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Episode 4 - The Brief History of Wedgehead
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago31 min listen
Highlights
- Wedgehead has been operating for five years and recently celebrated their anniversary
- Chris Rhodes has been operating pinball machines for approximately 20 years before Wedgehead
- Wedgehead opened with approximately $2,000 budget (roughly 25% of typical bar/arcade startup costs)
- The summer of 2018 was spent renovating the space with friends and minimal hired help
- COVID-19 forced Wedgehead to close for approximately eight months
- Wedgehead developed a 'pod strategy' during COVID with walled-off sections, online reservations, and fogging sterilization between guests
- The transition to free play model improved business efficiency and changed customer experience positively
- Wedgehead currently has 23 pinball machines on the floor
- Chris Rhodes practiced game setup at Papa (Pittsburgh pinball venue) and learned to set machines 'super hard but fair'
- During pandemic, Chris Rhodes started renting out games to homes after location operators shut down
Notable quotes
“We're a fucking van.”
“I like to be a cheerleader. I like to be a contrarian. I like to be just a straight up salesman too.”
“man i can't even see the ball it's awesome”
“I believe that the games were right when they came out I don't need an alternative trans light I don't need a topper I don't need any of that crap”
“we're not one of those big corporate arcades that are popping up we it were we feel like if you ever come to wedget it'll feel different”
“I don't think that they had struggled in a while... they didn't know how to... we knew what it was like to have nothing”
“if you pay your price to get in and then it like oh my god i i free to just go try whatever i want... you get to find out a lot”
“setup of a pinball machine is very personal people like different things... what makes us unique as a as a pinball destination... is... the way we set up our games... they're all steep they're all they all play fast we like to use real rubber”
Entities
- Multnomah County· location
- Portland, Oregon· location
- Sandy Triangle· location
- Bump· organization
- Papa· organization
- The No· organization
- Wedgehead Pinball· organization
- Alan· person
- Chris Rhodes· person
