Ep 16: The Man of Many Hats, Josh Sharpe
Scott and I had the pleasure of sitting down with creator of IFPA Josh Sharpe. It was awesome to just shoot the breeze with Josh and pick his brain on different topics!
Kineticist’s take
IFPA founder Josh Sharpe on balancing admin roles, growing competitive pinball, and sustaining the ecosystem through community engagement.
Synopsis
Josh Sharpe, IFPA founder and administrator, discusses his multi-faceted roles managing the IFPA (72,000+ members), working at Raw Thrills, and competing in pinball. The conversation covers growing competitive pinball through community engagement, the Stern Army program (200 locations), operator education, and challenges in maintaining location-based pinball. Sharpe emphasizes that pinball's survival depends on attracting new players beyond current aging enthusiasts and leveraging community-driven support for machine maintenance.
Entities
- Betson· company
- Dave & Buster's· company
- Raw Thrills· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Flipper Spiel· event
- Pinball Expo· event
- Pinberg· event
- IFPA· organization
- PAPA· organization
- Stern Army· organization
- Gary Stern· person
- Jeff Rivera· person
- Josh Roop· person
- Josh Sharpe· person
- Scott Larson· person