Episode 301: Anna Neal & Rebecca Hinsdale. Hot Nudge!
The stars of Hot Nudge on Twitch, Anna and Rebecca talk about streaming, competing in general and also in the recent Stern Heads Up Pinball Invitational (including winning it!), playing in the...
Highlights
- Anna Neal won the Stern Heads Up Pinball Invitational (Shoopies) championship on Avengers
- The Stern Invitational featured eight competitors in a challenge-based format with multiple rounds and machine standardization
- All competitors used the same machine, calibrated identically by Jack Danger, with tournament directors monitoring via Zoom
- Competitors had approximately two weeks to prepare before filming the challenges
- Anna's winning final was against Andy with a score of 8.5 million to 8.2 million
- Pin Clash had live streaming components where competitors streamed their qualifying attempts in real-time
- Pin Clash featured tiered difficulty with Tier 4 challenges so difficult that top players worldwide struggled to complete them
- Rebecca competed in Chicago Women's Expo pinball tournament in October 2019 against Jane VerWise
Notable quotes
“What I think is neat... is it's safe to assume that you all played these machines, obviously in advance, obviously separately because of COVID. And it looked like it was even the same machine, too, which really makes it a fair game for everyone.”
“I came out of that challenge after doing all the timed rounds, I was super excited. It had been about a year since I'd competed, and it just felt great to be doing that again.”
“But when you have seven challenges and then you have to do those seven challenges again, and then you have to do them again, you know, it's just kind of my biggest element in this particular competition was to just have fun with it.”
“I don't think it does it justice to kind of compare it to, you know, live tournaments. It's a completely different beast. And also, I think a really great equalizer for players.”
“Pin clash was, I mean, shout out to IE Pinball and Carl. That was the most amazing production I have ever seen. So much behind the scenes went into that.”
“When it's live, you can just kind of feel all these people watching you, you know. It's a weird social thing.”
“Every person who plays pinball gets better by losing. You become a better pinball player by playing players that are better than you.”
“Anybody on any given day can win a pinball match against anyone. Nobody is perfect.”
Entities
- Chicago Women's Expo· event
- Pin Clash· event
- Stern Heads Up Pinball Invitational (Shoopies)· event
- Avengers (pinball machine)· game
- Jurassic Park Escape Nublar· game
- Bells and Chimes· organization
- Deadfoot Studios· organization
- Hot Nudge· organization
- IE Pinball· organization
- Andy· person
- Anna Neal· person
- Carl D'Angelo· person
- Emoto· person
- Escher· person
- Jack Danger· person
- Jane VerWise· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Ray Day· person
- Rebecca Hinsdale· person
More from Pinball Profile
→ All content from Pinball Profile
Episode 439: Emily Reilhan
Talk about a banner year…and it’s only June! Emily has won everything under the sun so far in 2026 as you’ll hear, including the Women’s World Championship, the WNACS, the first ever Women’s...
Episode 438: David Morris of Phantom Amusement
If you’re ever in Manitoba, Canada, check out their growing pinball scene. David talks about the birth of the creating a pinball environment with the Manitoba Pinball League, the MPC, his arcade...
Episode 437: The Pinball Capital’s Francis Wisniewski
Good luck this weekend with the Grand Opening, including a Roger Sharpe appearance, a signed Bank Shot machine giveaway and more! Find out about this huge arcade in Stone Park, Illinois, and hear how...