Hey, it's Major.

Today's episode is hosted by our very own Micah Keelbaum.

Hang tight, and I'll be back on November 25th.

I'm Micah Keelban, and this is the slowdown.

Thank you. Kielbon. And this is the slowdown. There were two things I had to do when taking up this host seat.

The first thing was to talk about my love of pinball, because the writers in my

life are adamant that I write about it. But honestly, part of why I love pinball is that it's pretty

non-literary. It's a deeply nerdy obsession. It's a game that invites you to perfect your technique,

but always throws in some unpredictability. I play mostly on vintage machines and they're fluid

beasts. The same machine at a different location is different based on its wear, based on how the

operator has set it up, how responsive

the flippers are, how much you can nudge the machine before it tilts, disqualifying your ball.

Pinball is one of the LA communities I found myself in after finishing my undergrad, or maybe,

more specifically, bars are where I often found myself

at the time. But the regularity of hosting tournaments, of having something to do when lonely,

of people that I knew how to find without a text or a call, was something that kept me going.

It helped me feel like I'd actually, finally, grown up.

After the pandemic, I gave living in New York City a shot. It put me through the ringer,

and I had a great time. But as my second winter set in, despite it being the first winter ever where the city wouldn't

see any measurable snowfall, the place started to get to me.

So I went looking for pinball.

It's a national community, so I knew that here too I could find some like-minded people at a

...