Episode 352: So You Wanna Run a Tourney
It takes a LOT of work to run a big scale pinball tournament. Deborah Tahlman was the Tournament Director at the Stern Pro Circuit event at Pinball Expo. She discusses what goes into such a huge undertaking…and it paid off!
Kineticist’s take
TD Debra Tallman discusses organizing 200+ player Chicago Expo tournament with 40+ volunteers and multi-game logistics.
Synopsis
Jeff Teolis interviews Debra Tallman, tournament director of the Chicago Pinball Expo's main Flip Out tournament, about the logistics and challenges of organizing a massive 200+ player double-elimination pinball tournament across multiple divisions. The conversation covers volunteer coordination, venue logistics, sponsorship from manufacturers like Stern, and the broader experience of running elite-level tournaments in the Stern Pro Circuit.
Entities
- American Pinball· company
- Chicago Coin· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Never Drains· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Battle of the Bells· event
- Chicago Pinball Expo· event
- Flip Out Tournament· event
- Pinball Profile· media
- Fox Cities Pinball· organization
- Stern Pro Circuit· organization
- Carl D'Angelo· person
- Dalton Healy· person
- Debra Tallman· person
- Fez Rank· person
- James Brooks· person
- Jared August· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Jim Swain· person
- Kristen Gregory· person
- Rob Burke· person
- Wayne Roos· person
- Zach McCarthy· person