Would you believe that pinball and accounting have a lot in common?

Just ask Allison McClure, CPA and aspiring pinball wizard.

“Pinball is a fairly recent hobby that I’ve undertaken in the past three years, and a larger-than-you-would-think subculture here in the Pacific Northwest. Right here in Seattle, there are over 200 locations with multiple pinball machines on site, as well as tournaments at various bars every night of the week. Sometimes even several on the same night,” said Allison, an audit manager in the Seattle office of BDO USA LLP.

“My favorite piece of the pinball community would have to be its Monday Night Pinball (MNP) league. There are over 24 teams in our league, and my team, the Soda Jerks based out of Full Tilt in Ballard, just recently won first place in the league for the third season in a row!”

Allison discovered the pinball scene while she was out with friends and stumbled across some machines. She played casually a few times after that, and one day decided to enter a pinball tournament when she was in the neighborhood visiting with a client.

After the tournament she was invited to become a substitute player for the next Monday’s match. “I said yes once I found out there would be ice cream, and two seasons of subbing later, they finally convinced me to become a full roster player.”

“I am almost as passionate about pinball as I am about my work because I similarly enjoy the combination of knowledge and technical skill set that gets employed.

“Every game you play on a pinball machine is unique, even if you play the same game a hundred different times. Because each machine—particularly the newer ones—has its own ruleset, success is determined by both your understanding of the specific game and its goals as well as your physical ability. Once you figure out that each table has unique missions, which require you to hit certain ramps or targets with the ball and frequently with imposed time limits, you then have to shift to focus on both developing a strategy around what missions to accomplish first based on the risk versus reward of those shots. You have to be able to watch the ball, listen to the machine callouts that provide guidance, and watch for light cues on the playfield to know what shots are currently worth the most.

“On top of that, you need to practice timing your shots so the ball goes in the right direction to actually execute those shots … all while the ball ricochets off of strategically-placed obstacles such as bumpers and slings, where each individual machine is set up slightly differently (angle of flippers, steepness of playfield, with bouncier or less bouncy rubbers, etc.).

“Pinball machines just fit in this perfect conjunction of art, physics, technology, and constantly evolving strategy,” said Allison.

Though she sees her entrance into the pinball machine as a coincidence—“one of the best coincidences that has happened to me in quite some time” —Allison sees herself as still learning about pinball.

“My biggest personal contribution to the Soda Jerks is both being good at machines that are a gap in the rest of the team’s skill set, but also the fact that I love researching rule sets and developing strategies for new machines that come out. And that I am good at communicating those strategies on the fly before a match where we are at an Away location and are unfamiliar with games there."

"In the world of public accounting, I may be a manager… but in the world of pinball, I am maybe an experienced associate."

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Allison moved to Tacoma to attend Pacific Lutheran University, where she ended up majoring in accounting. But her accounting career choice was not at all by design.  

“If you asked a handful of my friends and coworkers to describe my approach to life… They would likely say ‘pragmatic.’ They are right,” said Allison. “I figured that a few business classes would be useful background knowledge for whatever future career I undertook, so I registered for the introductory level accounting class. The rest is history.”

Day to day in the auditing department she works with a diverse clientele in the areas of financial services, asset management, technology companies, and nonprofit organizations. She also manages and advises staff.

“A huge portion of my job is continuing to learn and teach others. Some of the most fulfilling parts of my career have been taking a technical concept, ‘translating’ it into a real-world application, and watching a client’s face or a staff’s face light up when it all clicks into place.”

She enjoys the “fact that every day looks different… a happy mix of technical challenge and interpersonal relationships. I love that accounting is as multi-faceted and constantly changing, just as much as the goals and ambitions of the people behind the numbers.”

“I joke with my advisees at work that I would probably have become a life coach if I wasn’t their mentor. I thoroughly enjoy digging into the foundation of what makes a person tick, and how we can capitalize upon and compound passions and strengths that are already present.”

Allison admits that “most of her free time these days gets sucked up into pinball,” but she also can be found at WSCPA local chapter meetings. She currently is serving as chair of the chapter.

“I initially got involved simply by showing up and attending the events. I really enjoy getting to meet other professionals who work in similar or parallel realms to myself, and have found chapter events to be a great source for collaborations and referrals,” said Allison.

“We make a good team, and are always looking for more professionals to provide insight as we work to bring the local WSCPA community together!”

End of Ball Bonus

I’m most proud of: Helping coordinate with four other chapters across the state to host five different Day of Service events for WSCPA members in 2019. Over fifty people get a little more engaged within their communities this year! Some chapters have also begun to incorporate in additional service-focused events throughout the rest of the year, and it is awesome getting to cheer those efforts on.

I’m currently reading: The Food Lab, by J. Kenji López-Alt. It’s 960 pages of science experiments that answer the important questions, like “does resting my steak really make it juicier?”

I never leave home without: Snacks. I can’t be trusted to drive past a grocery store when hungry.

Best advice I’ve received: It’s impossible to never fail – the important part is how you recover. Nothing is a complete failure if you grew from the experience.

My team would say this about me: She expects you to take charge of your own career, but will always go to bat for you when asked.

I’m passionate about: Microdosing on learning. I’m currently addicted to the Stuff You Should Know podcast because it fulfills my love of fun facts in a digestible, short-form format. Let’s chat if you want to talk about the Neanderthals or how Cabbage Patch Kids became the first “must-have” Christmas toy.

My favorite pinball machine: Some of my favorite machines revolve around some familiar names - The Addams Family, Iron Man, and Ghostbusters – while other themes are originals designed by the pinball manufacturers that no one has ever heard of. All of my favorite machines are typically the ones with quality artwork, good music, and/or memorable callouts that occur when you make certain shots or achieve objectives.

Answer to the question everyone is probably thinking right now: We do indeed have one at home currently, and our household is pretty much constantly in game planning mode for acquiring another, newer machine. For some background… There are two main “tranches” of pinball machines that have changed as technology has improved. Electrical Mechanical (EM) machines are older, built until the late 70s, and is the kind that we have at home currently. They tend to be slower and more simple in terms of rule sets. (I’m including two pictures – we can stage too if needed.) Newer machines from the late seventies onwards are typically Solid State (SS) aka computer controlled, with screens instead of score reels, and those are typically our preferred machines to play when we are out and about because moving to coding allowed pinball machines to become significantly more complex in terms of rule sets and strategies that the player can take. New machines also typically will cost you about $5,000 – 9,000 depending on the manufacturer and desirability of the game theme. E.g. Jurassic Park just came out, which is a popular theme, and will cost you $$$.

Allison McClure, CPAis an audit managerin the Seattle office of BDO USA LLP.

This article appeared in the winter 2020 issue of the Washington CPA Magazine. Read more here.