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Episode 374: Olli-Mikko Ojamies

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago18 min listen
From the creator

Hei! It's the pinball legend in Finland...and around the world. He's represented the Suomi 10x in the IFPA World Championships. This is an interview recorded at IFPA 18 in Germany, where we...

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Highlights

  • Olli-Mikko has attended 10 IFPA World Championships and approximately 13-14 Papa World Championships
  • Finland has a growing young player base led by Markus Virtanen (number one player in Finland), including Lucas Martin and Marco Suvanto (age 11, who finished top 16 at EPC)
  • Markus Virtanen uses an unusual playing stance with his right leg underneath the pinball machine, hugged up against the coin box
  • Flights from Finland to major European tournament venues cost approximately 200 euros if booked early
  • Börås Open in Sweden runs two parallel tournaments annually: one on newer machines, one on classics: that can be swapped
  • IFPA 18 uses match play format and is exceptionally well-organized with reasonable scheduling, lunch breaks, dinner breaks, and sufficient sleep time
  • Ojamies maintains detailed statistical databases of IFPA World Championship results in Google Sheets, tracking game scores, win-losses, and match details
  • Pin golf format requires TDs to target an average of at least three strokes per hole to award full TGP
  • Ojamies resigned as Finnish IFPA county director because he opposed requiring Euro fee collection
  • European tournament culture differs from North America because prize money is not built from entry fees and typically comes from sponsorships and organizer investment

Notable quotes

“I think this is the best tournament in the world. also in sense of organizing.”
Olli-Mikko Ojamies
“If there is a crazier pinball stance in pinball, I have not seen it.”
Olli-Mikko Ojamies
“We don't do it at all. The culture is different in Europe than in the States.”
Olli-Mikko Ojamies
“It's like the German culture of organizing a pinball hall seems to be that all the lines are in perfect form and also like games grouped together. I love all those classic ballet games and seeing like a row of 20 of them in the same row.”
Olli-Mikko Ojamies
“It's such a cruel format to get nice good games inside your ticket that it's like it's not only like like attempt having more and more attempts and trying the single good scores but no you have to like play well in that exact situation”
Olli-Mikko Ojamies
“And that's the thing that kind of drives me nuts sometimes is when people who've never organized a tournament or have never volunteered to scorekeep or anything else, and they're critical, and they don't know what goes into these things.”
Jeff Teolis
“It's been awesome to see how it works in the States since it gives such more value to nationals. And the States and the provincials”
Olli-Mikko Ojamies

Entities

  • Börås Open· event
  • Bulls and Balls· event
  • District 82· event
  • European Pinball Championship (EPC)· event
  • IFPA 18· event
  • Indisc· event
  • UK Open· event
  • Star Trek Stern· game
  • Finland· organization
  • Freddy's Pinball Paradise· organization
  • IFPA· organization
  • Papa· organization
  • Christian Holsten· person
  • Jeff Teolis· person
  • Jürgen Holm· person
  • Lucas Martin· person
  • Marco Suvanto· person
  • Markus Virtanen· person
  • Neil McRae· person
  • Olli-Mikko Ojamies· person

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