Episode 305: Elizabeth Dronet
Houston is lucky to have this pinball fanatic. Hear about her pinball family & community, The Belles of Space City, Houston Arcade Expo and her exciting Upkickpinball.com. Happy Mother's Day!
Highlights
- Elizabeth runs the women's leagues and flip frenzies for Space City Pinball League and serves on the board of directors
- Upkick Pinball typically has 5-6 machines in restoration at any given time
- Elizabeth does playfield restorations including hard tops, playfield swaps, and overlays; her husband handles board work
- Elizabeth's family home flooded during Hurricane Harvey, which led to deeper involvement in the pinball community
- Elizabeth has 16 pinball machines at her house
- Match Play tournaments are Elizabeth's favorite format, preferring four-player groups over Flip Frenzies
- Houston Arcade Expo had a big Match Play event requiring players to finish first or second in every game to advance, with a second chance consolation
- Elizabeth teaches high school and her twin daughters (now 15) are named Annabeth and another daughter
Notable quotes
“we told the guy, well, it has to fit a pinball machine in the back, even though we're looking for our daughters”
“The thing about pinball that I love the most, like I said, is the community, the relationships we build. And the people in our league love my children and they love them back.”
“It's very satisfying. It's very fulfilling to make these machines that looked so pathetic look like beautiful, shiny machines.”
“We work together. Usually my husband he figures it out and the girls and I, you know, he recruits them to come help. And I think that Annabeth is going to be taking some computer science AP classes next year. Hopefully she'll be on the road to designing a pinball machine sooner or later.”
“I could be getting a lot more for these because they look gorgeous in my room”
“People are just so generous to us. And it's a joy to do it as well.”
Entities
- Upkick Pinball· company
- Houston Arcade Expo· event
- Pinburgh· event
- Texas Pinball Festival· event
- Flash Gordon· game
- Frontier· game
- Backbox Pinball Podcast· media
- Bells of Space City· organization
- Einstein's Pub· organization
- Game Preserve· organization
- Space City Pinball League· organization
- Annabeth· person
- Brian· person
- Elizabeth Dronet· person
- Greg· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Jim· person
- Keith· person
- Phil Grimaldi· person
- Robert Byers· person
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