Deep Cuts

Telehealth's Things I've Killed, off their upcoming Sub Pop debut, Green World Image, is on the surface a very Millennial-coded track. The premise: the band lists things they've killed — like baseball and mayonnaise — which, according to recent interviews, was inspired by a Reddit thread listing all the things Millennials are responsible for killing. As a fellow Millennial who has always been amused by the generational discourse, it spoke to me. But go a couple of layers deeper, and Things I've Killed is also very Gen-X coded — echoes of early Devo, and lyrics that are a noted play on REM's "End of the World as We Know It."

Their album drops next week, May 15. For the first time in the history of this newsletter, I had the chance to both see the band live (at my local combination pinball parlor/music venue/brewery/record shop, Deep Cuts) AND sample a pre-release copy of their full album before writing this. And let me tell you, reader, I enjoyed both immensely. So if you like danceable post-punk in sort of a modern Devo mold, give Telehealth a listen.

Welcoming another new contributor to the Kineticist team! Benjamin Plotkin makes his debut with the most thorough guide to the Los Angeles pinball scene I've ever read. With an assist from Jeff Dodson and others on photos, Benjamin covers LA pinball past and present, and talks to a number of the people who help the scene thrive.

The new Kineticist has been live for a few weeks, and one of the features we shipped in the rebuild is ad-free browsing for paid TWIP subscribers. Every article, every page, no ads.

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Fellow newcomer Chris Krentz is a true Pokéfessional, having played every variation of the game and maintaining a living Pokédex. We rushed to publish his take on the current state of Pokémon's release code ahead of what we expected to be a substantial code update. Turns out we could have waited: Stern seemingly punted on major updates, releasing a marginal .01 step (0.81 to 0.82) focused on smaller items and polish over anything substantial (cough IC integration cough). We still recommend reading our piece, of course… Chris has some fun ideas and added an update with his thoughts on the new code.

solar_espeon returns for her second piece with a look at the worst video modes of the 90s. Turns out some of her picks were controversial. Maybe next time we'll do a "best video modes" piece — but where's the fun in that?

Michael Swanson puts the spotlight on prolific pinball restorer Matt (mrm_4) in the second edition of his restoration series. I don't know that I've ever heard anyone describe themselves as addicted to being overwhelmed like Matt does here, but it's pretty cool. Kind of interesting, too — for a guy who puts so much effort into publicly documenting his projects, just so others don't have to feel that way in theirs.

Rounding out the past two weeks of Kineticist work: Matt Owen's latest entry in The Score Card series, covering major tournaments from Pintastic to the European Pinball Championship, plus a look at what's on the calendar ahead.

Late last night, Team Pinball published a lengthy Facebook post going public on a long-simmering dispute over a now-defunct Big Bang Bar remake project. In their telling: Team Pinball bought one of Melvin Williams' original BBB prototypes in October 2024 with Pedretti's knowledge, shipped it to Italy to be finished, and watched communication go dark. When they asked for the prototype back, Pedretti's answer shifted from "yes, if you cover the modifications" to "no, it's our property." Team Pinball estimates ~€90,000 in losses, won't pursue legal action, and is out of all future Pedretti-branded projects.

We won't have a more complete Kineticist writeup ready before this newsletter goes out — but we hope to publish one pending discussions with both Team Pinball and Pedretti.

The PAPA 23 World Pinball Championships is set for September 10-13 at The Pinball Capital in Stone Park, Illinois. The event also serves as the 3rd annual Memorial for Suicide Awareness in memory of Lyman F. Sheats, Jr. Proceeds benefit mental health charities. Capacity is capped at 250 players. Tickets go on sale May 15 at noon Central — early buyers in the first week get a free raffle entry. Past memorials have raised nearly $100,000 for charity and given out over $80,000 in prizes.

I've been tracking a few data points on the IFPA and the organization's health. After a few slower-than-normal months (Dec, Jan, Feb), a recovery seems to be unfolding. Looking at my numbers, that recovery started in earnest in March and continued through April, which had the highest number of IFPA events since October 2025. If the trends hold, 2026 will show YoY growth in the number of events held compared to 2025.

Related (maybe in more ways than one), the IFPA keeps adding to its leadership team — three additions this week: Leslie Ruckman, Stephanie Traub, and Claire Lickman.

Saddened to learn of the passing of homebrew creator Robert Kieronski. We profiled Robert and his project, Create Life Pinball, back in 2024, after a showing at the 2023 Pinball Expo. Word is that some local friends are looking into preserving the game.

In venue news: Toronto's Antisocial Pinball, a 65-machine free-play spot that opened in late 2024, is set to close. Last day is June 14 — if you're local, plan accordingly.

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