Ryan Gratzer from Pinball Map drops by to untangle how the world’s most obsessive pinball location tracker actually works and how your favorite arcades lineup changes the second you visit. This one digs into Ryan's pinball origins, community reporting, app evolution, and the odd psychology of people who will happily move a mountain to report a broken slingshot but won’t like, comment and subscribe. Also there's a lot of dog barking.Special shout out to the entire team that keeps Pinball Map running, Scott and Beth here in spi...
Ryan Gratzer from Pinball Map drops by to untangle how the world’s most obsessive pinball location tracker actually works and how your favorite arcades lineup changes the second you visit. This one digs into Ryan's pinball origins, community reporting, app evolution, and the odd psychology of people who will happily move a mountain to report a broken slingshot but won’t like, comment and subscribe. Also there's a lot of dog barking.
Special shout out to the entire team that keeps Pinball Map running, Scott and Beth here in spirit.
🔻 Pinball Map Links:
🧭 Pinball Map – pinballmap.com
🎧 Pinball Map Podcast – pod.pinballmap.com
🛒 Store – pinballmap.com/store
💖 Donate – pinballmap.com/donate
🕊️ Bluesky – @pinballmap.com
🔺 Praise the Great Pyramid:
📡 Twitch – twitch.tv/dirtypoolpinball
📺 YouTube – youtube.com/@DirtyPoolPinball
📷 Instagram – instagram.com/dirtypoolpinball
📘 Facebook – facebook.com/dirtypoolpinball
🔊 Discord – https://discord.gg/bSbXnA38Q8
Pinball images from www.pinside.com
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:13 - In-person Dirty Pool Pinball intro (with dogs)
00:00:31 - Meeting Ryan Gratzer and the Mapping Around podcast
00:00:48 - What Pinball Map is and how the app and site work
00:02:19 - Home locations, privacy, and “please don’t list your house”
00:03:04 - Which locations have the most pinball machines
00:03:34 - Ryan’s Paragon origin story and pinball at home
00:04:54 - Moving to Portland and discovering a city full of pinball
00:05:42 - Crazy Flipper Fingers and early Portland league days
00:07:15 - Tracking games with custom Google Maps before Pinball Map
00:08:06 - How the on-location pinball landscape has changed over 17 years
00:09:21 - Why modern games are taking over older Williams and Stern titles
00:10:34 - Remote locations, Maldives, Hawaii oddities, and under-mapped regions
00:11:53 - Admins, bad actors, and keeping the map neutral and fair
00:13:33 - From separate regional maps to one unified global Pinball Map
00:14:50 - Tech history: Pearl Mason to Ruby on Rails and why it stuck
00:18:02 - Gratification, community obsession, and why Pinball Map matters
00:19:34 - Costs, donations, and keeping the project non-monetized
00:21:41 - 8,500 edits a month and what that says about activity
00:22:37 - Operator tools, comments, and spotting well-maintained locations
00:23:32 - Filters, “number of machines” search, and operator-focused features
00:24:26 - How many operators are tagged and how comment digests work
00:25:16 - Broken games, first impressions, and shouting out good operators
00:26:40 - Pinball people getting salty and channel-level sarcasm
00:26:53 - Winding down the platform questions and interview main arc
00:27:17 - Future app update: viewing all 12,000+ locations at once
00:28:03 - Mapping Around podcast and what they cover in episodes
00:28:27 - Coin pouches, tiny merch, and where to find the store
00:28:55 - Praising the Great Pyramid with improvised hand pyramids
00:29:25 - Call to action: update your local locations and help the map
00:29:56 - League rivalry, finals nerves, and “top of B is where I belong”
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