Episode 399: Penni Epstein and PAPA 21
An OG of pinball shares stories of meeting friends in pinball for over 30 years! Plus, we talk about Lyman Sheats, her "dad" Steve, Texture Tuesdays, and this special Major PAPA 21 event Sept. 5-8 at...
Highlights
- Penni Epstein and Elisa Parks have been playing pinball together for approximately 30 years
- Four Chicks (Elisa Parks, Therese Edwards, Carol Walker, and Penni Epstein) were the first female competitive pinball team
- Penni attended her first PAPA tournament (PAPA 3) at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan while in college
- PAPA 21 will be held September 5-8 at Antarium in Chicago
- A September 2023 suicide awareness event at Interium raised approximately $15,000 for 988
- Lyman Sheets only missed PAPA or Pinburgh once due to code work on a game
- PAPA 21 raffle prizes include a brand new in-box Stern pinball machine, with 100% of raffle proceeds going to 988 Foundation
- Penni Epstein currently works for Double Good Popcorn, a fundraising company supporting children's sports and organizations
Notable quotes
“it's probably been 30 years that we've been playing together... there were certainly not a lot of women playing pinball. And we were definitely part of the original crew”
“we beat them on Frontier... they just kind of walked away. But anyway, it was a lot of fun.”
“I go all over the world to play pinball... I'm very fortunate, very lucky. Trust me, I know that. But I'll go by myself, but I'm not ever by myself because of people I know I'm going to see.”
“he just really was quite happy when he was seeing people playing and enjoying his games. That brought him a lot of joy.”
“he was always wanting to improve every game... Maybe it's this, that... I could do this, could do this... It's done. He's like, okay.”
“You don't throw that word around lightly because that's exactly what he was... genius”
“the goal is to get to the next day, right? And I say that as someone who's had similar experiences with yourself.”
“they will help you. And it's a fantastic organization.”
Entities
- Double Good Popcorn· company
- Chicago Pinball Expo· event
- PAPA 21· event
- Pinball Profile· media
- 988 Foundation· organization
- Four Chicks· organization
- Replay Foundation· organization
- Andy Bagwell· person
- Bowen Kerins· person
- Carol Walker· person
- Elisa Parks· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Josh Sharp· person
- Kevin Martin· person
- Lyman Sheets· person
- Penni Epstein· person
- Rob Burke· person
- Roger Sharp· person
- Steve Epstein· person
- Therese Edwards· person
- Antarium· venue
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