship that's going to get hourly shout outs from Rachel and I during the stream. And then we have our platinum level sponsorship, which is over a thousand dollars and you get all of the things I mentioned. And then also your logo is actually featured on our shirt. Oh, wow. We do have a, a, a diamond level. And I said platinum earlier, excuse me, but our diamond level is exclusive to, to what's great and jam and bestest boy. And there are big sponsors, but we do need other sponsors as well. but it's just a really great opportunity for you to just, if you are a fan of women's pinball, it's a great way to give back. And, you know, I know I was mentioning big dollar values, but it's just every dollar counts. So, I mean, if you can do big dollars, hey, we appreciate that. If you want to do something in kind, we also appreciate that. You know, whatever you can donate, we really appreciate that. We looking for you know if you want to sponsor the T I mean you can do that Or if you just want to have your logo on the T you can do that at that tier it talk about the ribbons talk about the ribbons they could sponsor the ribbons they could sponsor the ribbons the sashes or ribbons right beautiful yeah they are absolutely beautiful um we work with a i believe they're in vermont i um a we call them the horsey ribbons but they are think of like the ribbons that you see at like horse shows um they're these beautiful floor at ribbons um we have ribbons we're gonna have belt buckles this year for our winners oh my god yeah girl oh my god straight up straight up belt buckles because that's rodeo rodeo aficionados uh when you win bull riding um you win you get a belt buckle that's your trophy girl yes so we're gonna have some belt buckles this year but the ribbons and the sashes we have um you know over the years we've had rodeo finalist sashes but you could sponsor those like and and even you know all of your the funds that come in they go to things like that because again we want this to be an experience it's we want to have a good time you also do extra sashes right can you do extra sashes last year we had um some superlatives like you know uh best pinballer best dress we gave those away during our hoedown throwdown um our big disco rodeo party and it's just an opportunity to you know for for somebody who maybe not may not final you know in a uh an event they may final in everybody's heart and you know be like you know rodeo sweetheart or rodeo friend you know those sorts of things um again highlighting women playing at all levels not just You know, our top tier folks. Yes. We love books. Oh, man. Oh, I love it. I got tingles. I'm so excited. I'm going to go get me a sash. I can't wait. A butt buckle. And just to bring it home here, for anyone who may have missed this at the start, like, this is the prominent event that has the most cumulative number of whoppers for any women's event over one period of time in the world. So this is like a chance for a sponsor to really show their support for pinball, and more specifically women's pinball. And I hope someone listening to this show right now steps up. Tell them where we sent you. No, but I hope someone steps up. And at the very least, hopefully you get more players coming out from this. But I just think that this is a great opportunity. I don't want to pivot too much, and I want to make sure that we keep this mostly positive, and I'm sure you're both able to answer this question, but I know specifically Rachel might be even better at it, because from time to time, my boy Jack Danger, I've never seen him actually turn off the comments that I can remember in like eight years of covering pinball, but recently he mentioned something about women's pinball, and it set off a certain type of people in the comments, unfortunately. Let's just once and for all, in case there's still, you know what I all my listeners are are pretty progressive pretty rad dudes for the most part and dudettes don't want to forget about them but what I'm saying is like why is it what's what's so important about and I can attest my wife uh for instance a hundred percent of the all women's tournaments that were held in London Ontario she chose to go to and a very small percentage of the ones where there was like only it would have been her and maybe one other woman did she did she actually want to go to she just is a little bit more comfortable having multiple other women in her group that she's playing with for one reason or another. And it's just, it's fun. It's a camaraderie and why not? But I guess maybe if I was going to play devil's advocate, let's pretend I'm one of those negative Nancy's or Debbie downers in the chat and just let me know kindly why it's so important. And I, or Albert, orbital Albert, for the record, I understand why it's important, but I'm just curious for all the, the naysayers out there. If you can let us know why it's so important that we have women exclusive pinball tournaments and events like this. Man, where do you want to start? I would say, first of all, women's pinball is a whole other vibe. We build community. We support each other. We lift each other. We provide a safe space. We provide a space where women probably can learn games faster than in an open setting. I think it's all of those things. I think women in the hobby have, you know, probably been marginal, have been marginalized to a certain extent. And I think it's all of those things. I think I enjoy, I enjoy running women's stuff where I can turn and I can laugh and I can look at another woman. We have, you know, just this different camaraderie than I do in open events. I play both. What do you think, Lauren? You know, I think 100% what you said. So, you know, I've been in competitive pinball for God going on seven years. I helped founded or founded the San Antonio chapter of Bells and Chimes. I, you know, did a podcast on women's pinball. It is a it is there's I don't want to take anything away from the open and I don't want to necessarily say that open is bad. It is just different. And the women's events truly are accepting and open and kind. And not to say that the open isn't, but it is a very different feeling. And women that this is just, you know, my experience have felt a lot safer, you know, to coming to women's events and felt very, very included. and sometimes sometimes open events can be very um intense and confrontational which i don't think they need to be but it is what it is but women's events everybody's high-fiving everybody is hugging everybody is laughing everybody you know is having a really good time and i just feel in my opinion women feel that it's an easier kind of way to enter the hobby as opposed to maybe going to an open event my first event was an open event um i went to a huge tournament the bat city open which was in austin at the time and it was that was my first event ever so i didn't baby step into it and um you know i i appreciate advocates like you know yourself jack and and people who support women's pinball and you know i there will always be naysayers there will always be detractors there will always be people kind of trying to like you know well why do you need your own event i've heard i have heard so silly um uh and it's it's disappointing because the reason you know we don't want that kind of um you know vitriol like we our events like women's events we're like we're chill and we're having a good time and and we just want to support that and have a space for women to enjoy themselves and, you know, just have fun. And I think it's sad that people are so, like, as soon as we say it's women only, people get mad about that. I'm like, why? Don't be mad. Right. I think, you know, another thing Lauren, too, is I can show up wearing whatever I want to wear to a women's event. Do you know what I mean? And I don't have to feel weird. I don't have to be concerned about what I look like or how I'm representing. And not that I have to worry about that more in open, but yes, I do. You know, like there's things, you know, like there's certain things that just women brings me that. I never really thought about that until recently about how women's pinball really gives me that safety and that space. And the space more to be just me as me, as me, as Rachel, than I feel like can be in open. Because I'm surrounded by other women that I know are going to support me. That's, I think, part of it too, right? yeah i i think i definitely feel like it's a very safe and accepting space and you can just come as you although we we do really want the sparkle and the rhinestones yeah like you know it can be your inner dolly for sure what would dolly do i love that with the hand on the hip right there with you so yeah it's um yeah i think that's all of it and I think that it's okay that the conversation still comes up because there are new people that get into the hobby and there are also people that still don't understand so I think that it's just we're going to have that conversation over and over and over again you know that's just part of it unfortunately yeah it's definitely something that I don't think will ever quite go away but the more of these events that we have the more of these weekends And the more that honestly everyone, you know, that supports these events, they'll become more normalized and, oh, well, nobody will think that it's weird that we're having a women's weekend. You know, it's just, you know, par for the course. And I just hope that, you know, people come out and support, whether by sponsorship or by even attending. We are on a wait list right now, but those things do open up. So, you know, so definitely want to encourage people to check out the wait list. But I just I just know that there's a lot of thoughts and feelings about women's tennis. And I just hope that if you are listening and you don't really understand why, I would encourage you to talk to some of your friends who play in the women's tournament to ask them about it. And unfortunately, I don't want to, you know, this is kind of a positive moment, but, you know, we all have a story. Like, we all have a story where, like, we did not have a positive moment at an event. Yeah. And just people, people just enjoy the vibe of women's events and they feel safer. It sounds like. It's the biggest thing. Yeah, it sounds, thank you both for, honestly, that was a little bit of a tough question. So thank you guys just for both being honest. And I really appreciate that. It sounds like it's just a little bit more comfortable and it has a different vibe. so why not do it once in a while? I still to this day, and I'm sure they're out there, but I think that most women that play in women's tournaments also don't mind playing in open tournaments once in a while. It's just a nice change of pace. It's a nice difference. And I definitely think if you're a newer woman coming into it, it's probably just a little bit more comfortable, a little bit, you know, just that's all. There's nothing, you know, we're not man-bashing here. I mean, I'm sure maybe sometimes you do, but at the same time, it's primarily about just, you know, this is a little bit more comfortable especially if you're newer and if not it's really if not it's also just a way to get really competitive uh against you know other women and see how you rank against them too so there's that aspect of it as well which is really cool so oh don't don't don't get anybody get it wrong just because we're friendly and we hug and we high five we encourage each other we're a bunch of badasses that are also playing our games they're playing their games and they're that are competitive so don't get that wrong so it's not you know it has a soft appeal But at the core of it, you know, I'd say the vast majority of women that play basketball are, like, they're competitive players. And you do have some that come out just for a good time, too, to hang out and be in a club and do things like that as well. But most of them, yeah, they're out there trying to win. Right? Definitely. Yeah, definitely. And it is kind of an entry point for a lot of women who are just new to competitive pinball. If you see them they come in through a women event and then they slowly make their way over to the open And so I feel that it just a way to encourage you know everybody to play pinball And I really hope that it just brings more and more attention to not only the hobby as a whole, but women in particular. That's so cool. Now there's got to be, I'm sure that there's something I have missed here. And if Rachel, if you have a question or something you can add, please feel free to do it for Lauren. I'm just curious. We've talked about the rodeo. we've talked about all the different events. We've talked about the live streaming. Uh, it's going to be at what's brewing. It's in San Antonio. It's coming up. Uh, maybe go over the date one more time, but there's gotta be something in there. Either Rachel, if you can think of something, uh, or Lauren, there's website, website, email address. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's January 30th through February 1st. I had the dates out slightly. I'm like, it's the last weekend in January. It's going to be, um, as actually what's brewing is, our diamond sponsor, but it's actually going to be at the Westin North in San Antonio. So it's kind of San Antonio. And I want to encourage if y'all are coming or thinking about getting on the wait list, everything's in walking distance. You can walk to the grocery store. You can walk and get something to eat. You can stay at the hotel and just be part of the event all weekend long. But we just are so excited, you know, not only for folks to find out about it and then Maybe you can't make it this year, but it's coming back. We're going to keep on doing this, and we're just going to get bigger and better. We just love the fact that people are excited about this. We actually had a watching a viewing party, and we sold out in less than 30 minutes. Wow, that's awesome. Every year, somebody invites a friend. We have contingents that come in from Colorado. We have somebody from Canada, so we've become international this year. Yay! Let's go, Canada! So we want everybody from across the U.S. and the world to come. We would love for international players to come and make this an event. And San Antonio, again, it's not going to be hot. You won't die. But it's a beautiful city to see. If you've never been to San Antonio, it's lovely. The people here are kind. you will have the best Mexican food you've ever had in your life. New Mexico and Colorado, you can come for me. California. But we have the best Mexican food. But it's just a wonderful place. And a huge shout-out to Christina, Destiny, and our amazing team of folks that helped put this together. All of the San Antonio Bells. We have some of the Austin Bells help out. And just make this a phenomenal event. You can go to alamocitypinball.com. That is our website for all things San Antonio pinball, but there's a drop-down menu, and if you click on it, you'll see the Southwestern Bell pinball rodeo page, and you can find out more information. But again, that's alamocitypinball.com. Email address. Contact. Yeah, or social media, any social media, whatever's easier. Yeah, no, social media, if you want to follow us, we are on Instagram and Facebook. you can just go to our bells and chimes. You can search bells and chimes, San Antonio bells and chimes, S A T X, uh, both on, um, Instagram and on Facebook. If you want to check us out, um, if you just want to send us, if you're like, I am sold, I want to give you my money. Yes. Or all of them. Um, B C S A T X pinball at gmail.com. Um, there are links on our website as well to send us emails, but that was a BC for bells and chimes. That's S-A-T-X pinball at gmail.com. But please, if you have any questions or you want to find out more about it, please feel free to reach out to us any which way. You can DM us, email us. You send a note, you know, through the website. We just we love our event. We're so excited about it. And we're, you know, we're excited to, you know, have more folks. Each year it's grown. You know, our first year we were at the convention center. We had around 75, 80 players. You know, last year we bumped to 90. This year we're bumping to 100. And, again, we just want to keep on growing. And we put a lot of work into this. We spend a good chunk of our year planning for this event because there are a lot of moving pieces. And, again, shout out to Christina and the amazing team that helps put that together. And I'm so excited that I'm going to have a co-host this year. Yeah, girl. So, like, me and Rachel, you know, are going to be there. So even if you can't make it, follow us on Twitch. You can watch the whole event. Yeah, I'll be dropping the links for sure. I'm so excited. Absolutely stoked for that week. It'll be such a great time. Thanks, Orby, so much for everything. Really appreciate you having us on. No problem. Before I let you guys go, I'm very curious. You might have mentioned this at the start, and I could have been slightly distracted, but I'm wondering if both of y'all are going to try to play in this thing while also helping TD, while helping do commentary, or is that just asking too much? I'm just curious. Well, so last year I couldn't play because I was in the booth by myself. So this year I, yeah, I was, I was the solo commentator. So I really couldn't leave the booth this year because I have a co-host. Um, we have the opportunity, um, each one of us can play in one of the tournaments. So, so we are going to get an opportunity to play. And yeah, we'll, we'll talk about that. I want to choose wisely about which one I choose to play. Cause that's a big part of it too. the strategy behind that. I want a belt buckle now, you know? You're like belt buckle, challenge accepted. Yeah, no, the belt buckle is pretty cool, so. Well, I'll tell you what, I know I'm not invited, and that's completely okay, but someday I'm going to make it down to San Antonio because in grade 9, while doing my family tree, I found out apparently I'm related to someone not exactly San Antonio, but down there in the south, somewhere around Texas or something, Mr. Jesse James, the outlaw himself. So I don't know if that's true. I think Grandma Bernice was being open and honest because she was like, hey, we don't tell people about this on the James side of the family. And her name was James before. So anyways, the point is I've always wanted to make it down there. I feel like I got a little cowboy in me. I'm half Dutch, half Texan. So I feel like I got to get down there someday. I hear the barbecue is incredible there. I know the Mexican's incredible there. So, like, between the barbecue and then also so many live music venues, many of the places down there are like really, you know, the birthplace of, you know, the amalgamating of country and blues and rock and all this cool, there's just so much cool stuff to do there. Like, you know, I've done Toronto before, yada, yada, yada, but I got to get down to San Antonio. I want to check this place out sometime. Even to all the people that are going down there to play in the tournament, it's not just the tournament, but it's the cool food options. I'm sure there's unique shopping stuff and like you said it's only Canada hot there in January and February because this will be a nice summer vibe for our Canadian friends our temps in the it's usually 60s 50s it just depends but usually it's around 60 as a high you'll love it it's usually sunny for us it's this is a little chilly let me get my wrap but yes if you are traveling to San Antonio. We are only 90 miles or about an hour and a half from Austin. It's definitely something you could do together. There's so much here. The Alamo, the Riverwalk. It's just a really beautiful place to come. It's very family friendly. San Antonio is a very chill place. Texas is a huge place. I don't think people really understand how big Texas is when you tell people, yeah, that takes me about eight to 10 hours to cross the state. That's a thing. So the San Antonio and Austin, definitely doable. It's so much fun. And I really hope that you can put it on your calendar, ladies, if you want to attend. And if you are interested in really helping and sponsoring and furthering women's pinball, we would love to have you as a sponsor. All right, guys. Well, I think we're going to come close to wrapping it up. I want to give you both a chance. If there's something I missed, if there's a question either direction you wanted, feel free to do so. But if not, I'm going to go on and have a nice lunch here or lunch dinner. It's getting close to dinner time here in River Hibberts, Nova Scotia. I've got one dog on my left, Mr. Christopher Franchi, of course. And then to my right, I have Luna, Tuna, Elo, and Agar. So we're going to go enjoy a nice dinner. I guess, is there anything else you guys want to say to the listeners before I let you go? And, yeah, what else? um i first of all albert thank you so much for giving us this platform and an opportunity to come and talk about our event no problem means the world to me thank you so much and again thank you everybody that supports women's pinball and if you can't come to our event that's okay um you can find out a way to support it or maybe even start your own event where you live. Just support women playing pinball. It's fun. We like it. We like having a good time, but most importantly, if you can make it, we would love to see you at the rodeo. Yeehaw. Let's rope up. Let's move out. We're going to have a good time. I love it. Yeehaw. That's it. That's all I got. That's it. All right. Well, listen, ladies, thank you so much. I hope you both have a really nice I know it's a couple hours earlier for both of you guys but I hope you have a very nice Sunday afternoon and I don't know maybe even head over to Twitch see if there's some women over there I know here in Canada the Neon Ranch they're doing it awesome up there for women's pinball in British Columbia but there's lots of other I know there's Hot Nudge and of course Rachel and Kale over there at the Electric Bat so Rachel does commentary quite often she's really cool at it so I do miss you know back in the day when I first got into pinball podcasting there was not only you know Backbox and the Ray Ray Show. There was Mrs. Pin. We had Crystal Gemnick, of course, doing, she had two different podcasts that she did back and forth. So, you know, and nowadays there's not too many. And we do have Erica doing Erica's Pinball Journey, making really cool content there on YouTube, of course. And she does more blog style like me, which is really neat. But I would like to see even more, you know, maybe women-led pinball podcasts come about someday. So if you're out there listening and you're a woman, either A, go find your local bells and chimes, B, start a female-led pinball podcast, or D, that's a lot to ask, that's a lot to ask, but D, you can do it blog style, you just need a cell phone, you don't need to be rich, you don't need to have like a $49 fancy snowball microphone like me, you know, but anyways, it was a pleasure having you both on the show, thank you so much for coming here, and please make sure, what I'm going to do is, I want you to, in our Facebook chat there, Lauren. Put a link for the main spot that you want people to be able to go to, and I'll have that link there as well for anyone listening if they want to go directly there to contact you to hopefully get a sponsorship or maybe just some more players. That would be wonderful, and we will definitely put that out there. All right, and pinball nerds, until next time, say it with me if you know it. Remember to eat, sleep, and breathe women's pinball. Woohoo! Yeah!