Yeah, I read about that, and it felt incredibly refreshing to see. I feel that part of the misogyny comes not only from its insular and club-like nature, but from it being associated with older values about gender and possibly even partially as fallout from Gamergate (or at least the vocal anti-feminists in it).
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Episode 7 is up!
Darren Hanlon!
Ed Robertson!
Music!
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Hey guys!
Iāve been really bad about updating TF with our latest episodes because Iāve been out in Europe for the last month. (@eightball thanks for making me feel welcome in the UK pinball scene!)
So weāve had two episodes come out since last posting.
Episode 8 is with Kevin Birrell and Raymond Davidson fresh off their 4th and 2nd place finishes at Pinburg:
And episode 9 was a really fun cross over podcast we did with our friends at Sidekicks Pod. They talk superheros, we talk pinball, together we talk superhero pinball:
Hope you guys are enjoying the show and thanks for your support!
-Kayla
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Episode 11 is live! Itās about my experiences playing in my first international pinball tournament, at the Heighway pinball factory in Wales. I give you an audio tour of the factory, talk to Jasmijn DeJong and @cayle, and give a run down of the Joe Balcer talk at the UK show. Hope you enjoy it!
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Hey, I just wanted to say that I decided to give this podcast a listen as Episode 6 caught my attention a while backāit took me some time as I listen to a lot of podcasts in my car and I only now reached that after a large backlog. (One of these podcasts is also weekly and runs 2 to 4 hours. Not a pinball one though.)
Do you guys have a question-and-answer section? I got a question to ask regarding a topic related to attitudes regarding women in pinball. Or shall I ask it right here?
Hey!
Thanks for checking it out. I totally understand the podcast backlog. I listen to them for 8+ hours a day and still struggle to catch up.
Youāre welcome to ask here, though I donāt think Graham is on this forum, or email us at skillshotpincast@gmail.com where you can reach us both. If you wanted to ask here, Iāll be sure to forward it on to Graham.
-Kayla
Episode 12: Knights in Satanās Service
Our stories about KISS, and a game tutorial from Brian Chesbrough. Plus Alyson Rae gives us the details of the historical preservation of the Wayne Apartments next to Shortyās, Belltown activism, and why she dove head first into politics to save a linchpin in the Seattle pinball scene.
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Lucky number 13 is live!
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Great episode - I enjoyed it!
Saw Evan the next day at Shortyās and told him that there was a switch malfunctioning on one of the games. 
(Then I told him I was just kidding, he sounded good on the podcast, and thanked him for his outstanding games maintenance!)
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Oh rad! Evan told me about that on Sunday. Iām glad youāre ribbing him a little. But yeah, the guy does a ton of work in Seattle and gets all of the grief.
Thanks for the feedback and for listening!
Episode 14 with Todd MacCulloch is out. Learn about how the pros deal with high pressure situations, from the NBA court to pinball tournaments. This episode is a great insight for how to keep that PMA in high stress competitions.
For those of you interested in the free shooter rod, it has been claimed!
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I listened to it yesterday. Great interview!
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Thank you! Glad you liked it. That was one of my favorite ones for sure.
Great show!
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All right, Iām playing catch-up with this one now, and listening to episodeā¦13, I think (I forget the numbers), it actually struck me as pretty interesting. Well, more that it stirred up feelings of jealousy that Seattle pinball operators tend to be so passionate and dedicated to keeping their machines in tip-top shape.
I live in one of those āother townsā (I guess that means Iām part of the non-Seattle minority of listenersāI live in Los Angeles) where, frankly, the operators donāt care. Iāve mentioned this in some other topics, but machines tend to be in various states of disrepair, and operators are impossible to contact. So I did a Post-It Note system where Iād stick a note saying whatās wrong with the machine as concisely as possible (such as ādrain sensor is faultyā or āleft orbit switch is brokenā), and all that resulted was the Post-It Notes disappearing without the machines being fixed or, in the worst case, the machine is removed from the location entirely without a replacement. They donāt play pinball, they most likely donāt like pinball, and these machines are obviously just there as effort-free money on the side. (There are some exceptions, where some operators take these issues very seriously, but most do not.)
Iāve been given suggestions to host events because theyāll encourage operators to keep them in good shape, but I have so far been unable to do so because I canāt get ahold of them. In the few times that I have, I have been brushed aside as a nuisance.
In any case, that leads me to a question: Did Seattle operators becoming more dedicated to keeping their machines in good working condition create a vibrant and large pinball community, or was it the other way around?
Hey, cool, Iāve seen the Skill Shot zine around town! Excited to give this a listen. BTW, what happened with Stern on Facebook?
With one exception, operators havenāt become more responsive since the pinball scene in Seattle took off. What happened is that pinball collectors started operating games (see Full Tilt, Olafās, etc) and those machines are the ones that are in good shape. The big operatorsā machines are still generally in disrepair and they will probably never change their ways because they simply donāt need to in order to make money.
I hate to be so negative but in general I think the only thing that results in machines being in good shape is the owner of the machine actually caring themselves for how well it plays. One of the most popular (and probably highest earning) location in Seattle has some totally beat to shit games that might not work right for weeks to months at a time (or in some cases basically ever), and that will likely not change becauseā¦well, why would it? People donāt seem to care. On the other hand, Iāve joked with some operators that have great games that they could take a month long vacation and apart from the hardcore players, no one would even notice; the coin boxes would probably be just as full. For the operators that donāt really care about pinballā¦well for starters, we donāt have any of those anymore as they long since stopped operating pins in favor of pretty much anything else.
I donāt really know what you can do unless you know collectors in your area and you can convince them to hold more events or maybe try their hand at putting their games on location. Itās not something to take on lightly, though; it takes a ton of work and even 6 or 7 games in a bar can be practically a full time job if they get played enough.
Actually here in SF weāve harassed a local operator and now the machines at their location that I go to the most are in relatively good shape. It took time, a threat to stop going with the operator etc but finally it has worked. Some of the guys still give us crap for whining about code updates so much and a single light being out etc. but it has got better. so there is hope! just may have to be really annoying but if they see that what you are complaining about = more money, itās worked here and this one location has their best pins 
Oh and sorry for being off topic. Did wanna say loved the Todd Macculloch interview - didnāt realize he hosted IFPA at his HOUSE!
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Full write up here 
http://www.pinballnews.com/shows/ifpa2012/index.html
First year we were able to bring back the Space Jet thanks to Steinman stumbling upon some ruins at PAPA.
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I shared an unpopular opinion with the release of Whoa Nellie! Stern shared an article (with the caption āGIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLSā) written by a trans woman about the inclusiveness of women in pinball, in concert with promoting their big juicy melons. So I commented something to the effect of sharing that piece, while also pushing a highly sexist game, was a slap in the face to women. My comment was deleted and I was banned. Since then theyāve turned around their social media management and I reached out to them about it and was reinstated.
@SunsetShimmer, Iāll be in LA in April. What are the spots to avoid and how beat down are the machines? Are they playable? The answer to your question about Seattle ops is hard to answer since everyone has their own opinions about the condition of the pins. Iād counter @KCB about the conditions of the Add-a-Ball machines by saying theyāre all in fine working condition and that I rarely, if ever have issues with them. But then again, Iām not a top 25 player and might be looking at the pins differently. I think plenty of the Seattle ops care about how the games play, but not all of them do this full time. The majority of them have full time jobs and then moonlight as pinball doctors. That does make it a little harder to have the most pristine games that play like new.
Try to get the locations to keep a log book of the issues on the machines since your post-its are disappearing.
Also:
Hey friends!
Check out our newest episode to find out why you should swipe right on John Johnās Game Room owner, Jeff Rogers, and what a Tinder pinball machine would look like. We also talk juggalos, running a barcade, and the Seattle community at large. We had a real great time with this one, and you should too. Thanks for listening!
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