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Episode 218: Rage Tilt Pinball

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·11m 46s·analyzed·Sep 12, 2019
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.026

TL;DR

Rage Tilt Pinball founders discuss merch business and new YouTube show format.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Beck and Matt from Rage Tilt Pinball at the Clee Pin Show. The duo discuss their merchandise business (shirts, buttons, pins), their transition from yarn/knitting industry work, and their upcoming YouTube show format shift from Wednesday Twitch streams. They share favorite pinball games and discuss design philosophy behind their humorous, pinball-specific apparel.

Key Claims

  • Rage Tilt Pinball has been operating for approximately two years

    high confidence · Beck directly states 'only about two years' when asked about duration of the pinball merchandise business

  • Beck and Matt previously worked in the yarn industry for approximately eight years

    high confidence · Matt confirms 'we did like yarn shirts and stuff before that for like eight years' and mentions working for a yarn company at trade shows

  • Rage Tilt is transitioning from Twitch Wednesday streams to a YouTube-based talk show format

    high confidence · Matt explains they're 'going to change formats to a show' and 'moving to YouTube most likely instead of moving away from Twitch' because 'we're old'

  • The Satanic Temple in Colorado contacted Rage Tilt about hosting a pinball tournament using their 'Play Pinball and Hail Satan' phrase

    high confidence · Beck states 'we got, on our way here, we got a message from a satanic temple that wants to host a pinball tournament' and asked to use that phrasing

  • New show launch is targeted for three to four weeks out

    high confidence · Beck states 'probably we're looking at three, four weeks out' due to need to learn YouTube software, video editing, and develop an intro

  • Beck's favorite game is The Sopranos despite considering it 'not a good game'

    high confidence · Beck explicitly states 'My favorite guilty pleasure game is The Sopranos. Oh, really? Yeah, not a good game, I don't think, but it is really fun'

  • Matt prefers Black Knight Pro over the Premium version with upper playfield

    high confidence · Matt states 'I actually prefer the pro, funny enough, without the upper play field. I prefer the pro' and 'I love how fast it is'

Notable Quotes

  • “we realized we're just not that good at pinball. To be doing that. But we're real good at talking. We're real good at talking about pinball.”

    Matt @ ~06:45 — Explains the pivot from gameplay-focused streams to talk show format, framing weakness as opportunity

  • “If you're going to take blood money from the devil, get paid.”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~04:40 — Humorous response to the Satanic Temple sponsorship situation, demonstrates community tone around Rage Tilt's edgy branding

  • “I'm the Babe Ruth of losers.”

    Jeff Teolis @ ~26:30 — Self-deprecating comment about missing shots in Black Knight, illustrates the casual, fun-focused approach to pinball discussion

  • “Pinball skills mean nothing you know what a good pinball machine is when you can acknowledge those are classics”

    Beck @ ~17:00 — Philosophy on evaluating classic games like Meteor and Stars based on design quality rather than skill difficulty

  • “I love how fast it is. I love that if you miss a shot and you hit a post, you're destroyed.”

    Matt @ ~24:00 — Describes preference for Black Knight Pro's gameplay pace and consequence-based design over Premium's upper playfield complexity

  • “It's like the drug dealer version of pinball”

    Beck @ ~18:00 — Describes classic game design that leaves players wanting more, referencing games like Meteor and Stars

Entities

BeckpersonMattpersonChrispersonRage Tilt PinballcompanyJeff TeolispersonClee Pin ShoweventPinburgeventJersey Jack Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    community_signal: Rage Tilt Pinball is transitioning to YouTube talk show format to better leverage their strength in conversation and commentary over gameplay skill

    high · Matt explains format shift: 'we realized we're just not that good at pinball...But we're real good at talking. We're real good at talking about pinball' and they're developing new software, editing capability, and intro for professional launch

  • ?

    community_signal: Rage Tilt has significant audience demand and recognition across multiple pinball events and shows

    high · Jeff states 'You have a lot of fans' with people emailing requesting interviews; Jeff has seen them at Pinburg and New York events; audience recognizes their apparel at conventions

  • $

    market_signal: Pinball merchandise (apparel, buttons, pins) as growing community touchstone with humor/edginess as differentiator

    medium · Jeff notes Rage Tilt's 'amazing shirts that you see everywhere' and audience actively requests them on Pinball Profile; designs are tongue-in-cheek and very pinball-specific

  • ?

    event_signal: Clee Pin Show is active pinball convention hosting seminars (Tim Sexton Black Knight seminar) and free-to-play machines

    medium · Jeff references 'Tim Sexton was here doing a seminar at Clee Penn' and played Black Knight Premium and Pro versions in free play area

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.035

0:00
it's time now for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff kills you can find our group on facebook we're also on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com and please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher it is loud it is in your face we're here at the cleep in show and loud and in your face is kind of something about our next guest there's something about these two beck and matt from rage tilt pinball.com the amazing shirts that you see everywhere hello beck hey how's it going and how you doing matt doing all right can't complain where's chris isn't here today because uh he might or might not have fallen down the stairs and almost ripped his toes off.
0:56
I've done one of those two things. What happened? Not sure. That's all we know. Yeah, that's all we know.
1:05
Those stares jump out at you. I mean, you know what? You've got to be careful. I mean, they claim more and more lives every single year. It's just not widely talked about. Yeah, well, I mean, he was recently married in the past couple years and I'm sure there might be an insurance policy on him. There might be something going on there. I'm not sure. Brian kept saying expect the unexpected. It was real weird.
1:24
This is amazing to see you here at Clee Pin. You're always out and about. I'm trying to think the last time I saw you. I know I saw you in New York. Pinburg. Oh, yeah, of course, Pinburg. That's what I mean. I've seen you so many different places. I'm like, oh, where was it? Probably here, probably there. It's great to get around. How are things going at Rage Tilt? Oh, things are going awesome. We've got some new stuff coming up. We're going to start a new show format. We've got some new designs coming out. All really exciting stuff. Yeah, Matt, you and I were talking yesterday. I was talking about your Wednesday streams, and you said something a little different. What's going on? Yeah, so we were streaming every Wednesday and we were doing a regular pinball stream. We talk about pinball, play pinball, that kind of thing. And then someone fell down the stairs. And wrecked it for everybody. No, no, no. What happened was we realized we're just not that good at pinball.
Tim Sexton
person
Satanic Templeorganization
Billy Joelperson
The Sopranosgame
Meteorgame
Black Knight Sword of Ragegame
Iron Maidengame
Jurassic Parkgame
Jackpotgame
Bride of Pinbot 2.0game
Starsgame
Knit Girlsmedia
2:09
To be doing that. But we're real good at talking. We're real good at talking about pinball. So we're thinking about what we're going to do. Not a podcast, not anything like that. We're going to change formats to a show. We need more podcasts. We really do.
2:22
No, we're going to do more of a sit-down, you know, like a talk show. You know, like kind of a talk show where we sit down. Yeah. But we'll be moving to YouTube most likely instead of moving away from Twitch. Yeah, because we're old. Everyone else is old. We're not really on Twitch. So, I mean, not everyone, but a lot of us.
2:41
There are so many different designs that you have. I think my all-time favorite, it's probably a classic, play pinball and hail Satan. Absolutely. You're wearing it right now. Yeah, I'm wearing the old one. I wearing the old one Now we have a new one But yeah it one of those things nobody ever accuses of having good taste We put it that way We like stuff that funny and we like making stuff that very it's either tongue-in-cheek funny or very pinball specific. Oh, I thought it was a pure religion. I was going to swear my allegiance to Beelzebub. I guess I – oh, okay, it's all tongue-in-cheek. I didn't know that back. We'll sign you up. Yeah, we got a connection with a temple that's going to host a pinball tournament in Colorado. Yeah, that just happened. So we got, on our way here, we got a message from a satanic temple that wants to host a pinball tournament. Get the F out of here. Yeah, asked if they could use that phrasing for the tournament. We were like, yes. Pay some money. If you're going to take blood money from the devil, get paid. That's what I would do. That is crazy. But again, it's funny. And then, obviously, we have to be PG on this show, but you have a lot of great buttons. Again, RageTiltPinball.com. There are just so many. The Flipper Fingers are another one of my favorites, too. Now, Beck, are you the creative mind behind all these? It's a combo. I'm looking at Matt. it's gotta be you yeah no no no it's definitely a combination so like i'll draw some stuff matt will draw some stuff and then we go back and forth so like sometimes i'll pencil hill pencil and we'll ink over it and usually like one of us works in the morning the other one comes home from work at night and like we go back and forth like that um until we get something good or bad and how long you been doing this oh two years yeah only about two years and we did like yarn shirts and stuff before that for like eight years now is that true like i've seen on the website about the yarn and like yeah i don't know if you all really love billy joel or not but that is true we all do okay all right yeah but the yarn as well the yarn is true uh my sister is like famous in the knitting community she hosts a knitting uh vlog cast uh called the knit girls uh and every year i go down and work a retreat with her called the super summer knit together so and then we also matt and i both worked for a yarn company for a brief period of time going to trade shows for the yarn industry. I'm saying this, I'm looking you straight in the eyes with all sincerity. I wish I knew how to do that because I know so many people like yourself, like you, that say it is the most relaxing, rewarding hobby if it's a hobby for you. Right. And then you've got a nice keepsake when it's all said and done. Yeah, I mean, I'm just really impatient, so I need to be doing something with my hands. I wouldn't, it's not really relaxing for me. I'm just like, I'm just super angry all the time and I just need to ned. When are we going to see this new stream? You have a lot of fans. In fact, I have people email me at pinballprofile at gmail.com. When are you getting Matt and Beck on? They didn't care about Chris, to be honest. But, no, I'm kidding. No, when are you getting along? I said, well, that's funny because you and I talked. I know at Pinburg and probably New York as well. I said, hey, I don't want to do a little flyby. Let's do an actual full show. So you have a lot of fans out there. Yeah, yeah, very cool. The new probably we're looking at three, four weeks out, probably three, four weeks out because we're moving. We're going to be moving to YouTube. We have some new software to learn. we have to learn how to edit videos because everything on Twitch is just live you know you just go so besides that we have to learn how to edit videos a little bit better we need to develop an intro We want it to be good We want to do it right the first time so that way we not just kind of flying by the seat of our pants So probably three four weeks out. Before you get too involved, a little tip from me to you, not that I know anything, but no matter what you put into that first one, you'll look back at it a year later and go, oh, I'm so embarrassed. Oh, yeah. Our first interview with Jersey Jack, when we interviewed Jersey Jack on the podcast. You called him Fred. I remember it very well. We thought we were so funny. I said on the stream, it's like, hey, Jack, we have a question we've been burning to ask you. How come you don't have any shots in the play field that give you a jersey jackpot? You know, we ask him that. And he goes, that's actually funny. Yeah, well, he goes, you know, Matt, a lot of people come to us with some good ideas, and a lot of people come to us with some bad ideas.
6:41
And he left it right there. And then he's like, we're just going to, yeah, we'll just leave it there. And I'm like, what? It's going in one of those categories. I was like, I just got burned by Jersey Jack on the stream. I think it was like our second or third stream we had ever done. Okay, so you joke and say we're not that good players. It doesn't matter how good a player you are. It's that you enjoy pinball, obviously. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So your favorite games, Beck? My favorite games, my favorite guilty pleasure game is The Sopranos. Oh, really? Yeah, not a good game, I don't think, but it is really fun, and I'm really good at it, which is weird. And the call-outs are awesome. My favorite game in our collection is probably Meteor. hail meteor darn right it's so good um get it like just getting a solid game on meteor you always leaves you wanting more like and stars is like that too like steve kirk does a great job on games you know what you're talking about when anybody says stars is a great game steve kirk games meteor pinball skills mean nothing you know what a good pinball machine is when you can acknowledge those are classics yeah it leaves you wanting more it's like uh it's like i don't know like the drug dealer version of pinball and what about you matt uh favorite game uh right now it changes it changes right now i'm really enjoying jackpot we picked up a jackpot uh maybe a year ago we just finished shopping it out and now we're playing it like crazy and i love it this is crazy just you know obviously same layout as the original pinball but just how much is in there when you add the db when you can put in the what is the cheat button or whatever the cheat button the changed rule set the uh all that it's a much better game i think it's a much better game than pinbot prior to that pinbot was my favorite game now prior to pinbot i love have you played 2.0 yes yes i love it yeah i love it i i mean i i like the art on it a lot better it's it's cool how they did the extra art package for it on the dmd yeah yeah yeah yeah but uh i think i played it once at york that's i played it at the sanctum and i was just like i already i already like the I'm one of those people that, you know what, I know I can get a billion and it's unbalanced and all that stuff, I don't care, it's fun. And then when they change this, I'm like, okay. Yeah no I think it a good game I like it a drastic improvement It is the same to me that Jackbot is to Pinbot Bride of Pinbot 2 is to Bride of Pinbot And I like that you can reset it Like, even though you put a DMD in there, you can still reset it to classic rules if you want. Like, I think that's fantastic. Yeah, there's a lot of good games. What about some of the newer games, Beck? What do you love? Out of the newer games, Jurassic Park's really fun, actually. I'm really enjoying that. My other recent game that I really love is Iron Maiden, which came out in the last year or two, right? It's fun. Again, back to Hail Satan, right? Right. It all comes back, doesn't it? What about you, Matt? Black Knight. Sword of Rage. I've played Dungeons & Dragons for 20 years and playing Black Knight, it's everything I wanted. I've always liked the original. I love... Black Knight 2000 is one of the first games I can remember blowing up, you know, where it's just like you just destroy the game and you're like, this is great, you know? A very fond memory there. So then Black Knight's sort of rage. I actually prefer the pro, funny enough, without the upper play field. I prefer the pro. So do I, actually. Yeah. I like the premium, but I think I prefer the pro. Yeah, I love how fast it is. I love that if you miss a shot and you hit a post, you're destroyed. But if you make a shot but it doesn't go all the way up, generally it'll feed back. So if you make a run, I think that's a nice feature. So Tim Sexton was here doing a seminar at Clee Penn, and we got to play a bunch of Black Knight. There was a premium and a pro here on the play field in the free play area. And I said, Tim, come on over here. Let's talk about, you know, obviously what he coded and stuff. And I said, I love this game. A lot of the same reasons you do too, Matt, was because it's just so fast and you are punished. So I'll be in a mode where all the shots are lit. And I have no problem going up the center ramp. I have no problem going to the far left orbit. But it's the lane to the right of the left orbit. And I said to Tim, I said, you watch this. That is the hardest shot for me to hit on the fly. And when I miss, I'm going to hit the post. It's going to go right in the right out lane. I called my miss. So I was in a mode. I'm like, okay, I'm going to go for it as it's coming around. Post, out lane.
10:53
I'm the Babe Ruth of losers. I'll take that, Monica. That's all right. Well, all the best to Rage Tilt Pinball. I'm looking forward to the new format. Beck, Matt, and Chris back home on eight toes. it's good to see you here at these shows you bring a lot of people pleasure and I hope to see you at more thank you, thanks very much for having us yeah, thank you very much, it was a pleasure alright, 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 and please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check out rage-pinball.com or at Madison Square Garden where Billy Joel plays his residency I'm Jeff Teolas Friday night I crashed your party Saturday I said I'm sorry Sunday came and trashed me out again