# Episode 248: Erik Thoren, Title Town Pinball **Source:** Pinball Profile **Type:** podcast_episode **Published:** 2020-03-08 **Duration:** 14m 58s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.pinballprofile.com/episode-248-erik-thoren-title-town-pinball/ --- ## Analysis Jeff Teolis interviews Erik Thoren about Titletown Pinball in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Erik explains how his personal pinball collection outgrew his home, leading him to open a commercial warehouse venue two years ago that now hosts 80+ machines, twice-monthly leagues with 70+ players, and monthly tournaments. The conversation covers Wisconsin's competitive pinball scene, IFPA dollar legitimacy, and Titletown's aspirations to eventually host a major IFPA championship event. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Titletown has been operating for exactly two years — _Erik states 'Yeah, it's actually been pretty much exactly two years that we did this' regarding opening the warehouse venue._ - [HIGH] Titletown hosts 70+ players twice monthly for league play — _Erik: 'we're having 70-plus people here twice a month for a league' and Jeff confirms 'I'm seeing the whoppers you're getting for those nights.'_ - [HIGH] Wisconsin had $5,000 prize pool last year from IFPA dollar tournaments — _Erik states 'in Wisconsin last year, it was a $5,000 prize pool.'_ - [HIGH] Titletown operates 80+ pinball machines — _Erik: 'We've got to keep the rules straight. But it's just a good time' and Jeff earlier asks 'And you mentioned 80 games.'_ - [HIGH] Erik completed a 2X tournament (13-round match play + 4-strike knockout) with 90+ players in 14 hours — _Erik: 'And, you know, it's a 13-round match play followed by a four-strike knockout. I get that entire thing done. We did that just now with 90-some players. We got the whole thing done in 14 hours, two full tournaments.'_ - [HIGH] Cassidy Malinowski is 13 years old, from Wisconsin, and competing in the Women's Championship — _Erik: 'Cassidy Malinowski is playing in the Women's Championship. I know she ranked in the top 16 I believe for the women She started here at Titletown She only 13 years old'_ - [HIGH] IFPA major event requirements include running the same tournament format three years in a row before consideration — _Erik: 'to be, for example, on the third and fourth circuit, you have to do the exact same tournament three years in a row before they'll even look at you.'_ - [HIGH] Erik is planning to attend Pinburgh — _Erik: 'I'm going to go to Pinburg this year. Nice. That thing sells out insanely fast, and it's very stressful to keep hitting the refresh button.'_ ### 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." > — **Jeff Teolis**, ~3:00 > _Humorous observation about collector priorities when space runs out at home_ > "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." > — **Erik Thoren**, ~7:30 > _Core motivation for opening Titletown venue_ > "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" > — **Erik Thoren**, ~21:00 > _Key differentiator for Titletown as pure pinball venue vs. arcade/bar hybrid_ > "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" > — **Erik Thoren**, ~15:45 > _Describes inclusive community culture driving new player retention_ > "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." > — **Erik Thoren**, ~9:30 > _Endorsement of IFPA dollar legitimacy in Wisconsin context_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Erik Thoren | person | Owner/operator of Titletown Pinball in Green Bay, Wisconsin; stay-at-home dad, pinball collector and enthusiast who transitioned personal collection into commercial venue | | Titletown Pinball | organization | Pinball venue in Green Bay, Wisconsin operating for ~2 years, hosting 80+ machines, twice-monthly leagues (70+ players), monthly tournaments, and weekend events | | Jeff Teolis | person | Host of Pinball Profile podcast; conducts interview with Erik Thoren | | Wisconsin | organization | State with thriving pinball community including Titletown, represented by top IFPA-ranked players like David DeLuga, Tom Graff, Eric Strangeway, Jordan Samuro, and Cassidy Malinowski | | Cassidy Malinowski | person | 13-year-old competitive pinball player from Wisconsin, top-16 women's player, competing in Women's Championship, frequent attendee at Titletown | | David DeLuga | person | Top 150 IFPA-ranked pinball player from Wisconsin | | Tom Graff | person | Top 150 IFPA-ranked pinball player from Wisconsin; running tournament for Midwest Gaming Convention 2020 | | Eric Strangeway | person | Top 150 IFPA-ranked pinball player from Wisconsin | | Jordan Samuro | person | Top 150 IFPA-ranked pinball player from Wisconsin | | Tim Enders | person | Big tournament player from Wisconsin involved in discussing future large events | | Midwest Gaming Convention (Midwest Gaming Classic) | event | Annual convention held first weekend of April in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; features pinball tournament, growing attendance and prestige | | Pinburgh | event | Major annual pinball tournament; highly competitive entry with fast sell-out; Erik plans to attend | | IFPA (International Flipper Pinball Association) | organization | Pinball ranking and tournament authority; manages dollar system, major championships, circuit designations | | Free Play Florida | event | Major pinball tournament that Erik references as example of well-run large events | | Pinmasters | event | Major pinball tournament series recently relocated from Vegas to Colorado | ### Topics - **Primary:** Venue development and operations, Wisconsin pinball community and players, IFPA tournament structure and legitimacy, Match-play tournament format and new player recruitment - **Secondary:** Major event hosting requirements and aspirations, Midwest Gaming Convention - **Mentioned:** Women's competitive pinball ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.92) — Erik expresses genuine enthusiasm for pinball community, Titletown operations, and tournament organization. Jeff is encouraging and complimentary. No criticisms or negativity present. Strong celebration of Wisconsin community culture and inclusive tournament practices. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** Titletown's twice-monthly leagues with 70+ players and monthly tournaments represent significant community organizing and growth in Wisconsin pinball scene (confidence: high) — Erik: 'we're having 70-plus people here twice a month for a league' and successful execution of 2X tournament with 90+ players in 14 hours - **[sentiment_shift]** Wisconsin pinball community embracing IFPA dollar system for legitimacy and prize pool generation despite initial skepticism (confidence: high) — Erik: 'Wisconsin was pretty hard against it... I just said, you know what? If you want to make this essentially more legitimate, having a dollar fee per person per tournament is not a bad thing' and notes $5,000 state prize pool - **[competitive_signal]** Wisconsin match-play tournament format gaining traction; head-to-head play from start shown to increase new player engagement vs. traditional qualifying (confidence: high) — Erik: 'We don't do the one or two days of qualifying... You know, we do head-to-head right from the start' and 'if the new person can come in and actually play head-to-head... there's no excitement for them, right?' - **[market_signal]** Pure pinball venue (non-bar/arcade hybrid) positioning as distinct operational model for successful league/tournament infrastructure (confidence: high) — Erik: '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' - **[event_signal]** Titletown aspiring to become IFPA major event venue; would require 3 years of identical tournament formats before consideration (confidence: high) — Erik: 'I do have the requirements as far as what you need to be a major event, and essentially where we meet them... to be on the third and fourth circuit, you have to do the exact same tournament three years in a row' - **[personnel_signal]** Emergence of young elite female player (Cassidy Malinowski, age 13) from Wisconsin Titletown community, competing at Women's Championship level (confidence: high) — Erik: 'Cassidy Malinowski is playing in the Women's Championship... She started here at Titletown She only 13 years old... She is a fantastic player' --- ## Transcript it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teoles you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check us out on instagram at pinball profile what do you do if your collection just gets so big that you don't have anywhere to put the games Well, if you're cool like Eric Thorne, you do what he did in Green Bay at Titletown. And Eric joins us right now. Hey, Eric, how are you? Good. How are you doing, Jeff? So that's kind of how Titletown really began, isn't it? You just had so many games, you kind of needed to put them somewhere. Exactly. Exactly. You know, once I got to about 30, 35 games in my house, I didn't really have any space to put them. After that, I kept selling them off, but I didn't want to sell them anymore. 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. That's the first thing you do. But I guess at 30, yeah, there's only so many rooms available. Yeah, I took over the electrical panel room. I had them next to the furnace. I had them next to the water heater. I had one under the staircase on little tiny legs. And that was it. The whole garage was full. What do you do? I didn't want to sell them anymore. They're all my little babies. and I wanted more. So we got the warehouse and the way to pay for the warehouse was to start a new pinball league here in Green Bay. And that's only been a few years, correct? Yeah, it's actually been pretty much exactly two years that we did this. And I really wanted to play more pinball. That was the other issue. The only way to get a large group of people together is to have a big space. And usually in someone's house, I mean, if you're lucky, If you've got a really big house, you can get 40, maybe 50 people in there. But to do that on a regular basis, that's asking a lot of the spouse, not to mention the host. And that's what I did with the space, the commercial space. I started a league so we can meet twice a month to do league, and then once a month to do a tournament. I've been doing that for two years now. I see other cities and leagues kind of do these type of things, whether it's a collective or something because, yeah, the league just grows too big and you don't have a place to put them or the games themselves, that's a big initiative for you to take on and really house these pinball machines, the leagues, the tournaments at Titletown. A lot of people wouldn't step up and do that. Yeah, well, fortunately, I'm a stay-at-home dad, and my kids both started going to school full-time two years ago. So once they were out of the house, I essentially have the whole school day to work on games, bring in new ones, and fix the old ones after they've been played a few times. And now I have the time. But 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. A weeknight league, no less. Not a weekend league. And we're having 70-plus people here twice a month for a league. Yeah, I'm seeing the whoppers you're getting for those nights. I mean, that's the place to be at Titletown in Green Bay for sure. And Wisconsin has such amazing players, yourself included. You know, David DeLuga, Tom Graff, Eric Strangeway, Jordan Samuro. These are all top 150 players in the IFPA. There's another one that's playing in the Women's Championship this weekend. Yes, Cassidy Malinowski is playing in the Women's Championship. I know she ranked in the top 16 I believe for the women She started here at Titletown She only 13 years old Wow She is a fantastic player She is a fantastic player and a great person She comes to almost every event, and she's in our league as well, even on school nights. But she's great, and I wish her all the best out in Denver. When the dollar first got introduced a few years ago, like many places, there were some leagues and some states that were like, I don't know if I want to do this. Wisconsin, I remember reading about this on Tilt Forums, and Wisconsin was pretty hard against it, at least certain factors of the state. Yeah, they were. Wisconsin's, like every state, you have your areas, and Wisconsin's kind of divided into three areas, Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay, as far as geography goes. And I just said, you know what? If you want to make this essentially more legitimate, having a dollar fee per person per tournament is not a bad thing. it's not a bad thing at all, especially when 95% of it is actually coming back to the players. 75% in your state, and the other 20% goes to the national pot, I believe, is the breakdown. But it just legitimizes the sport even more. And then at the end of the year, you can say, hey, I'm top 16, I'm top 24. You know, in Wisconsin last year, it was a $5,000 prize pool. You know, that's a big deal. It's a really big deal. And for the average player, essentially they don't feel like they contributed to it at all because it just came out a little bit at a time, but yet they're playing for those big dollars. And it gives the new person who's coming in, who essentially is starting just for fun. They've never heard of the IFPA yet, but they really get hooked, and then they realize that, hey, there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow here. Potentially I can be in this big tournament that's actually local, not across the country, and be part of it. It's just fun, and it just adds another element to a great sport. I think you're right, Eric, because I see a lot of people here in Ontario in the provincials that made it for the first time. And it's such a rush for them. First of all, just by showing up, they're getting paid. In fact, that third Saturday in January is the day more people get paid for pinball than any other day, including Pinberg. A lot of money is being handed out that was accumulated over the year in each state and province. So I know Australia is doing it now here in 2020. it's really grown and I think you probably see that excitement too you know there are people you think oh they're always going to be there but there's kind of a lot of ups and downs and you never know I mean maybe it makes you want to participate more into tournaments thinking okay I'm close here it is November if I get a few more tournaments in I might make the state finals. Exactly exactly and like you said first and foremost it is about having fun you know but if you're close on the edge I know a lot of people here that were around the 30th position And, you know, they were going to everything in November and December to try to get into the top 24, which is what it is in Wisconsin. And it just adds that little extra level of excitement, you know. And we all enjoy the excitement. Wisconsin's going to be hosting a massive event just next month, the Midwest Gaming Convention. That's in Milwaukee, April 3rd through 5th. A lot of people gather for that. Absolutely. Midwest Gaming Classic, it's been going on for a long time. And every year it's a little bit bigger and a little bit better. And actually this year, Tom Graff will be running the tournament for that convention. And it's a little bit different format than in years past. It's a lot better the way it's going to be handled. And we should have more players. And it should be massive as far as points go for Wisconsin. And I mean, in Wisconsin, massive points would be, you know, 45 plus. We don't have the 150% bump tournament or 125% bump tournament that you can get in the really big ones. But we working on it Well it seems like you are working on it because that event just gets bigger and bigger And I remember last year too a couple of big games were shown there in Willy Wonka and Black Knight Yeah absolutely And I don know if there any new games coming this year I guess we'll have to wait and see. But if you're a pinball player in Wisconsin, actually in the Midwest, the Midwest Gaming Classic is absolutely the place to go for the first weekend in April. Yeah, you know what? I'm going to get there. You know what the deciding factor for me was? I'm like, okay, how do I really make this worthwhile? are the Brewers playing. And they're away that weekend. I think they're in Philly. I'm like, okay, I could have knocked that off my list and got that in as well. So that means hopefully next year, the Major League Baseball schedule and the Midwest Gaming Convention work out for me. But I will be there within two years for sure. I still might even come this year. Who knows? Yeah, we'll come to Titletown. We do tournaments all the time. I know. And they're a lot of fun. I mean, the biggest thing is everything that we do here, it starts off as group match play or group knockout. We don't do the one or two days of qualifying where you come in and play by yourself on a game, write your score down, see where you stack up, and then top 16 or top 32, then actually get to play head-to-head. You know, we do head-to-head right from the start. We got 80 plus pinball machines, and that's what makes it fun for the new player, right? Because the new player, if they're just, you know, if they're just going to come in and play four games, six games by themselves, stand in line, and then they don't get to play anything head-to-head, there's no excitement for them, right? So if the new person can come in and actually play head-to-head, play with these people, and then match play format, you move up or down based on how well you're doing, you're playing with different people every single round, you see some different techniques, 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 while you're not playing. We've got to keep the rules straight. But it's just a good time, and it's a lot of fun, and I really think that's the key to success in getting a lot of people to come out and play week in and week out. I see a lot of people coming there. Great volume of players that show up at Titletown. And you mentioned 80 games. Okay, that begs the question. Titletown, is that going to be a venue for a future major event? Because with that kind of capacity and the number of games, and obviously with the excellent players in Wisconsin, I mean, these games must be top-notch. Are we going to see something happen there? Yeah, hopefully we will. I do have the requirements as far as what you need to be a major event, and essentially where we meet them. I just got to get everything in order and submit it. I know we're going to do one of our own as well, but we are new. We've only been here two years, and to be, for example, on the third and fourth circuit, you have to do the exact same tournament three years in a row before they'll even look at you. So there's definitely some longevity that you need to prove before they'll let you in to play with the big boys, so to speak. But we're doing it, and hopefully you will see us at a major event here in the coming future. Well, Eric, I see things like the pinmasters that just moved to Colorado this year, had been in Vegas for a while. That got bigger, went to Colorado. Things like IFPA's World Championship, those rotate between North America and Europe. That's a possibility. There could be the National Championship. There's the Women's Championship. There's all kinds of big events out there. It sounds like that might be an endgame for you. Yeah, you know, it's coming. It's coming. Don't worry. We going to get some big stuff here The last thing that I want to do is put on a bad event All right So I have to go through it We do everything Everything that happens it just runs smoothly Our biggest tournament that we do here is a 2X tournament. And, you know, it's a 13-round match play followed by a four-strike knockout. I get that entire thing done. We did that just now with 90-some players. We got the whole thing done in 14 hours, two full tournaments. And, you know, when you think about it, that's pretty amazing. with that amount of people. It's awesome, and it's a lot of fun, and everybody was playing the entire time. You weren't sitting around waiting. It's just amazing. I think I had, I don't know, four games going on over that entire 14 hours. So just prepping it, making sure it's good to go. If we do a major tournament, or I should say when we do a major tournament, it's going to be run right. I know you go to Midwest Gaming Convention. What other big tournaments have you been? And you run enough yourself, I just wonder, to kind of get that kind of experience and see maybe what you can do down the line. I have actually not been to any other tournaments other than your Midwest Gaming Classic in Wisconsin. Is that a goal? I know you've got small children, but is that a goal to kind of see maybe how Free Play Florida does it or some other big event? Absolutely. I know we have Tom Graff and Tim Enders and Jordan Semerle and Dave Luga, a lot of the big players have been all over the country. and we're all talking about doing another, basically a big event, to draw in the big players. And we will. I'm going to go to Pinberg this year. Nice. That thing sells out insanely fast, and it's very stressful to keep hitting the refresh button to see if you get in. But the other tournaments that I saw, which were local ones, it's like nobody had a venue in Wisconsin that was big enough to host this kind of thing, where everybody can play at the same time all the time. that's really what I wanted to do here was create a space where it's an inviting space it's pure pinball in here too by the way it's not you know 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 and it's a blast well it sounds very inviting my only question being in Packers territory there in Titletown what if somebody comes in and they're a Bears fan or a Vikings fan? Wow. They're definitely, they're welcome to come. They're welcome to come. We actually have some great players from Minnesota and Chicago, especially the 2X tournaments and some other tournaments. And everybody has fun. I mean, this is pinball. And everybody's a nice person, really, in pinball. And it just makes it that much more fun when you don't have to worry about negativity running through things. And it's just fun, and I love it. I agree. You know what you should do, though, if you do have a big event and you have a lot of people coming from out of town? Do what they do at Lambeau, and you know what? Turn the heat off. Make it like the frozen tundra there at Titletown, just to have that home field advantage. Just a thought. Yes. Yeah. Well, we don't have air conditioning, so when you come in the summertime, it does get hot. But we never let Carl Weathers stop us in this town, that's for sure. Eric, it's been great to talk to you, and I wish you all the best at Titletown. All right. Thank you, Jeff. This has been your Pinball Profile. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. Please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check us out on Instagram at pinballprofile. I'm Jeff Teolas. _(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 41e7068d-f460-48a8-af24-4289bcdb3605*