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The Spinner is Lit Pinball Podcast
The Spinner is Lit Pinball Podcast
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Episode 76_Pinville with Marcus Petersen (1)

PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago1 hr 16 min listen
From the creator

Spencer, Dan and Mark talk to Marcus Peterson about his tournament pinville and the pinball scene in Susanville California.

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Highlights

  • Marcus first played Sorcerer at age 9-10 in a bowling alley at 50 cents per play and found it too expensive to learn on.
  • Marcus played Roadshow in the 90s and decided to buy that machine someday, which he did later.
  • Marcus attended Pinberg in 2012 after losing his job and using severance to travel to tournaments via free flights from his girlfriend who was a flight attendant.
  • Marcus moved to Susanville 10 years ago (roughly 2014-2015) and thought his pinball days were over due to the small town population.
  • Marcus placed a beat-up Earth Shaker in a dive bar on Main Street in Susanville, and it shook the entire building when the machine shook.
  • Brad Grant won the Charland Award in the same year he bought three additional machines after saying he would reduce his collection.
  • Marcus started a high school pinball league during COVID (around 2020-2021) with about a dozen kids, then started an adult league after a parent requested it.
  • Marcus now has 27 pinball machines on location across multiple locations in the county and operates Highway to Gaming Zone with 18 machines.
  • The first Pinville tournament had 24 players (split roughly 50/50 between Susanville and Reno), and the second year had increased attendance with travelers from California.
  • Mark (co-host) started the Reno Pinball League, which grew the Reno community significantly and now includes team-based tournaments organized by Ted McGinty.

Notable quotes

“I timed it. Try less than 30 seconds.”
Marcus Petersen
“I was like, man, this is awesome. You play two player games, you know, it's way more interactive, you know?”
Marcus Petersen
“There's two things you run into two constraints to collecting pinball and it's money and it's space.”
Marcus Petersen
“You just didn't make it as long as what it is in Pinberg. You play 10 rounds and then you play another 10 rounds the next day and then you play for the finals. So you shorten it to five on a Saturday and then four on a Sunday.”
Mark (co-host)
“I don't mean to spoil the surprise. Yeah, that's what all those splatters are. It probably covers up other things, too. Who knows?”
Spencer (host)
“Start in a league, man. If you can find just a few people, start advertising, getting the word out. It's like a bowling league.”
Marcus Petersen
“It's amazing the people it's drawn in. I mean, I've had up to 45 players in a league, in a league night up here.”
Spencer (host)
“Pinball brings us all together and it's really cool to create friendships with with people from all different you know the whole scope, you know?”
Marcus Petersen

Entities

  • Charland Award· event
  • Pinberg· event
  • Pinville· event
  • Earth Shaker· game
  • Monday Night Football· game
  • Roadshow· game
  • Sorcerer· game
  • Lassen Pinball· organization
  • Reno Pinball League· organization
  • The Spinner Is Lit Pinball Podcast· organization
  • Brad Grant· person
  • Dan· person
  • Marcus Petersen· person
  • Mark· person
  • Spencer· person
  • Ted McGinty· person
  • Casper, Wyoming· venue
  • Highway to Gaming Zone· venue
  • Pinball Museum· venue
  • Reno· venue
  • Susanville· venue

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