the Pinball Spots Podcast
Intimate interviews with interesting pinball personalities across New Zealand and abroad.
Listen below or subscribe in your favourite podcast player by searching for “Pinball Spots” or use the links below.
On a side note - If you are interested in music I also have a vinyl music related podcast here: SYD’s music channel
Episode 20: Tyler Dipper
Tyler Dipper represented NZ in the 2023 World Pinball Championships in Germany, and after some tough competition finished 17th of 80 . This is the best any kiwi has done in the 10 years we have been participating.
Tyler talks about that experience, and generally his love for pinball.
At age 15, he has learnt a lot about the hobby in the 4 years he has been involved.
Episode 19: David Kilderry
David Kilderry, along with his brother Matthew, was involved with pinball collecting and operating around Melbourne, prior to opening the Lunar drive-in movie complex in Dandenong.
Hear him talk about his love for both pinball and arcade, and movie culture.
David with a classic AMI Continental at the Prince of Wales Hotel, St Kilda.
David’s brother Matthew owned an impressive array of original Space Invaders machines
A promotional photo for “Ghostmuncher / Uniwars” made under licence by Leisure & Allied Industries for the Australian market (circa 1981).
Episode 18: Grant Levey
Grant Levey talks about his pinball hobby and some of the treasures in his collection.
He explains his process around designing the home-build machine he created: Battle Pinny. The first to feature a camera and interactive LED strip lighting?
Below is an image and demonstration of Battle Pinny, and also a short video of the “cone of silence” ball manipulation feature of Grant’s next intended home-brew: Get Smart.
Battle Pinny by Grant Levey, and below - a video demonstration.
The “cone of silence” ball lift for Get Smart pinball. Design in progress.
Episode 17: Gunnar Sylte
Gunnar has been commercially involved with pinball and other coin op amusements in Melbourne since the mid 1970’s. Hear him talk about the industry, working for Coin Play Australia Ltd with a very large operation of sites and amusement centres. Then in 1997, acquiring the company and selling to the home market from his showroom.
Episode 16: John Mason
Formerly from Auckland NZ, John Mason has been living in Melbourne since 1991.
He has been collecting and repairing pinball since then. He operated machines full time through the 1990’s and well into the 2000’s.
With a fondness for older style machines, he has a vision for a project showcasing the evolution of coin op amusements 1900 - 2000.
Below are some images discussed near the end of this talk.
Egyptian style; an operator friend of John’s had a unique way of moving pins in his station wagon.
A Chicago Express machine from 1935, utilised a flash lamp and vertical upkickers long before the modern era.
A 1932 patent by Charles M Gravatt for a flipper type mechanism
Episode 15: Hamish Guthrey
A chat to Hamish Guthrey of Ye Olde Pinball Shoppe
Hamish owns a dedicated pinball arcade space in central Wellington, New Zealand. Ye Olde Pinball Shoppe is intended to be a community pinball space for tournaments, events, as well as casual coin-drop play.
Hamish running the Twitch live-streaming for his online audience during a monthly Poneke Pinballers tournament.
Episode 14: Mike Davidson
Mike is a collector and enthusiast of not only arcade and pinball, but home console gaming as well. His knowledge of coin-op and gaming history is impressive. A regular host of our annual meet-up event: Pincade.
Episode 13: Phil Hannon
Phil has been involved with pinball since the late 1970’s and is the go-to-guy in Auckland for servicing and repairs. His favourite games are Wms Space Mission, Bally Eight Ball DeLuxe and of the modern ones: AC/DC.
Note: There is so much detail in this interview it is slightly longer than usual.
Episode 12: Phil Ward & Roger Newman
Phil & Roger have been friends in the pinball industry for many years. Phil as an operator and distributor for Data East and Gottlieb. Roger, initially producing wall mounted “penny games” and then as an importer and distributor of video arcade machines and Williams pinball (1960’s - !991). He also owned the Fun City arcade in Auckland.
Below is a letter that Roger sent out to operators, praising the virtues of the then new Data East Gun’s n Roses machine. It is endearing for it’s content.
Episode 11: Tony & Anna Cross
Tony & Anna live in West Auckland and have a passion for pinball as well as motor racing.
Episode 10: John Bell
John Bell in his movie study. John was a collector of pinballs in the early 1980s before he ventured into film collecting and enthusiast cinema, which led to him opening the Time Cinema in Wellington’s Lyall Bay.
Right: In March 2016 John sold me The Getaway, for which he had lost the keys some time prior. The was the last machine of his pinball collection.
Episode 9: The Burke boys
Wellingtonian Mike Burke has been involved with pinball most of his life. After a hiatus getting married and having a family, he has returned to pinball with his two sons; Ashley and Josh. Please also watch the video from 1998 below.
This interview was broadcast on Wellington's local TV channel: ONTV in early 1998, and features dedicated pinhead Mikey Burke.
I’ve reprinted Mike Burke’s "Pinball Memories" article in my Blog section for anyone interested.
Episode 8: BJ Wilson
BJ is an avid collector and enthusiast, and program developer for the P3 Pinball Multi-Morphic platform.
Episode 7: Howard & Betty Johnston
Howard has been involved with jukebox, arcade and pinball operating since 1964, and continues to run machines around Auckland and the North Island into 2020.
Episode 6: Adam & Lynda Corner
Hawkes Bay’s pinball-loving couple, Adam and Lynda are both collectors. Lynda is also the IFPA coordinator for the region.
Episode 5: Craig Wallace
A keen player since the early 1990s, and has dominated the leaderboard on any machine at Wellington’s longest running café, Midnight Espresso, since it opened in 1989.
Episode 4: Yee Fong
A keen collector and organiser of New Zealand’s largest annual pinball festival, Pincade, which occurred every March from 2008 to 2020.
Yee passed away in May 2021.
Episode 3: Nick Polson
Nick is a collector and restorer of mostly Williams/Bally 1990s machines, and rounded out with some early and later titles.
Episode 2: Dave Holman
Dave lives on the Kapiti Coast. He worked with TV repair for much of his earlier life and has since became a repairer, collector and operator of arcade and pinball.
Episode 1: Nick Te Paa
Nick lives in Christchurch. During the 70s and 80s boom years he worked security at the two main arcades of the time: Wizards and The Doghouse. Nick is an an avid collector and passionate about arcade culture and history.