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Episode 248: Erik Thoren, Title Town Pinball
PodcastAnalysis updated 2d ago15 min listen
Erik talks about the growth of pinball in Wisconsin, their great players, and how he solved the problem of having too many machines.
Highlights
- Titletown has been operating for exactly two years
- Titletown hosts 70+ players twice monthly for league play
- Wisconsin had $5,000 prize pool last year from IFPA dollar tournaments
- Titletown operates 80+ pinball machines
- Erik completed a 2X tournament (13-round match play + 4-strike knockout) with 90+ players in 14 hours
- Cassidy Malinowski is 13 years old, from Wisconsin, and competing in the Women's Championship
- IFPA major event requirements include running the same tournament format three years in a row before consideration
- Erik is planning to attend Pinburgh
Notable quotes
“So I got a warehouse. See, the first thing to do in your home is you get rid of things like, oh, I don't know, couches and extra bedrooms. Sorry, kids, you're on a cot or you're bunking up.”
“I really love playing pinball. I really enjoy this. I just wanted to bring it to everybody. And I knew that, essentially, if you build it, they will come. And that's exactly what happened.”
“it's not a bar that has pinball machines it's a pinball place first and foremost and that's it and everything about this is set up to run pinball tournaments”
“if you're doing really good, you're playing with some of the great players, and you can see what they do. and everybody here is super friendly. They give you tips on what you should or shouldn't do”
“If you want to make this essentially more legitimate, having a dollar fee per person per tournament is not a bad thing at all, especially when 95% of it is actually coming back to the players.”
Entities
- Free Play Florida· event
- Midwest Gaming Convention (Midwest Gaming Classic)· event
- Pinburgh· event
- Pinmasters· event
- IFPA (International Flipper Pinball Association)· organization
- Titletown Pinball· organization
- Wisconsin· organization
- Cassidy Malinowski· person
- David DeLuga· person
- Eric Strangeway· person
- Erik Thoren· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Jordan Samuro· person
- Tim Enders· person
- Tom Graff· person
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