Pinball Aficionadorevived with Pinball Passport
Eric J Rodriguez / Pinball Aficionado
A refreshed home for Eric's Pinball Aficionado archive, paired with the Pinball Passport mission: player-first pinball, connected locations, and better experiences across Miami-Dade.
The Aficionado
Pinball Passport's December newsletter introduced Eric as a longtime advisor, a former top-2000 player, and the team's informal Customer Experience Officer. His Pinball Aficionado writing shows the same instinct: machines matter, but the player experience matters more.
Public records also place Eric throughout South Florida competitive pinball: Pinball Asylum events, Free Play Florida, Florida Arcade & Pinball Exposition, and Pinball Passport's first IFPA-sanctioned Duffy's Tavern tournament.
Archive
Jun 24, 2016
Today on Pinball Aficionado , we're going to return to the world of collecting; the people, the games, and the reasons why they go about acquiring them. What drives someone to collect 300 pound machines that cost thousands of dollars and...
Jul 17, 2015
Hey there Aficionados ! What'cha lookin at bub?!? I was recently chatting on Facebook with other collectors about pinball machine ownership, and it dawned onto me that the person in question needs three things to have a collection they...
Mar 12, 2015
Player 1.........Step Up! Pinball Stances, we all have them, but why do we do them? Is it natural? What drives aficionados to stand the way they do at a machine? A typical bank of games in a collection... Is it due to Center of Gravity?...
Mar 04, 2015
"Phew! I never thought that bathroom line was ever going to let up........." Hello pinball aficionados, after a while away, I'm excited to announce that WE ARE BACK!!! WOOHOO!!!!! Keep on the lookout for new posts on everything in the...
Nov 04, 2014
In the world of pinball collecting, often times an aficionado has the option to acquire a game through trading as opposed to a straight sale. This usually consists of either a "Trade with Cash" or the "Straight Trade." Trading with cash...
Oct 25, 2014
Today on Pinball Aficionado , we're going to take our first look at the world of collecting; the people that do it, the games they go after, and the reasons why they do what they do. What drives someone to go and fill their house with...
Oct 17, 2014
Whoa Nellie! The game that is fruitful for some and rotten for others. - Photo courtesy of Whizbang Pinball This week on Pinball Aficionado , we're going to look at a controversy that has developed in recent hours online. It was during...
Oct 09, 2014
The Joker's Realm... In Batman: The Dark Knight Pinball by Stern!!! Hey all you aficionados out there! Just want to give everyone a head's up! Pinball Aficionado is now officially on Facebook !!! Now you can more easily see blog posts,...
Oct 02, 2014
The world famous "Wall of Pins" at Arcade Odyssey (in Miami FL) WOW! You guys really responded!!! Awesome! I'm not sure I've ever had so many comments to a single post before! Last week we asked what makes you pinball aficionados prefer...
Sep 26, 2014
So many games.......so many choices....... Recently I was on Facebook and saw some polls on pinball enthusiast pages that dealt with the usual "What's your favorite game" or "What's the worst pinball game of the 1980's" etc to start...
Sep 18, 2014
Colorful LED's lighting up the ramps in a Black Knight Last week we looked at the " Modding " scene (pinball... not piercings *snicker snicker* ) , specifically the different "physical" ways that pinball aficionados modified their games...
Sep 12, 2014
Hand crafted, customized "Candy Apple" plungers to go on many different games... Continuing on from my last update about the world of Modding . I decided to start by looking into how people trick out their personal games with different...
Sep 05, 2014
Black Knight with color coordinated LEDs Within the pinball universe, there is a phenomenon that's been steadily growing over the years. It's being seen more and more in owners homes and among collections. Sometimes when you come across...
Aug 28, 2014
A Pinball Aficionado at Play While exploring the deep and rich world of pinball, I've seen many things. When you're a pinball aficionado and you love a hobby like this, you naturally immerse yourself and tend to notice stuff. Items like...
Aug 21, 2014
She's an Aficionado, are YOU??? Hey everyone! I've been getting a lot of feedback and questions from watchers and aficionados about my STERN factory tour from last week. Along with the big obvious questions like "When is the Star Trek...
Aug 14, 2014
On August 8th I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Stern Pinball and tour the factory. I was headed to Illinois to see family and had the opportunity to stop for a bit in Chicago and thought "Why Not?". Me at Stern So I messaged the...
Aug 07, 2014
"Just Hanging around Mon!" -- Shrunken Head I was talking to someone the other day who loves pinball (has owned games, and maintains games on location) and yet she told me that she'd never had the chance to play "Ripley's Believe it or...
Jul 31, 2014
*Sweating...* "Man cleaning playfield parts can be tiring!" A dirty part about to be cleaned! Last time on Pinball Aficionado we were looking at a routed Spiderman that my buddy had picked up and decided to shop . We followed a plan of...
Jul 24, 2014
Ugh! I think that stuff is still on my hands........ Well, if you're just joining us Aficionados, in the last entry ( Spiderman Shop Job Part 1 ), my buddy picked up a routed (what an understatement) Stern Spiderman pinball machine and...
Jul 17, 2014
A friend of mine recently picked up a Stern Spiderman from an operating location that was looking to change up their machines. He called me to tell me about the deal and I asked him if the game had seen a lot of use. He replied " Uhh...
Jul 09, 2014
Some of the Shots available in Stern's Star Trek Wow! Well after throwing that question out there ( What Makes a Pinball Shot Feel Good ), I was blown away by the response. Answers poured in from aficionados all over the pinball...
Jul 02, 2014
What makes a pinball shot feel good? The Screamingly Great Left Orbit Spinner on ACDC The game of pinball centers on the physical interaction of the ball, how the player manipulates that ball, and how the ball interacts with the...
Jun 26, 2014
Pinball by Santiago Ciuffo I recently received my copy of "Pinball" by Santiago Ciuffo and was fairly impressed. It's a coffee table style book, with large glossy photos of older EM (Electromechanical) and early SS (Solid State) machines...
Jun 19, 2014
Following up on my last post, ( about buying your first machine ), my buddy also asked me about how old the games are and how you can tell an older game from a newer one. The difference in age comes down to what we pinheads call EM and SS...
Jun 11, 2014
While on Facebook earlier, I was contacted by an old friend who said his family was interested in buying a machine and had no idea where to start or how much it cost. I then proceeded to describe the landscape of how to go about this and...
Jun 06, 2014
The Main tournament at Point Monster event at the Pinball Asylum was a huge deal (if you want to know more check out PART 2 )! It was worth a full 25 IFPA points (as it's considered a yearly event) and was capped at 40 participants, who...
Jun 04, 2014
So, going back to the Point Monster Tournament at the Pinball Aslyum , (for more on the event, check out PART 1 on my blog) there were two tournament events, with one small high score competition for a box of designer chocolate. Outer...
Jun 02, 2014
This past weekend I went to the Pinball Asylum's Point Monster Championship . What an event! It was held at the Pinball Asylum, a private nonprofit located in Ft Myers FL. The place is run by pinball aficionados Dan Spolar and David...
May 29, 2014
Welcome to Pinball Aficionado! The newest and best pinball blog on the planet! This blog is going to focus on the multifaceted world of pinball, and is directed at the pin lover. Whether you are new to the hobby and trying to get your...
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