Player Spotlight: Cat Fraser
Cat Fraser
Kia ora Cat!
How did you first discover pinball?
Like a lot of people my age, my first introduction to pinball was Space Cadet Pinball on Windows, about 20-odd years ago. I was five, just mashing the keys and trying to get high scores. I can't remember being any good at it, but it got me started. I played a bunch of pinball games on the computer growing up. A couple of years ago, I picked up the entire Worms video game collection in a Steam sale, which included Worms Pinball. I managed to get reasonably good at it, though.
Worms Pinball
So when did you move to physical pinball?
It was about a year ago. I just moved to Wellington, New Zealand, met my now girlfriend. Was looking for things to do. Found a thread on Reddit that listed the pinball shop as a great date spot. So I told my girlfriend, “We should come here.” And we did. We had a great time and got a bit competitive. And then I just started coming on my own. Just thought, “Yeah, I want to keep doing this as a hobby.” I'll bring my girlfriend along now and then when our schedules align.
What was the machine that you remember playing first, or that got your attention?
Fish Tales. I was drawn to the really goofy artwork, and when I started playing, the music hypnotised me. It’s the first pinball machine I remember playing and thinking, “Yeah, I did a good job here”—even though my score was only about 20 million points.
Has YOPS introduced you to people you wouldn't otherwise meet?
Absolutely. It has. So I started playing in the Multiball Maidens and the Pōneke Pinball tournaments, and I've met a few friends there who I wouldn't have otherwise crossed paths with. I wouldn't be at the level I am now if I didn't go to those tournaments, because I learned how to play a lot of the machines through watching people or asking people for tips. I've noticed there's a little bit of a queer and trans community within pinball, which has definitely made me feel a lot more comfortable as well.
Is there a machine that brings out a completely different side of you?
Banzai Run. It's the only machine I'm actually good at. I can just sit there for an hour, maybe two hours, just back-to-back games on that machine, because it scratches that itch. It hypnotises me. I'm so close to my high score, and it's one that I can actually measure my progress on, and it just gives me that dopamine hit every time I play it.
Which machine has the most satisfying sound, and what sounds drive you mad?
The music for Banzai Run, particularly when you have the lock lit, is chef's kiss! It's brilliant. It gets me pumped. The transitions between the upper and lower playfields are seamless. It's great. I'm going to talk about Banzai Run forever!
I despise the callouts on Winchester Mystery House. I know it's meant to be, like, a haunting, ghosty sort of thing. It just drives me up the wall slightly. I don't want to call the voice actor obnoxious, or the voice performance obnoxious, but it is a bit.
What do you think pinball offers people today that makes them want to spend time and money on it when there are so many other ways to entertain themselves?
It's tactile. It's a machine that you can get your hands on. It's something you can touch. It's active as well. Like, you're concentrating. You're using your brain as you play pinball. You're not just staring at a screen, thinking, "..." Every decision you make is calculated. Your brain is trying to calculate as you go. The first time I played pinball, like most people, I sucked at it. But with each game, I could see myself getting better, my scores climbing, and recognising shots and how to play them.
Video games aren't as engaging; I like them, though. But I feel like a lot of online video gaming has quite a toxic environment behind it. I can count on more than one hand the number of times I've been sworn at by some little kid in America because I managed to beat him at a game. Whereas if you play pinball, you start talking to the community. They want to help you get better.
Lastly, if you could change the direction pinball takes over the next ten years, what would you like to see more of and less of?
I'd like to see more machines in the style of late '80s and early '90s pinballs. It's quite rare these days to find a pinball machine that isn't an IP. Like, what's come out recently that isn't an IP? Winchester Mystery House? I just want more classic-style machines.
A bit more originality would be nice. Some of the pinball machines at YOPS have amazing voice acting. There's Michael Dorn and Gerard Way on the Dungeons and Dragons machine. Like bloody Worf from Star Trek and My Chemical Romance man himself!
I like Dungeons and Dragons because whilst it is an intellectual property, I feel like it's not that mainstream. I don't know why we keep having to go down the theming route as much as we have. I see why they do it, because a lot of people who have never played pinball before will go, "Oh, I like The Mandalorian. I like Pokémon." And a lot of people who aren't necessarily pinball players, but avid Star Wars fans, for example, will buy a Star Wars pinball machine if they have the budget.
It would be quite cool for big companies to be open to different things. Just making a machine they want to make with cool rules that isn't necessarily tied to an intellectual property.
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