I haven’t been listening to very many pinball podcasts lately. Quite simply, they were making me sad. Sometimes if I’m feeling particularly good about myself and about pinball in general, I would make the decision to dip into one. Either that or someone would urge me to listen to such-and-such podcast for some specific reason. Almost inevitably, I’ll hear one or more dubious statements based on unfounded speculation, rumor, or bad faith. My morale for the general state of “the pinball community” (such as it is) sinks as a result, and I dip out of listening to podcasts once again.

Last weekend I went to INDISC for The Open World Pinball Championship as you may have seen in other posts I’ve made on social media. That means hours of genuine offline downtime, because I’m not paying for overpriced airplane Wi-Fi. I decided to pre-download some podcasts for the journey, because I know I am not disciplined enough to “raw dog” any part of a multiple stop, round trip flight to California. I reinstalled a podcatcher app, and Slam Tilt with Bruce Nightingale and Ron Hallett was the pinball podcast I added back on my list of subscriptions. I am pleased to say this episode of Slam Tilt did not make me sad. 🙂 By the way, have a nice time on that cruise, Bruce.

Slam Tilt: Episode 265 – Rush Job
Topics: Pokémon Revealed, American Pinball Announcement, Stomp

At the end of the episode, Bruce says he’s mad at me because I don’t mention Slam Tilt anymore on my site or socials. I know he’s saying that in a fun way of course. Bruce and Ron are good friends. Besides, my Generation X sarcasm detector is still functioning within normal parameters. However, if someone else tries to throw some passive-aggressive shade in my direction to get me to reference your content, it’s not going to work (it has been tried before). Chances are I’m just not seeing you as part of my assigned algorithm that day, or I’m busy, or touching grass, or perish the thought, I’m playing pinball somewhere.

Speaking of playing pinball instead of just talking about it, if you want some high-level pinball competition in a great venue, then I trust you have registered for the tenth edition of the STOMP Tournament. It’s  happening on May 15-17, 2026 at Bruce’s Rochester Pinball Collective, the site of last year’s IFPA Pinmasters event. I got my butt thoroughly kicked at that Pinmasters tournament, as I expect will happen again this weekend at this year’s edition. Even so, I had great fun at the Collective playing their large variety of games. It gave me some respite after getting those PinGolf eights, nines, and max-out tens while wondering why the tilt bobs hate me. I am not able to attend this tournament because I’ll be at the YEGPIN Pinball and Arcade Expo that same weekend.

Maybe I’ll listen to pinball podcasts again. Or, maybe I’ll finally hit that “Go Live” button myself. I don’t know.