Episode 7 – Playing EM Pinball in Tournaments with John Lee
In this episode, I am joined by John Lee. In this interview, we talk about a wonderful charity called project pinball and his involvement. We also talk about pinball tournaments including John’s experience as a tournament director for standalone tournaments as well as leagues. John is a cohost and tournament director of a tournament that I played in called The Doldrums, an annual event held in upstate New York every February. This interview took place just after The Doldrums tournament this y...
Kineticist’s take
Tournament director John Lee discusses pinball passion, Project Pinball charity work, and EM tournament formats.
Synopsis
John Lee, an American Pinball enthusiast, tournament director, and Project Pinball volunteer, discusses his journey into pinball through homebrewing culture, his involvement with the charity, and tournament organization in upstate New York. The episode covers Project Pinball's mission to place machines in children's hospitals, various tournament formats (strikes, matchplay, pin golf, amazing race), and the appeal of electromechanical pinball machines for both nostalgia and competitive play.
Entities
- Barrels of Fun· company
- Saratoga Pinball and Arcade Show· event
- Texas Pinball Festival· event
- The Last Arcade Pintastic· event
- Attack from Mars (Chicago Gaming remake)· game
- Iron Maiden· game
- Labyrinth· game
- New England Pinball League· organization
- Project Pinball· organization
- Chris· person
- Dan Spolar· person
- Howard Levine· person
- John Lee· person
- Lonnie· person
- Melinda· person
- Zach Fry· person
- Pastime Pinball· venue
- Rochester Pinball Collective· venue
- Saratoga Silver Ball· venue
- Vintage Game Revival Arcade· venue
- WOW Arcade· venue