6 episodes tracked since 2025 about →
The Seasoned Vet Keith Elwin
PodcastAnalysis updated 4d ago2 hr 16 min listen
Highlights
- Keith Elwin has never won an IFPA world championship, though he's won numerous PAPA and Pinberg titles
- Keith Elwin was assigned IFPA player #1 because he was ranked #1 when the IFPA originally implemented player numbering
- Keith Elwin is a six-time PAPA World Champion
- Keith Elwin created instructional videos called Pinball 101 and 102 that featured animation work he did himself
- George Gomez specifically noticed Keith Elwin's Archer homebrew and recruited him to Stern
- Keith Elwin grew up playing pinball at a local pizza parlor and 7-Eleven in Carlsbad, California
- Keith Elwin's early operator and technician experience maintaining machines across San Diego and Los Angeles significantly shaped his mechanical understanding and design approach
- Keith Elwin was called 'The One' during his competitive dominance, referencing the Matrix character Neo
Notable quotes
“Keith Elwyn has never won an IFPA, ever. Okay. That's like the one world championship he's never won. but he's won tons of Papa's and Pinberg's.”
“I used AI to build this episode... According to AI, it's 485 pounds... if you're not an expert of your content, it's very dangerous.”
“Rip the spinner, Hallett. Yeah. Yeah. You are the spinner expert. Everybody knows you know how to juice the spinners.”
“He's like the best player. He's the best player in the world... by the end of the tournament, guess who won the tournament and got an Elvis? Keith Elwin.”
“My love for the game really grew in addition to operating and doing tech work around Carlsbad. It was less of a job, less of work, and more of a training ground for what would eventually bubble to the top for Keith.”
“I wasn't planning on working in the industry. It kind of just happened after Archer. It was a passion project, but it actually ended up being more of a proof of concept.”
“We went over to Harry Carey's Steakhouse, and I was bought in.”
“It takes a long time to get up to speed when you're bringing in a new crew... The other thing is a lot of these designers that we all know and love are like 60, 62.”
“There's, like, John Borg's, like, the youngest guy, and he's, like, in his mid-50s, right, at that time?”
“The danger is that he hasn't sort of learned the do's and don'ts... But I think his combinat[ion]”
Entities
- Flippin' Out Pinball· company
- Libsyn Ads· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Pinberg· event
- Archer· game
- Iron Maiden· game
- Carlsbad, California· location
- Harry Carey's Steakhouse· location
- Silverball Chronicles· media
- Slam Tilt· media
- IFPA· organization
- PAPA· organization
- David Dennis· person
- George Gomez· person
- Joe Balser· person
- John Borg· person
- John Trudeau· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Ken Cromwell / Greg· person
- Mike (Homepin)· person
- Pat Lawlor· person
- Randy Elwin· person
- Raymond Davidson· person
- Ron Hallett· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
