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Episode 112: Louisville Arcade Expo (2018) recap

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·34m 11s·analyzed·Mar 8, 2018
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TL;DR

Louisville Arcade Expo 2018 recap featuring tournament players, community growth, and upcoming major events.

Summary

Pinball Profile Episode 112 covers the Louisville Arcade Expo (2018) with interviews from tournament players, organizers, and community members. Jeff Teolis discusses Replay FX's popularity, the growth of pinball tournaments across the Southeast, code updates, and upcoming events like Pinburg and the first NYC Pinball Championships. The episode emphasizes the resurgence and expansion of competitive pinball across multiple regions.

Key Claims

  • Replay FX sold out quickly, with bands being a major draw alongside pinball tournaments

    high confidence · John Rapogel discusses Pinberg/Replay FX's sellout and the multifaceted nature of the event beyond just pinball

  • Pinburg tickets sold out in 45 seconds, preventing entry of many strong players including Keith Elwin

    high confidence · Alberto Luna mentions buying a ticket by pressing refresh at 12 o'clock and notes hearing about the 45-second sellout and notable players being unable to get in

  • Lyman Sheets released an AC/DC Pro code update three years after original game release

    high confidence · Lyman Sheets discusses score imbalance in Hell's Bells song selection and ongoing code refinement work on AC/DC

  • Illinois state pinball championship was highly competitive with Keith Elwin, Joshua Henderson, and Zach Anderson all participating

    high confidence · Lyman Sheets and Jeff Teolis discuss Illinois being a tough state with multiple elite players competing

  • Pinball tournaments and venues are expanding across Tennessee and the Southeast

    high confidence · John Morgan mentions Nashville pinball expo in its third year and Tennessee area expansion; Alex Ward discusses new League play growth in Knoxville

  • The first NYC Pinball Championships organized by Never Beef Productions is coming in May with capped attendance

    high confidence · Paul Karras discusses deliberately capping attendance for the first-time event to manage venue size and queue lines

  • Pinball market now has multiple competing manufacturers including Stern, Jersey Jack, American Pinball, and Spooky

    high confidence · Alex Ward mentions the diversity of manufacturers and that even imperfect games help grow the community

  • New training class for tournament directors and techs was held online with Pittsburgh experts teaching basic electrical and machine safety

    high confidence · A.J. Rapogel describes training classes covering fundamental concepts like amperage and electrical safety, with lessons taught by John, Jake, and Dan

Notable Quotes

  • “I figured out why Pinberg sold out so quickly. The bands. People want to see the bands at replay.”

    John Rapogel @ early in episode — Identifies bands as primary draw for Replay FX sellout, highlighting multifaceted appeal beyond pinball

  • “There's no way you can make it through all those games. You would not get through all the games, even the ones that are just available for pre-play.”

    John Rapogel @ early segment — Emphasizes scale and breadth of Replay FX event offerings

  • “I worry about people playing the game in a tournament where... I mean, a lot of my favorite games are games where there are a lot of different ways to approach them.”

    Lyman Sheets @ middle segment — Reveals design philosophy prioritizing tournament balance and strategic variety over dominant strategies

  • “The hardest thing about making the games probably these days is trying to satisfy everybody.”

    Lyman Sheets @ middle segment — Articulates core tension in modern pinball design between casual, operator, and tournament audiences

  • “I pressed refresh at 12 o'clock. I bought a ticket. I thought, what was the big deal? And then you hear all about all the 45 seconds.”

    Alberto Luna @ middle segment — Documents extreme Pinburg ticket scarcity and the legendary 45-second sellout

  • “It's not only are they still making them but companies are thriving it's not just yes stern it's jersey jack it's american it's spooky and we're seeing so many different companies”

    Alex Ward @ late segment — Highlights healthy competitive manufacturer ecosystem driving industry growth

  • “I don't think people realize how popular pinball has become in the past eight years. It is significantly changing the landscape of what we play now.”

    Alex Ward @ late segment — Emphasizes magnitude of pinball resurgence and its impact on arcade ecosystem

  • “You've got to remember, I'm Canadian, too, so I think Neil Young maybe sang once about Southern Man.”

Entities

Jeff TeolispersonJohn RapogelpersonJohn MorganpersonStephen BowdenpersonLyman SheetspersonKeith ElwinpersonAlberto LunapersonA.J. RapogelpersonAlex WardpersonPaul Karrasperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Venue-based pinball bars expanding with machines as core offering, attracting new player demographics

    medium · Multiple references to pin bars, Token Game Tavern, Wreck Bar, Zanzibar with weekly leagues growing

  • ?

    community_signal: Formal training program established for tournament directors and technicians with online curriculum from Pittsburgh experts

    high · A.J. Rapogel describes 'a whole training class' with different experts teaching basics through advanced topics, available online

  • ?

    community_signal: Pinball resurgence is significantly expanding across Southeast with new venues, leagues, and tournaments

    high · John Morgan: tournaments growing yearly in Kentucky/Tennessee; Alex Ward: new Nashville expo in third year; Token Game Tavern expanding from 4 to 8 machines in Knoxville

  • ?

    community_signal: Pittsburgh established as hub for pinball infrastructure development with expert training and tournament organization

    high · A.J. Rapogel mentions 'Pittsburgh experts' teaching training classes and notes 'a lot of different techs and a lot of different TDs' from Pittsburgh at Louisville event

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Song selection strategy dominance identified as balance issue in AC/DC Pro requiring tournament design intervention

    high · Lyman Sheets: worried about 'everybody always picking one song, the same song, in a tournament' rather than variety

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.103

0:00
It's time for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teolis. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. Live from Louisville, Arcade Expo here in Kentucky. A great show. My goodness. So much going on. cosplay vendors. Houdini is here, a couple of those machines from American Pinball, and of course this great Stern Pro Circuit event with a classics event and a main event as well. We'll be talking to many of the players, the volunteers, the TDs and tell you what it was like in Louisville.
0:49
Every morning at the mine you could see him arrive he stood 6 foot 6 and weighed 245, kind of broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip And everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Big John.
1:02
Big John. Why do I bring this guy on Pinball Profile? He makes me sound like a mouse. John Rapogel joins me. Hi, John, how are you? Jeff, you never sound like a mouse. You have a great voice. You know what? I figured out why Pinberg sold out so quickly. Why? The bands. People want to see the bands at replay. I do, too. Apparently, there's a pinball tournament, but it's all about the bands. Am I right? I mean, look. So, Pinberg sold out, and I feel like there's something really important to say to everybody. There's so much more to replay FX than just the pinball tournament. I mean, we have a million other things to do. I can't even list all the things, especially right now. My mind's blown. We're here at Louisville Arcade Expo, but you're right. There are more things at Pinberg. In fact, I'm bringing my three boys. Only one of them is playing the pinball tournament, but there's also the Intergalactic, and I know there's other things in the works, too, but the bands, the cosplay, the arcade is spectacular. And as a pinball player, I wish I had more time at the arcade. You know, the whole thing is if you don't play in the Pinberg event and you could go and spend your entire weekend, a full pass for the weekend, and you wouldn't get through all the games. You would not get through all the games, even the ones that are just available for pre-play that aren't tied up in the Pinberg event for the early days. There's no way you can make it through all those games. So I see many people like yourself from Pinberg, your wife as well. I see Elizabeth Cromwell and Mark Steinman and Doug Polka and so many of the Papa crew that we know and love. I know I came for the fried chicken, but apparently this Louisville Arcade Expo is a really big deal run by Doug Polka. Wait a second. Where's the chicken? Oh, yeah. I was late coming to this thing. I met the colonel or the ghost of the colonel. You know, we actually went and visited his grave. Are you serious? Yeah. A couple years ago, we went and visited his grave. His grave's down here. You can go visit it. It's a beautiful classic cemetery that has lots of, I don't even know what age, or like Renaissance Santerre or whatever that art is from the 1800s. They have the big statues of people and stuff like that in there. And his grave is often visited in the Louisville area. Were there flowers stuffed in like KFC buckets? I don't remember any KFC buckets. I mean, it was all very respectful, which it should be. Yeah, look who you're talking to. That's what happened. But, yeah, I mean, like, you could see that there was a long trail of people who had walked up to that grave because a lot of people liked the chicken. You know, I think I saw Ronald McDonald take a piss on the grave, and I was going to say something about it. That bastard.

Jeff Teolis @ middle segment — Light commentary illustrating Jeff's Canadian background and cultural context

Louisville Arcade Expo
event
Replay FX / Pinbergevent
Stern Pinballcompany
AC/DC Proproduct
TNAproduct
NYC Pinball Championshipsevent
Southern Friedevent
Josh Sharpperson
Zanzibarorganization
Token Game Tavernorganization
?

event_signal: First NYC Pinball Championships launching in May with deliberately capped attendance to manage venue constraints

high · Paul Karras: 'the room is only so big' and 'We taking it slow and we looking to grow from it'

  • ?

    event_signal: Louisville Arcade Expo 2018 confirmed as major Stern Pro Circuit event with both classics and main tournament

    high · Jeff Teolis describes Louisville as location of 'great Stern Pro Circuit event with a classics event and a main event'

  • $

    market_signal: Pinball ticket demand reaching extreme levels with Pinburg selling out in approximately 45 seconds

    high · Alberto Luna: heard about '45 seconds' and how 'great players' couldn't get in; she succeeded by pressing refresh at noon

  • ?

    product_strategy: AC/DC Pro receiving delayed code update three years post-release addressing song selection balance

    high · Lyman Sheets: 'there's still a little bit more work to do. I know there was a score imbalance in the old version with Hell's Bells'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Community recognizing pinball's recovery from near-death industry status to thriving multi-manufacturer ecosystem

    high · Alex Ward: 'It just used to be dying and dying' but now 'companies are thriving it's not just yes stern it's jersey jack it's american it's spooky'

    • 3:28
    John, have fun. Yeah, you too, Jeff. Have a good time. You want a good meal, but you don't want to fuss. Come to the people you know you can trust. Real goodness from Kentucky, right? Thanks, Colonel. Never been to Kentucky before, so I have to learn from some people right here in this beautiful state. And John Morgan joins us right now from Louisville. How are you doing, John? Oh, just great. Having a great time. Now, tell me things about Kentucky. So I can't believe the ignorance in me. Obviously, I knew this was going to be like golden Colonel Sanders land. I get off the plane right there. The statue of Harlan, I loved it. But I forgot, and I'm a huge boxing fan. I forgot, Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali is from Louisville. That's right. Yeah, he grew up here, and you can still go to his house that he grew up in, and we have the Muhammad Ali Museum in downtown Louisville. And he called this home forever. I'll tell you a quick story before we get back to pinball. I saw Muhammad Ali once, and it was regal. It was like royalty because it was a Mike Tyson fight. So I was at this fight, and it's in Detroit. A bunch of pre-fights are there. And during one of the fights, during the actual fight, they didn't even stop the fight, the announcer comes on, Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali. There's a fight going on. He's just walking to his seat. And it made me cry because he came out and he started, like, doing a little shadow boxing. And we all knew how sick he was. but he pulled it together and came out and gave the crowd a show while a boxing match was on. Right. Muhammad Ali is just a legend. I remember when he was at the Olympics. Oh, the torch? Yes. In Atlanta? I do remember that. It's just amazing. Yeah. One of a kind. For sure. So that's something I've learned about Louisville. And you mentioned, oh, by the way, notice I'm now saying Louisville. When I got here, it was Louisville. It was Louisville. That's right. And I got charred by so many people. In fact, when I crossed the border to get to the plane in Detroit, they said, where are you going? I said, I'm going to Louisville. And the lady goes, you're going to Louisville. It's not Louisville. I thought it was going to be in secondary. Close enough.
    5:45
    But you can tell where people are from the way they say it, right? Yeah, it's pronounced at least six, seven different ways. I think there's even a T-shirt you can buy in Louisville that has the different pronunciations that people use. I didn't know that. But it's all the same to me. Not in New Orleans. Yeah, yeah. If you say New Orleans, New Orleans, New Orleans, you know, NOLA, I mean, there's so many different ways. So this show is great. Tell me about your playing. You've been playing a lot. What are the leagues like here? There is a, yeah, there's a weekly league at Zanzibar. Okay. I saw a shirt. It looked like a batman symbol. Yeah, it's a great place to go play pinball. Yeah. Wreck Bar is another one. Okay. I think they both have weekly tournaments. It's growing every year. Events are growing every year. Tournaments are growing every year. And I was talking to some people in the Tennessee area that are going to be expanding some of the games and arcades there as well too. Yes. There's a pinball expo now in Nashville.
    6:47
    They're going to be going on their third year. Again, it's another show where it just keeps growing and growing. There's more and more people bringing in their games. and I can see these shows going to more and more cities as we see this resurgence in pinball that's happened the last, I don't know, several years. The last thing I want to talk to you about is a game I know you just bought and it's on order. You're getting a TNA. Absolutely. I was able to play it down in Nashville and I've heard nothing but positive things about the game. It's a very unique game. There's no ramps. It's got great lighting, great music. It's just the whole package. The game sells itself, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I'm glad you're supporting that, because it's very unique to see somebody single-handedly make that game. The code, the game, the whiteboard, the sound. Well, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by. You're very welcome.
    7:47
    As the calendar turned to March, this guy has one of the busiest schedules. Stephen Bowden from Fun With Bonus and my goodness every weekend you've got something going on yeah every weekend I definitely have something going on because April is the time where I can't do anything so certain people know why but yeah I've got this this week and what's next week we're going to be in Rochester very important event there right the most important event in the northeast and what is this crap too so I saw you play and crush Star Trek and since you've been there since you and I were there at the Upstate New York Championships they've added Spider-Man for crying out loud. And you're there. Give me a break. Gotta pick that. That's right. So I got Spider-Man, Star Trek and is Twilight Zone up there I not sure That would be my top three if it is We all playing for second at Stomp West but it still open for anybody who wants to join us March 10th And then you get to go to Texas Pinball Festival Right. Texas is out. It was my first trip to Texas, so I'm falling for the hype. I think they said it's Expo South. It's the new Expo. It's the greatest. So I'll see. I hope it's good. And then you get to finally do the Papa Circuit, the last one. So good luck at that in Chicago. Yeah, very good. I'll finally be able to do the Papa Circuit now that it's in March. That's the key that allows me to go to that. It's a pop-up ticket and a heads-up championship to the following day. Check out funwithbonus.com. And one thing I want to ask you is Instagram and Facebook and your website, you do a lot of stuff, and they're all different. I try.
    9:09
    Go get them, bud. Let's play Super Orbit. For those who listen to Pinball Profile, you know the reason why I started this podcast. It was to get to know the players because I was at PAPA in 2016, and I was going to go have lunch. And a buddy said, let's go. And I said, I'll go when that guy's done. and my buddy said, who, that guy? I said, yeah, that's Lyman Sheets. And I felt like an idiot, and look who I'm standing right now. I'm beside him here at Louisville Arcade Expo. Lyman Sheets, Lyman, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks a lot. Congratulations. Let's just talk about ACDC Code Update. I told you I had an ACDC Pro, and the first thing you asked me is, oh, did you do the code update? And again, I'm embarrassed. I haven't done it yet, and only because I play it a lot of places, but I do love it. Well, thanks. there's still a little bit more work to do. I know there was a score imbalance in the old version with Hell's Bells, and hopefully I can get it to a point where it's pretty close, where when people pick the song and hit the start button, and then whatever random song it picks for them, then that would be one that they would be excited to play, instead of always picking one song. Well, I use different songs. It's not like I only pick one or two songs. There are 12 to choose from, and I pick several, depending on how the ball is set up. So I don't know what you're kind of worried about in the sense that... I just worry about people playing the game in a tournament where... I mean, a lot of my favorite games are games where there are a lot of different ways to approach them, where if I have a, you know, I'm going to do this one thing, and somebody else is going to do this other thing, and somebody else is going to do this other thing where there are just a lot of different approaches to the game. And that's where this one needs to end up, instead of everybody always picking one song, the same song, in a tournament. Lyman, what myself and I'm telling you, everybody listening to this podcast loves about what you do is that you're a great player yourself. So you look at it from a player's point of view, and you don't want to see imbalances, and you want to see variety. and it makes it so fantastic. I love that about your coding.
    11:36
    I appreciate that. The hardest thing about making the games probably these days is trying to satisfy everybody. There are some people who play the game and they don't know about game rules and they just want to have fun.
    11:51
    They like a particular song and they play the game because they just want to hear the song and have fun. Other people are tournament players and they want to play for a score and there are all kinds of different models and everything, and it's so hard to make a game for operators and collectors and casual players and everybody and make it appeal to all of those people without there being some problem or some flaw or whatever. Well, it's neat to hear you talk about ACDC because this came out of nowhere. For many owners like myself, I thought the game was complete and fine, and then to get this code drop three years later, what a pleasant surprise. Lyman, I was talking to the Sharp brothers, and Illinois has always been a tough state. My God, it's tougher now that Keith Elwin's there, and there were no representatives from Illinois at the Nationals because Keith won, Joshua Henderson couldn't go. What happened in Illinois at the state championship? Yeah, the state championship this year, Josh has been bugging me for three or four years to host because every single time it's always on him to host it. And then he's like, host it, host it. I'm like, okay, I'll host it. And then for me, I won it a couple years ago. But then having to compete against Zach and Josh Anderson and Keith and everybody else, I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. There's a little more that goes on when you host. I might be up over here.
    13:23
    There's a little more that goes on when you host because you have to make sure all the games work and you have to make sure that people are happy and there's food there and... Lots to do for sure. ...and whatever else, yeah. Lyman, good luck, buddy. Okay, thanks a lot. Another season, another reason for making whoopee.
    13:47
    It's nice coming to a place where you've never been before. That would be the case for me for Blueville, Kentucky. And you see people from all around. A lot of people from New York, a lot of people from the Pittsburgh area. But even from Macon, Georgia, here at a big event, Alberto Luna. Hi, Alberto. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing, sir? Well, you came up to me. You said you liked the podcast. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. And I asked you a little bit about your play. And you said this is kind of one of your first big tournaments. You did Southern Fried, though, didn't you? Yes, I've done Southern Fried down there in Atlanta with Brian Broyles. and it was really good. Yeah, that's a good event in June. It always seems to coincide with a league playoff for me, so I always kind of get snuffed out of that, but I'll make it there one time for sure. So Macon, Georgia, the only thing I know about Macon, Georgia, is the old Macon Whoopie, I think it was a hockey team, I think like in 2001 or something like that. Do you remember that? Yeah, it's a little before my time. I've only been there about two years, so I've heard about the funny name, but yeah, it's there. So you're here at Louisville, and I talked to you also about are you going to go to Pinburg? And you are one of the lucky ones. I thought it was easy. I pressed refresh at 12 o'clock. I bought a ticket. I thought, what was the big deal? And then you hear all about all the 45 seconds and how all the great players and they didn't make it in. And I guess I took one of their spots. How excited are you to play in your first Pinburg event? I'm very excited. That's all you hear about is Pinburg, Pinburg, Pinburg. And I'm glad I'm in there. You know what's neat for a guy like yourself who's pretty new into these pinball tournaments and I was just there four years ago so I was like you too you can play in one of these events and you might see your first draw as Keith Elwin or you know maybe it's Raymond Davidson or you might get some schlubs like Josh Sharp but you know you never know who you get that's really cool I mean just seeing these guys seeing guys like you I mean just your you guys's technique is really good just to watch and learn and you know I really I really enjoy it it's really fun so do you play in leagues in Georgia I do but I have to go usually two hours I go into Auburn or Columbus, so I'm a two-hour minimum from where I'm at to go play with other people. Be careful. Don't mention Auburn too much around here. Some of those Alabama boys are here. Yeah, they don't like them too much, but yeah, they're good. Well, have fun. I'm sure I'll see you at Pinnberg, and best of luck here in Louisville. Thank you, sir. Keep up the great work on the podcast.
    16:07
    Do I dare say to these two guys the Crimson Tide sucks? It's not a chance, not from these Alabama boys. Chris Warren, Timothy Street, how are you guys? Doing great. Doing really good. Second seed right now. I'm happy. All right. All right, that's good stuff. I've been seeing a lot of people that aren't even from Alabama kind of give you the Crimson Tide salute. I didn't realize there were that many fans. Well, you know, it's pretty easy to be an Alabama fan. You don't have to live in Alabama to be an Alabama fan because they're always winning. You don't even have to be happy to say Roll Tide. You can use it for literally anything. You get a house ball and serve in the front, Roll Tide. Roll Tide? Yeah, Roll Tide. You say it whenever. I've dropped from 9th to 18th. Roll Tide. There's no Roll Tide challenge running like the pod challenge. There's nothing like that? Good? No, I haven't heard of that.
    16:54
    Well, you've got to remember, I'm Canadian, too, so I think Neil Young maybe sang once about Southern Man, and then of course it was answered by Lynyrd Skynyrd in Sweet Home Alabama It a superior song really It is a pretty great song But the funny thing about those two guys Ronnie Van Zandt and Neil they big fans of each other Yeah, they're real friends, right? Because they wear shirts to each other. Neil used to wear a Skinner shirt in concert. Anyway, let's talk some pinball. Timothy here. You said you're doing well right now. What are you sitting at? I'm sitting at second right now. I'm like three points behind first. Only a few hours to go. That's great. Yeah. Are you trying to first? What are you doing? Now when you're that high up, do you settle down or what are you doing? I am waiting and hoping to get a bye without having to play anymore. Yeah, I guess that's the thing. Now, what about you, Chris? I was tied for ninth going into this morning, and I've dropped to 17th. So I'm struggling to improve my scores. But you're still in the dance. That's the main thing. Top 24 is what you want. I am still in the dance, and I feel a good score coming on here. Well, best of luck to you and the Tide as well. All right, guys. Timothy, Chris, thanks. And we forgive you for being Canadian. I don't blame you at all.
    17:59
    Thank you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. One of the many people from Pittsburgh helping out at Louisville Arcade Expo. And also, you probably see her too at Pittsburgh Pinball Open, Replay FX, A.J. Rapogle. How are you doing? Good, how are you? It's nice to see you, and you're getting a little playing in too. You're definitely helping out, but I see you're in the queues. I am, going for a World Cup tour. and I'm about to play, it looks like, Super Orbit, and you told me a great story about how you and John got a Super Orbit game. So this was a long time ago. This was before Papa TV, before any of the crazy traveling. So you went to a truffle, and one of the items that they had somebody brought down was two pinball machines. One was a Super Orbit, and one was a Grand Prix. Wow. I think I'm saying the right one. Grand Prix has the dials, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, he offered them some cash. Like I said, I think it was like $200. And they, of course, said no. So he went away and then came back right before they... And stole them. Well, no. It's a church. Oh, sorry. Come on. No, so he waited until they were about to close, and he showed up, and they were still there. So he offered again, and they haggled, but wound up getting them for what he was looking for and brought them home, and neither one really worked at the time. But we got rid of the Grand Prix rather quickly. And the Super World, I found out that I could beat him on reliably. very nice so that's never leaving yeah that was my goal like that one can never leave even though now i have actually found a new game that i have started getting really good at so i said maybe super orbit could be considered for release at this point what game what game do you like starpool love starpool starpool why can't i think of that one we we had it at ppo it's got the uh has a maximum 30 000 bonus that's where most of the points in the game are so it's a terrible tournament game because you can lock somebody out after a couple of balls. Ah, yeah, I remember that now, yeah. But it's a fun game for just feeling like, you know, you can max out the score, and if you get a certain score, you know you pretty much got the highest possible score on that game. Are you looking forward to Pinberg? I am looking forward to Pinberg. So what are you going to be doing there? Playing or helping out? I will be a tournament director in Pinberg. Very nice. Good for you. That's good. I know that in hearing from Bowen and from Doug Polka, you know, there's going to be a few new tournament directors, new techs. They did a whole training class for them in order to get them up to speed. And Brinkley, who's here today, she's one of the people who did the classes, so this is kind of a dry run for her to get her used to the more pressure of people watching you while you're working. I have noticed a lot of different techs and a lot of different TDs here, and everyone's doing a great job, so that class must have been fantastic. Oh yeah, they actually put it online. They had different experts, Pittsburgh experts, come and teach certain classes. So John taught a couple. Jake taught a couple. I'm going to forget people, so I'm not going to try to name everybody who did it. But they had a lot of, like Dan, who's one of the other techs here tonight, he taught a few of them. And they put them online. They started really, really basic, like what is an amp? What is current? How do you not electrocute yourself? Wow. That's good. What you should not touch on the machine to stop everything from prying out. I hope there was a lesson on how to deal with Josh Sharp and his whining. Was there one there? No. No, water bottles were excluded from the classes. Thanks, AJ. Talk to you soon. All right, bye. Talk to you later. You've got a friend in me.
    21:31
    You've got a friend in me. Yes, at tournaments it's about playing and maybe getting those whopper points and all kinds of fun like that and helping your ranking, but really it's getting to meet people from all across the globe. And I've just met somebody for the first time who came up to me. I think I know your voice. His name is Alex Ward. Pleasure to meet you. Hi, buddy. And you're from Atlanta. You moved to Tennessee, though, did you? Yes, I moved from Atlanta. I've been there since the year 2001. And I started playing competitive pinball around 2012 when my son was born. So it was a little distraction with the late times with him.
    22:07
    However, I found out about competitive pinball. and the first tournament I was in, it was right before the original Southern Pride started. Okay. And I got eighth place in that tournament, so I felt like, oh, maybe this is something I can have fun with, you know? So I thought to myself, I'll give it a try, but I've been on and off. I started playing in league tournaments for League Play, and I started playing in Henberg, I think in 2014 or 2015. And are you going this year? Yes. You got in? Yes. My daughter and I go every year together now, so it's a family tradition. You know what, Alex? I'm bringing my son, Carson. I'm bringing all my sons, but Carson's going to play in it, too, so I think it'll be kind of... Excellent. Yeah, that sounds like kind of fun. A good family thing. Colin McAlpine, last year's champ. Yes. He's bringing his kids, so... That's true. Yeah, it's nice. I mean, there are people that are shut out, but, I mean... Right. But that's the draw of... That's how popular it is. Yes. And I don't think people realize how popular pinball has become in the past eight years. It is significantly changing the landscape of what we play now. It just used to be dying and dying and, oh, nobody's going back to the arcades. But I think with the resurgence of pinball, it's helping arcades come back in a different style. Yeah. With the pin bars and the arcade pinball and board games. Yep. Taverns. There's one in Knoxville that just opened up in November called Token Game Tavern. Okay. And they started out with four pinball machines, and now they have eight. And I'm getting ready to help them start their first league in Knoxville. Good for you, Alex. That's great. It feels good because there's a big desire there. We've had two free tournaments once a month the past two months, and we've had great turnouts. It's just really getting the word out there, like you're doing, like we're all doing here. Because I know when I talk to people about pinball, they're like, they still make those things for people that aren't in the know. and you know what it's not only are they still making them but companies are thriving it's not just yes stern it's jersey jack it's american it's spooky and we're seeing so many different companies the more the better that's right absolutely even if the machine is not that great at least they're trying to see what they can do and help grow the community and as we see you know codes can always be changed the games get better too so never count a game out until it's complete correct correct well it's a been a pleasure to meet you thanks for listening to pinball profile Well, that was very kind of you to come up to me, and best of luck here at Louisville. Thank you. I hope to make the classics today. All right. Thank you.
    24:44
    You don't have to tell this guy that pinball is growing and growing and growing. Case in point, what Never Beef Productions are doing in New York City in May. Paul Karras joins us right now. Hi, Paul. How are you? Good. How are you doing, Jeff? Good. And by the way, thanks for the pizza last night.
    25:00
    It wasn't as good as New York, but it's good to... But it was thin crust. It reminded me of New York. Yeah, yeah. Oh, we had some people dipping it in bourbon just to get some taste. I have no idea what you're talking about.
    25:11
    Let's talk about the big event coming up in May. I'm looking forward to that. And by the way, good on you and Levy and the rest of the Never Beef crew for kind of capping it. And the reason I say good on you is because it's a first-time event. You want to be able to manage it. of course we'd like to have everybody come, but the room is only so big. You don't want queue lines to be ridiculous. So it's a happy medium. Hopefully you got the right balance Yeah it was a tough decision But like you said you know the room size was a big factor And you know it our first time so we didn want to take any big chances You have too many people show up and then you get in over your head So we taking it slow and we looking to grow from it. Well, I'm excited because you think of all the great pinball in New York City, the players, the venues like Sunshine and Modern and other places. It's nice to see a big tournament in the Big Apple. Yeah, it's great. I started about two years ago playing, and I have to travel everywhere around the country just to play some competitive pinball in the Papa sense, in the circuit event sense. So it's good to bring a big tournament back to New York City, get all these local players involved, and grow the scene. It's great. A great venue, too, from everything I've seen. I'm going to be spending the entire week in New York, so you've got to go, right? There's so much to do in New York. Yeah, you're right in Times Square, pretty much, right down the block. So you'll have a great time. I've already bought Broadway tickets. I'm going to see School of Rock. Oh, nice. On the Tuesday night, I'm going to go to Comedy Cellar. And coincidentally, the Blue Jays are playing the Mets that week. I might be going to see a baseball game, too. All right, well, I'm a Yankee fan, so good luck with that. Oh, yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to that big event. For those who want to find out about it, again, the website? Yeah, the website's pretty accessible. You can always email, I think, NeverBeatProductions at Gmail is the email that we have. On Facebook as well? You got it on New York City Pinball Championships, I believe, on Facebook. So we should be able to find it pretty easily. When you come to tournaments, you kind of look and maybe make some notes of what you're going to do. Yeah, always taking notes, always taking mental notes. You know, future events, we're talking big stuff. You know, this thing is evolving faster than anybody can really get their hands on. So, you know, you think in big streams, you think in big venues. There's a lot of big venues in New York City. And big egos, too, like Levy. Ah, I'm just kidding, Levy. I love you, man.
    27:28
    Paul told me to say that. No, we've got a good, solid team. Tim has been doing a lot with the website and everything, and we have Austin working with us too. So we're excited about this in the future and pinball in general. It's great. I'm so excited. It is going to be a great event. So I know I'll see you before then, but looking forward to it. Thanks a lot, Jeff. Thanks, Paul. Thanks.
    27:50
    Here comes the turn. Jack of hearts. He made it to Louisville. Keith Johnson right here. Kiefer is here, and it's the end of day two. First round of playoffs are complete. You might have heard him on Papa Pinball on YouTube commentating with Brian and Stephen Bowden. How are you doing, buddy? Doing good. It's my first time at the show. It's a really great show. I encourage everyone to come. I had a great time. I did a speaking engagement on Friday night, and, you know, I think it went well. Good amount of people at the show, and the organizers are great. I don't know. It's a really good show. So you were commentating on that three-way tiebreaker that knocked Greg DeFeo out in the first round, and it was on World Poker Tour. That had to be kind of neat for you to see that. Yeah, you know, the last time I did commentating, it was a bunch of World Poker Tour, too. So it's kind of funny how it's been worked out. Greg got bit by a really unfortunate bug on that game that, unfortunately, I can't do anything about since I don't work there anymore. But, I don't know, maybe someone will get a chance to look at it at some point. But, yeah, he couldn't ever finish his hand there. So he was expecting to light extra ball for a quick 5 million. And instead he got stuck on the river every time he shot the ramp, which is also okay. You know, you get a decent amount of points for that eventually. Not 5 million. No, not 5 million. In the long run, you know, it's some decent points. You know, it's kind of like a beneficial malfunction. But, yeah, it's not the quick 5 million that he was looking for, definitely. Which would have really gotten him close to probably going on to the next round. The scores were 20 million, 19 million, and 15, and Greg's 15. But I want to talk to you, and when you go back to Jersey Jack, congratulate Eric and Jack himself and yourself on Pirates of the Caribbean. That was an interesting demo, too, that Jersey Jack put out, too, the video. That was exciting. Well, it's funny. We play the game, you know, almost every day, often at 3 o'clock, which is when we do the stream, right? So we're like, well, what if we just, you know, show just everyone what we're doing? We're playing the game anyway. Why not go ahead and stream it too? And we'll talk about it a little bit and get the hype up and stuff. And it's been received pretty well so far. We're pretty happy with how it's going. I played a lot of it when I was at, I want to say, Freeplay, Florida. And that was the first time I saw it. Loved the shots. I loved how unique it was. And I'm excited that there's so much more that's going to be coming to it. And it's great talking to you right now here on Pinball Profile because in 60 seconds, you're going to explain the entire game for us. Go now. All right. Shoot all the skull shots. to start chapters, play five chapters, and each movie's multi-ball to get to the bonus mode, play all the bonus modes to get to the wizard mode, and that's pretty much the game. Wow, didn't even need the whole 60s. It's not very deep, Keith. What's going on? I'm kidding you, of course.
    30:37
    It's a great game, and watching that video, that stream you did, gives you a little bit more insight, and we're going to learn a lot more about that game, but congratulations once again. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I'll let you go. You've got to head back, don't you? Yeah, I'm going to get some sleep tonight and six-hour drive home tomorrow. It's too bad you didn't get to play in the tournament. I would have loved to play in the tournament. Do you like the lineup? Yeah, I really love the more eclectic games because I feel like maybe people don't know them as well. My strengths are games that people don't know. So I feel like I would have had a pretty decent shot getting in and stuff. But everything's good. We get the kid home for kindergarten and life goes on. At least I got to commentate a little bit tonight, so that was fun, too. I feel like I'm in kindergarten when I play some of your games. It's amazing.
    31:28
    Thanks, Keith. All right, no problem. Thanks, Jeff. Here at Louisville Arcade Expo, a lot of training is being done for Pinberg as Pinberg expands. New TDs, new volunteers, and new techs, too. And one of them joins me right now, Brinkley Sharp from Pittsburgh. Hi, Brinkley. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm great. And I want to say firsthand, thank you for everything you did. And also, congratulations, because I know in a few of the games I was playing this weekend, you were the tech on hand and did some quick fixes. I don't know if you remember, there was one on eight ball deluxe where the flipper was staying up. That was you who fixed that, and it was great. So how did you find the experience at your first tournament being a tech? Oh, I've loved it. It's a little bit, you know, it's been a long weekend, and I'm kind of tired now. but I'll prepare better with snacks next time. But the teching itself has been pretty smooth. I've been working with Dan Hall, so that's been great. Well, in Pittsburgh, there's so much pinball activity there. So have you been teching a long time? I've been teching since about October. They've been running a class through Papa. Since October, that's it? Yeah, since October. Wow, that's amazing that you've come so far. I mean, you were quick to figure out the problems immediately, and quick solutions are very important in tournaments. Apparently, I'm a natural. Well, that's great. So are you going to try to do some other tournaments before Pinnaberg? I'll do whatever's around through Papa. And you were saying you started in October, and the classes. Tell us about what the classes entail. What is an AMP kind of thing, right? What is an AMP, right. There are ten basic classes about electricity, troubleshooting, what's the difference between eras of pinball machines and the different boards you have inside. and then there's been some more intensives for people who are going to go to tournaments in Tech Pinberg where we've just been doing hands-on work, working on some machines that are broken at the Papa facility and on some more specific problems that the senior techs have created for us just to see. Yeah, creating kind of almost a case study, if you will. Well, that's really good. Brinkley, Sharp, congratulations. You did a great job. I know you're going to be fantastic at Pinberg and ReplayFX and I'm sure I'll be seeing you for years. Yeah, thank you so much. All right, thanks.
    33:46
    Well, that's a wrap here at Louisville Arcade Expo. You can see all the footage of the playoffs on Papa Pinball on YouTube. A great event. If you have been to this tournament, I would highly recommend it. A great show. A well-done tournament by the Papa Crew, now part of the Stern Pro Circuit. That's it for me. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. And please subscribe on either iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play. From Louisville, I'm Jeff Teolas.