# SDTM: a pinball show T-Shirt Episode **Source:** Straight Down the Middle **Type:** video **Published:** 2017-06-23 **Duration:** 8m 8s **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBRcQ6uPfYM --- ## Analysis Straight Down the Middle hosts announce a t-shirt fundraising campaign for their show, featuring original artwork designed collaboratively by the hosts and artist Zach Sharp. Two shirt designs are offered at $25-$30 with pre-orders open for 2-3 weeks; Flip N Out Pinball donated two branded t-shirts as prizes for random winners among buyers. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] The hosts reached out to multiple artists (both inside and outside the pinball industry) to design the shirts, but none were willing to take the project despite being offered payment. — _Hosts discussing their design process at the beginning of the episode_ - [HIGH] The artwork was created collaboratively: Zach Sharp had an initial concept, one host drew it up based on that concept, then Zach Sharp tweaked and refined it, and the design was professionally digitized and cleaned up by CD Graphics. — _Detailed explanation of design process by hosts_ - [HIGH] Pre-orders will remain open for approximately 2-3 weeks to gauge order numbers, sizes, and allow for a bulk order before production. — _Host statement about pre-order timeline and strategy_ - [HIGH] The hosts will guarantee fulfillment of all orders, even if only five people order, covering the minimum order threshold themselves. — _Host promise: 'regardless if there are only five people that want one you will get your share'_ - [HIGH] Flip N Out Pinball donated two branded t-shirts (one Jersey Jack Pinball XL, one American Pinball 'Houdini Master of Mystery' XL) as raffle prizes. — _Host attribution to 'Larry at Flip N Out Pinball'_ ### Notable Quotes > "Nobody wanted anything to do with it. And we were going to pay them, too." > — **Host (Gregory or unnamed co-host)**, Early in episode > _Illustrates difficulty in finding willing artists; shows hosts' willingness to pay for professional work_ > "I have a new respect for bands and how they stay together while producing a song. Because we barely made it through designing the damn t-shirt." > — **Host**, Mid-episode > _Humorous commentary on creative collaboration challenges; suggests significant creative tension during design process_ > "Because we barely made it through designing the damn t-shirt. But truly it's because it's important to us. We really cared about it." > — **Host**, Mid-episode > _Expresses care and investment in the final product despite process difficulties_ > "We're not trying to sell you things but we're really proud of the artwork we're really proud of the t-shirt and we're proud of our fans to be able to support wearing the shirt" > — **Host**, Late in episode > _Frames t-shirt sales as fan support/community engagement rather than pure profit motive_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Straight Down the Middle | organization | Pinball podcast/media show producing branded merchandise | | Zach Sharp | person | Artist who contributed to t-shirt design concept and refinement; collaborated with SDTM hosts | | CD Graphics | company | T-shirt printing/digitization company that handled professional preparation of SDTM design; operator named Dennis | | Flip N Out Pinball | company | Pinball distributor/retailer that donated two branded t-shirts (Jersey Jack and American Pinball) as raffle prizes; operated by Larry | | Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; one of the donated raffle t-shirts featured this brand | | American Pinball | company | Pinball manufacturer; one of the donated raffle t-shirts featured 'Houdini Master of Mystery' artwork | | Pinside | organization | Pinball community forum; hosts request Pinside handles from buyers for identification | ### Topics - **Primary:** T-shirt merchandise and design, Content creator fundraising strategies, Community engagement and fan support - **Secondary:** Collaborative art creation process, Pinball community partnerships ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.82) — Hosts are enthusiastic about the merchandise launch, proud of the design work, grateful for community support, and inject humor throughout. Some mild frustration about the design process (creative tension, difficulty finding artists) is quickly overcome with satisfaction in the final product. ### Signals - **[community_signal]** SDTM implementing merchandise-based fundraising with community raffle incentives and multi-platform outreach (PayPal, Pinside handles, YouTube names) to fund equipment and operations (confidence: high) — Hosts explicitly state merchandise sales fund 'equipment and different things' and request multiple identification methods from buyers; Flip N Out Pinball partnership provides raffle prizes - **[community_signal]** Flip N Out Pinball supporting content creator initiatives through prize donations, indicating strong relationships between retailers and media (confidence: high) — Larry at Flip N Out Pinball donated two branded t-shirts for SDTM raffle without apparent quid pro quo --- ## Transcript You hit it off with a bumper knife, straight down the middle again, middle again. You had a fling with a slingshot, you're rolling out the alley dog again. Alright everybody, welcome back to Straight Down the Middle, a pinball show. It is Gregory and I, and today you've tuned into the t-shirt episode. T-shirts! And you guys are probably like, what the hell is a t-shirt episode? So tell them a little bit about what we did, Greg. We wanted shirts made for SDTM. That's right. And so we reached out to some artists to no avail. Nobody. Well, we had an original concept. Yes. Right? We both agreed on an original concept. We reached out to some artists, some in the pinball industry, some outside of the pinball industry. Nobody wanted anything to do with it. And we were going to pay them, too. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. We wouldn't ask them for free work. So we took it upon ourselves. Zach had an initial concept. I had to talk him down a little bit. As you always do. Initial concept. And then, so I drew up. I was crushing my dreams. This concept for this t-shirt. Based sort of off Zach's idea of what we come to. And then. Original art. Yes, it's original art. All by us. Because then after I drew it up, I sent it over to Zach. Zach worked on it. Tweaked it a little bit. Added a few things. Tightened some stuff up. And then we sent it. that back and forth. Yes, and then we sent it to this place, CD Graphics, that does shirts. And the guy, Dennis, there, he digitized everything for us and went over everything. And then we cleaned it up more. Yeah, cleaned it up a little more and buttoned it up a little bit more and stuff. And then we came up with the image that we have. Yeah. Here. So we're popping it up on the screen right now. Look at that. Alright. So we're wanting to sell some t-shirts. Yes, because like I said, we didn't really want to ask just straight out for money or anything. So we figured we'll raise money with t-shirts. Yeah we try to fund our equipment and different things Yeah but we want to make them kind of cool too We just didn want to do just a regular SDTM on the car We going to have that too Yeah we are Yeah we going to do just some bold white But we also kind of wanted a special edition Yeah. An LE t-shirt. Yeah. I know. Yeah. SDTM LE. And in true pinball fashion, we're going to be taking pre-orders on these things. Yeah. And the reason we're actually doing the pre-orders is so that we can. You're not going to get your money back. Yeah, you will never get your money. We're going to fold after this. We're just playing. Somebody will take it serious. But the reason we're doing pre-orders is just so that we can get a better feel for sizes. Sizes, order number. Order number and everything. We're going to do an initial order, and we'll obviously, after pre-orders, we'll have a stockpile of shirts for anybody who wants them afterwards. But we are asking you to put in the pre-orders now, just so we can gauge numbers and everything for the initial run of shirts. It'll be really cool. So we're going to offer two options, right? Yes. Okay. We're going to offer the limited – what do you call it? No. We don't have a title of the image. It's of the – It's like a drain monster. Yeah, I think that name's been taken somewhere. But, yeah, we'll call it the drain monster. The SBTM drain monster. Those shirts are going to be $30. Yeah. Right? And then the original just regular logo shirt, as you guys are seeing right here, those are going to be $25. Yes. So what we're looking for, we're really looking for some support. maybe reach out there if you guys are a fan of our show or if you hate us but you still watch us anyway maybe buy a t-shirt from us and we will for international orders because I know that we have a couple of Dutch fans that are really big Canadians some Australians so contact us first for special shipping prices on those for the international orders but everything in the continental US so that's not too bad guys for the custom art t-shirts $30 for the original big logo SDT and the pinball show. That going to be How can these people order these shirts We going to put out you see it at the bottom of the screen for our Paypal Just send a Paypal make sure to put your shirt size put your name If you're from Pennside, put your Pennside handle. Your address, we need your address to ship. Your address for shipping. And if you're on YouTube, put your YouTube name on there too, just so we can kind of know who you are. And everything, and then we'll get the shirts sent out. So, the initial run, we're going to open this thing up. up if you guys are watching this hopefully you're watching it uh close to when it was released because i think we'll leave this open for about two or three weeks yeah to get a good uh bulk of orders yeah because you have to have so many t-shirts to order in order to just do it run anyway yeah so regardless i will promise you this regardless if there are only five people that want to you will get your share you will get your shirt we will we will cover that minimum number of shirts uh but hopefully a lot of you guys reach out we're not trying to sell you we are trying to sell you things but we're really proud of the artwork we're really proud of the t-shirt and we're proud of our fans to be able to support wearing the shirt and different things like that giving them as gifts so it's really cool and we also have an incentive greg yes we do we show them the incentives the incentive is we are going to randomly assign for those of you who order one of our t-shirts it doesn't have to be it doesn't matter what yeah it doesn't matter which one if you order a t-shirt you're eligible for a drawing. And Larry at Flip N Out Pinball was nice enough to donate a couple T-shirts. So here we have a Jersey Jack T-shirt. Look at that. Very cool. They are both extra-larges, both T-shirts that we're going to be giving away. For the Husky Man. That's right. It's not too bad. It's not Husky. What a price range. XLA. And an awesome American Pinball T-shirt. Get ready for that Houdini. Yeah, a little Houdini action. So all you've got to do to be eligible for these prizes, is order a t-shirt. Nothing fancy about it. We're going to put everybody's name in a pot who ordered one, and we're going to draw two lucky winners for the shirts. And again, we'll do that at the end of, right before we start shipping the first batch of t-shirts. Yeah. So that be I hoping we keep orders open for two to three weeks get a handful a nice bundle put our order in draw it and then we will ship that T if you so lucky to win one of the two We'll ship that with your SDTM T-shirt. Exactly. That's pretty kick-ass. I think it's pretty cool, man. I think the shirt's cool. I love it. I know. I love it. And who doesn't need another pinball shirt? Well, that's the thing. An original or a nice one. Yeah, we wanted something that you could wear that just necessarily if you want pinball, it just wasn't like, here's pinball. It was nice. I like it. And we painstakingly went through and fought over this. Lots of fighting. Yeah. We had about had a pinball breakup because of this t-shirt. Like two hours on the line. I have a new respect for bands and how they stay together writing a song. Because we barely made it through designing the damn t-shirt. But truly it's because it's important to us. We really cared about. What was the. You don't know. Never mind. I was going to ask you. Was it Lars? No, it wasn't Lars. What was the – from Metallica? What was the drummer? I don't know. The main guy. Yeah, Lars is the main guy. What the hell was his name? You're asking me about the – That's what I said. I said, yeah, you won't know. But that guy was a bitch, and so that's – Are you calling that Metallica here? No, I just – I was very particular. I wanted a really, really nice, very finely detailed shirt for these guys. Yeah. So I fought for all creative differences. Yeah. And at the end, do we both not love it? Yeah, we both love it. Hell, yeah. It's a badass T-shirt. It's a great pawn. So what's your PayPal, buddy? I don't know. I'm going to have to look it up. That's why I said look at the bottom of the screen. I have to look it up. See, this is why we have T-shirt problems, because I prepare and he just rolls with it. It's okay. All right, guys, so that's it. This is the T-shirt episode. Thanks for watching the episode. So in order now, shoot us PayPal. Let's get these shirts ordered. Thanks, guys. Outro Music _(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 95ecf482-908e-4558-8190-46e4ee662e3a*