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Episode 324: Dan Bitterlich
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago34 min listen
The man who introduced me to competitive pinball. He has done the same for many others too. Growing leagues in Ontario and now on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, my friend Dan has shared his...
Highlights
- Dan was instrumental in introducing Jeff Teolis to competitive pinball through their involvement in the London, Ontario pinball league around 2014
- TCPL (Tri-Cities Pinball League) in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge has been running for over 20 years and uses a unique format where players play six machines twice each with cumulative scoring
- When Dan moved to Victoria, BC in 2018, there were only two rated IFPA players on the island and very minimal pinball infrastructure
- Victoria's first pinball league night in September 2018 attracted 29 players, exceeding Dan's expectations of a dozen
- Within the first year of organizing in Victoria, over 110 different people participated in various leagues Dan established
- Shamanus, a town of 2,000 people on Vancouver Island, may have the highest per-capita concentration of public pinball machines in Canada with approximately 18 machines across two arcades
- Victoria has complex liquor laws that restrict alcohol consumption near pinball machines, making barcade models challenging compared to mainland BC
- The Canadian Flip Out show (formerly Vancouver Flip Out) will have its first event at Powerhouse arcade in Victoria in June 2024
Notable quotes
“Those carpool rides were actually just as much fun for me as the actual playing of the pinball because my eyes opened up when you were telling me about these tournaments, this thing called pinburg. The history of pinball, I learned so much from you, Dan.”
“I don't play in leagues for points. I play for the people. I play for the different machines to get a chance to play some of these things. The points, if they're there, great. If not, I'll still play in leagues.”
“You've got to be able to separate [players in scoring]. So that's when I sort of created that proportional system that we use now, 10 to one. And it's dependent on how many players are out.”
“We had all this posts and stuff out there. And I'm like, maybe we'll get a dozen. You know, maybe we'll get really fortunate and we'll get a dozen because I've got like about six or eight confirmed. We had 29 people out the first night. Wow.”
“If something like a translate always goes to them, it sort of takes away the fun for the other people. So...the winner gets a trophy, every other prize is done at random and I think that made it fun for everybody.”
“God bless the hosts for doing it because you make sure the machines go well, you're providing food and drink. So these people who host events and pinball tournaments, we have to tip our caps to them because we're nothing without them.”
“It doesn't take a lot. It's exactly like what you said, because I think back to Randy, those first three or four nights, they had four people and they didn't know each other...Each one had a couple of machines. So each one would host a night and that's all it takes.”
“There are people listening to Pinball Profile right now that are saying 'Oh, I wish I had a league. Oh, I wish there was something in my neck of the woods.' Well, there might just be. Do what Dan did and put information out there on Pinside.”
“They've gone from eight or ten pinball machines at the beginning. Now they're, I think, over 50. Now they're not all out. There's a few still in storage or that they rotate in and out. But they've been hugely committed.”
Entities
- Forever the Flip· company
- Canadian Flip Out· event
- Indus· event
- Pinburg· event
- Johnny Z's· organization
- London Pinball League· organization
- Peacocks· organization
- Powerhouse Arcade· organization
- Quasars· organization
- Shamanus· organization
- Stern Army· organization
- Substation· organization
- TCPL (Tri-Cities Pinball League)· organization
- Topol League· organization
- Victoria Pinball Community· organization
- Carrie Hill· person
- Dan Bitterlich· person
- Jason· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Neil Hodge· person
- Pinball Dave· person
- Randy Whiteford· person
- Roger Sharp· person
- Pinside· platform
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