Episode 418: Erin Winick Anthony
A science communicator, the "Learning to Flip" host, and excited pinball player, Erin has done a lot in a short time in the pinball hobby. She was one of the first to flip the new Barrels of Fun...
Highlights
- Erin has flown on three parabolic microgravity flights with Zero-G and has three more scheduled
- Boeing Starliner astronauts (Sunny Williams and Barry Wilmore) were originally scheduled for days but stayed ~9 months with no danger
- Erin made Texas women's state pinball finals in her first attempt after setting that goal
- Barrels of Fun kept their Dune game secret despite team members being active in Houston pinball community for years
- Erin has been playing pinball for approximately 2-2.5 years
- Erin worked at NASA for approximately 4 years on the International Space Station Program
- Dune uses subtle shaker motor effects, particularly for worm-themed moments in gameplay
Notable quotes
“I've always kind of liked pinball, but then like finding this group here is what really encouraged me to take off and go all in”
“I make space and science people learn about pinball, and I make pinball people learn about space and science”
“That team has really made a mark and it was hard to do so out of the gate for any company, right? There's always a lot of promise and sometimes a little short on delivery. The first game launch was done to perfection.”
“You can really feel that in the machines. That is a key point, too, because whatever company it is, we're seeing a lot of great players...when you have players involved, there's something a little different”
“It feels like a pinball moment that you have to experience...the worm multi-ball and deploy onto the wire form. And it has some very cool stuff like that.”
“The fact that, I don't know, Star Trek kind of predicted that we could be able to print all that sort of stuff that we needed on the go in space is that could actually happen”
“They do about two and a half hours of workout a day to be able to maintain muscle and bone mass...the goal is maybe we get the people to stay up there longer so we can have a better understanding for sending people on longer missions to places like Mars in the future”
Entities
- Barrels of Fun· company
- Zero-G· company
- Dune· game
- Labyrinth· game
- Space City· location
- The Expanse· media
- Houston pinball community· organization
- International Space Station (ISS)· organization
- NASA· organization
- Space for Humanity· organization
- Amanda Nguyen· person
- Bowen Cairns· person
- Dave Ennis· person
- Erin Winnick-Anthony· person
- Jamie Burchill· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Jessica DiNardo· person
- Phil Grimaldi· person
- Sunny Williams· person
- Game Preserve NASA· venue
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