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Episode 72 - Operator Spotlight: Astoria Pinball
PodcastAnalysis updated 3d ago45 min listen
Support the show: https:/ko-fi.com/wedgeheadpodcast We are joined on the show by our friend Todd Robinett, to discuss creating a pinball scene from scratch in a small town near the Oregon Coast. He...
Highlights
- Maritime Bar and Labor Temple Diner have been operating for 11 years; Maritime was already 40 years old when Todd took over.
- When Todd arrived in Astoria, there were only two pinball machines in the entire town, both non-functional (Stern Playboy and Pinball 2000 Episode One).
- Maritime's pinball loft currently has 17 machines, which is a notable collection for a town of 10,000.
- Pinball machines serve primarily as customer acquisition tools rather than direct profit centers; they drive bar and restaurant sales.
- Todd's strategy includes operating rare, low-production-run games to distinguish his location and attract traveling pinball enthusiasts.
- Spooky pinball machines present unique operational challenges but are not as problematic as internet reputation suggests.
- Todd acquired games from neighboring operator Gizmos and is negotiating a trade of his Halloween machine to Galactics operator Marcus.
- Astoria's tourism spikes in summer but pinball also draws visitors year-round, with regular encounters of out-of-state players.
Notable quotes
“Life's about chapters and we should have another chapter.”
“It's not the $40 that's in the cash box. It's that like those $40 people also spent, you know, hundreds of dollars at the bar and will come back every time they're in the area too.”
“By operating a couple of boutique games, I think that kind of puts me on people's radar a little bit... I drive hours out of my way to play, like, rare games like that, personally.”
“a lot of the crap I hear on... Pinside... they say how terrible it is to operate Spooky. I, I had my problems, but it's not as bad as people try to make it out to be.”
“You just can't step into it [pinball operation]. Even if you're a smart person, you've got to know stuff, and it takes a while to get there.”
“I want to be the king pin... for sure... and I'm not gonna, and I'm not gonna, I'm not and I'm not spending your time fighting.”
“It's kind of like the Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse.”
Entities
- Galactics· company
- Gizmos· company
- Labor Temple Diner· company
- Maritime Bar· company
- Alien· game
- Black Knight· game
- Bram Stoker's Dracula· game
- Fishtails· game
- Halloween· game
- Laser Ball· game
- Pinball 2000 Episode One· game
- Stern Playboy· game
- Venom· game
- World Beauties· game
- Astoria, Oregon· organization
- Pinball Magazine· organization
- Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show· organization
- Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
- Alan· person
- Chris Rhodes· person
- Marcus· person
- Rodsey· person
- Roger· person
- Todd Robinette· person
- Waterboy· person
