In 2012, I was introduced to bingo pinball. The games fascinated me. I noticed that most of the online discourse ignored the incredible innovations and intriguing gameplay of these machines as well as electro-mechanical games, more broadly.
The For Amusement Only podcast serves as a game-by-game retrospective for all of Bally and United's bingo pinball machines, technical tips, interviews with collectors, players, restoration experts and designers, and my journey into homebrew game development.
As I continued speaking about the games, I realized I had an awful lot to say. For the first year, I put out a daily episode of the podcast, some interviews spanning multiple hours, and some tech tips lasting about 10 minutes.
My plan for interviews is to research, go in primed with questions, and then allow the guest space to answer or expound upon their experience. I find this works well and can often provide supplemental information or alternate lines of questioning.
As that initial year concluded, I decided to start work on a new, ambitious project, the Multi-Bingo. While working on that project, I continued to podcast on a bi-weekly basis about the status of the project, as well as interesting repairs or news items.
When that project concluded, I started another! And then another! As I had stopped scheduling interviews for the podcast, I brought my daughter on board to continue to put out a fun and informative show.
I've had the great fortune to meet and interview many people with varied backgrounds. I've always enjoyed being able to spread knowledge. Helping to encourage people to see, fix, or play machines, or potentially make their own, has been a source of great joy.
