Competitive Discourse

The last few weeks have been a lot. So I’m returning to our list of 2025 finds for a selection that I haven’t had the right moment to feature in this space. Here, I’m highlighting Dancing in the Club (MJ Lenderman Version) by This Is Lorelei, which was released in March of this year.

In past issues, I’ve noted the year of MJ Lenderman. Recently, we’ve featured solo work by the artist, collaborations (Wednesday, Waxahatchee), and affiliated groups (Water from Your Eyes). Dancing in the Club is his cover of a song by This Is Lorelei, which is the solo project of Nate Amos, who is one of the founding members of Water from Your Eyes.

MJ takes Nate’s original track and strips it down to its essence while amplifying its raw emotional core. Now, instead of an experimental pop song hidden beneath layers of production tricks, it’s a tender tale grounded in the messy realities of people and relationships.

In my own moments of stress and overwhelm, I often find music to be a salve. This one has been my pressure release valve this week, as it strikes all the right notes of the moment and helps me get into a headspace where I can process the news and moments of the week to bring them to you in this newsletter format.

I’m going to catch up on a few stories that we would have published in our issue last week, before diving into the meat of the still ongoing IFPA story.

Last Friday, November 14th, Spooky Pinball revealed the much hyped Beetlejuice pinball machine. Most of the game’s official 999-unit run had been pre-sold through Spooky’s distributor network in the run-up to the announcement. Around 70 units were made available for direct purchase through Spooky on release day, and those were claimed within a few minutes. From what I’ve seen, community reactions to the game (including by some who played the game at a midnight release party hosted by Don’s Pinball Podcast) seem largely positive, with some expected backlash from pinball enthusiasts who were unable to secure their own copy of the game.

I haven’t played the game yet, but the marketing felt excessive given the known supply constraints. Much of the pre-release hype seemed intentionally manufactured, and when combined with a large salvo of promotional content, it creates a situation where the awareness and demand for the game far outstrips its supply, which risks angering potential customers. With this game, Spooky probably could have dialed back its marketing efforts by half and still sold out.

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Lost a bit in the shuffle this week, we published another update in our ongoing The Score Card series, where we cover the world of competitive pinball tournaments. In this issue, we recap September’s major competitions, including the Stern Pro Circuit Finals and the Pinball Expo FlipOUT tournament.

Since this story broke the week of November 10th, most of my time has been spent tracking its developments, talking to people involved, and writing a series of stories whenever my understanding of the situation or the broader information landscape changes.

Above, I’ve linked to the first of 4 stories that we’ve published so far, and I expect we’ll publish more in the coming weeks. I recommend starting with that post if you’re not up to speed and reading the others chronologically.

The long-running OBX Fall Flippers Tournament at Flippers Arcade in Grandy, NC, dealt with an incident of hate and discrimination when an employee of the arcade physically and verbally confronted a trans woman when that player tried to use the on-site women’s restroom. The IFPA's response missed the mark and exposed deeper communication and process issues within the organization. Statements released by the IFPA were met with ongoing, and sometimes intense, community backlash, leading to the resignation of the remaining members of the Women’s Advisory Board on November 19th.

I’m intentionally glossing over a lot of nuance and detail in that summary here, but if you want to understand the full scope, read the articles above.

I still don’t think this story is done yet, so I’m continuing to follow it and will publish more as I learn it or as the situation changes. At this stage, the big piece I’m watching for next is how the IFPA decides to move forward, specifically how they learn from this incident and evolve the organization to better incorporate a diversity of voices in decision-making, strengthen processes and procedures that align with the organization’s stated mission, and create a more collaborative and productive communications environment for all team members.

Here are some of the developments I’m tracking outside the main narrative:

I want to start by highlighting the only 2 other pinball content creators I’ve seen who have discussed the OBX incident and ongoing IFPA issues in any meaningful way. If you are a content creator who has covered this, and I’m not mentioning it here, send me a note so I can see it and maybe highlight it in a future issue.

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