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JBS Show with Jamie Burchell
JBS Show with Jamie Burchell
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Space City Pinball Co-Founder Phil Grimaldi - Episode 1

PodcastAnalysis updated 5d ago17 min listen
From the creator

Send us Fan Mail An interview with Phil Grimaldi. This is a new series here on YouTube and anywhere you can listen to podcasts. We will be interviewing famous and interesting members of the Pinball...

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Highlights

  • Phil discovered pinball in 2011-2012 at a newly opened arcade across from his apartment while a graduate student at Purdue University
  • Houston had no competitive pinball scene when Phil moved there for a postdoc at Rice, forcing him to travel to Dallas and Austin for tournaments
  • Space City Pinball deliberately maintains a 'no-asshole policy' and actively removes disruptive community members to prevent toxicity
  • Phil has stepped down from actively running Space City Pinball operations, with a board now handling most responsibilities
  • Phil built and publicly displayed a custom rethemed pinball machine called Felina inspired by Wes Anderson's work
  • Phil is currently ranked 118th in the world WPPR rankings but no longer tracks rankings regularly
  • The Wormhole venue in Houston became the 'de facto clubhouse' for Space City Pinball community during and after COVID
  • Phil is stepping down as tournament director after this year's Space City Open but will continue to help in advisory capacity

Notable quotes

“There's just kind of this wonder to it that is hard to recreate. And that's hooked ever since.”
Phil Grimaldi
“We have kind of a no-asshole policy, and we also kind of nip in the bud any kind of bad behaviors that kind of turn.”
Phil Grimaldi
“I don't know if I can go back at the level that i was... during the pandemic i realized how burned out i was”
Phil Grimaldi
“I have a little credit card on there of everybody who helped me out. It is incredible. And it's sort of a who's who of Space City Pinball.”
Jamie Burchill
“I would rather win tournaments than be ranked highly.”
Phil Grimaldi
“as soon as you start applying some sort of judgment to it or judgment to yourself like, I suck, or that was terrible, you've lost it. You've lost the game at that point.”
Phil Grimaldi
“Games started getting more and more complex. Like some of the games that were coming out, especially during the pandemic, like Avengers. I'm like, I don't have time to learn. This is getting out of hand.”
Phil Grimaldi

Entities

  • Cleveland Pinball Open· event
  • Space City Open· event
  • Texas Pinball Festival· event
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon· game
  • Felina· game
  • 1820 Lounge· organization
  • Bar Luca· organization
  • Game Preserve· organization
  • Joysticks· organization
  • Lafayette Pinball League· organization
  • Purdue University· organization
  • Space City Pinball· organization
  • Wormhole Pinball· organization
  • Jamie Burchill· person
  • Mark Gammons· person
  • Matt Quantz· person
  • Phil Grimaldi· person
  • Steven Silver· person
  • Travis Moseman· person
  • Wes Anderson· person

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