Episode 24: Trent Augenstein

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·7m 54s·analyzed·Mar 3, 2017

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Trent Augenstein on 2016 wins, Tilt Amusements growth, and pinball's strongest era.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Trent Augenstein, IFPA top-10 player and owner of Tilt Amusements (largest Stern distributor worldwide). They discuss Trent's tournament success in 2016, including winning Dory Hill and South Carolina state finals, his international play in Sweden and upcoming Copenhagen tournament, and reflections on pinball's current renaissance with multiple manufacturers and growing classic game tournament representation.

Key Claims

Tilt Amusements is the largest Stern distributor in the world
high confidence · Trent Augenstein directly states this as his company's position
Trent had more IFPA points than any other player in 2016
high confidence · Jeff explicitly states 'You had more IFPA points than any other player in 2016' and calls him 'unofficial 2016 IFPA player of the year'
Current pinball era is the strongest in recent history, comparable to early 1990s for manufacturer and game count
high confidence · Trent: 'It definitely is in recent history. You've got to go back to the early 90s to get as many manufacturers as we've gotten. And we've got to actually probably go back to the 90s to get as many games being made as we are now.'
Classic/EM game tournaments are increasing in frequency and value
medium confidence · Trent notes side tournaments now worth same as regular tournaments, leading to more classic tournaments, and Papa lineup expected to have more older games than normal
Tilt Amusements is working on Aerosmith pinball machine
high confidence · Jeff: 'What's next for Tilt?' Trent: 'We're working on Aerosmith right now.'
Trent won Buffalo Pinball Summer Open and South Carolina state finals in 2016
high confidence · Jeff states Buffalo gave him most IFPA points; Trent confirms winning South Carolina finals where he and Rebecca (also finalist) traveled together
Dory Hill in Colorado is Trent's favorite tournament due to camping weekend format
high confidence · Trent: 'Dory Hill is probably my favorite tournament... We basically camp out the whole weekend.'
Pinball formats are becoming more diverse with golf-style and achievement-based formats
medium confidence · Trent describes Sweden IFBA format combining golf and score objectives, mentions gauntlet format, and discusses Papa format change from run-style to single-game

Notable Quotes

“We are the largest Stern distributor in the world, and a lot of it we can do remotely, over the computer, over the phone, and we ship a lot of stuff out of Stern directly, so it keeps us busy.”
Trent Augenstein @ early — Establishes Tilt Amusements' market position and operational scale
“It definitely is in recent history. You've got to go back to the early 90s to get as many manufacturers as we've gotten. And we've got to actually probably go back to the 90s to get as many games being made as we are now.”
Trent Augenstein @ mid — Key assessment of pinball's current market strength relative to historical context
“The gauntlet is achievement-based... you're not counting balls at the timed event. So you sit there at that game until you get it done.”
Trent Augenstein @ late — Explanation of alternative tournament format with nostalgia value
“We basically camp out the whole weekend... it's different than going to a hotel and being in the pinball hall and all that stuff.”
Trent Augenstein @ mid — Explains appeal of Dory Hill tournament beyond gameplay
“I do. Yeah, I like playing everything. Unlike previous Papas, when you have to do a run, you kind of don't want to throw a DM in there, but when you're playing one game at a time, it's more likely to play that way.”
Trent Augenstein @ mid — Commentary on Papa format change and willingness to engage classic/EM games

Entities

Trent AugensteinpersonTilt AmusementscompanyJeff Teolisperson RebeccapersonMarcopersonAerosmithgamePapaeventDory HilleventBuffalo Pinball Summer OpeneventSouth Carolina state finalsevent

Signals

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business_signal: Tilt Amusements positioned as largest Stern distributor globally with remote operations and direct Stern fulfillment capability
high · Trent directly states 'We are the largest Stern distributor in the world' and describes remote operations model
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community_signal: International pinball competition showing growth with diverse formats (golf-hybrid, achievement-based) and alternative tournament styles (gauntlet, head-to-head double elimination)
medium · Trent describes Sweden IFBA using combined golf/achievement format, mentions desire to see gauntlet return, discusses various tournament format preferences
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competitive_signal: Shift in tournament meta toward classic/EM games as side tournaments now offer equal IFPA points to modern tournaments
high · Trent: 'We're seeing a lot more classic tournaments out there... the lineup for Papa, too, is going to be quite a few older games, more than normal.'
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event_signal: Papa tournament transitioning from run-style format to single-game format; affects strategic game selection
high · Trent discusses format change affecting likelihood of including difficult games like DM
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market_signal: Current pinball era (2016) described as strongest in recent history, comparable to early 1990s in manufacturer count and game production volume
high · Trent: 'It definitely is in recent history. You've got to go back to the early 90s to get as many manufacturers as we've gotten.'

Topics

Tournament formats and evolutionprimaryCompetitive pinball landscape and IFPA rankingsprimaryTrent Augenstein's 2016 tournament wins and international playprimaryTilt Amusements distribution business and Aerosmith machine in developmentprimaryPinball industry strength and manufacturer diversity (early 1990s comparison)primaryClassic/EM games returning to tournament circuitssecondaryInternational pinball competition and format differencessecondaryPapa format transition away from run-style playsecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— Conversation is enthusiastic and celebratory of pinball's current state. Trent expresses satisfaction with tournament experiences, international play, and business success. Discussion of industry growth is optimistic. No major criticisms or controversies raised. Tone is conversational and friendly throughout.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.024

thanks for listening to another pinball profile i'm jeff teal as you can follow us on twitter at pinball profile email us pinball profile at gmail.com he's id player number 10 on ifpa and many times he's in the top 10 in the world trent augenstein joins us right now hey trent How are you? Great. How are you doing, Jeff? I hope you're rocking that Wolverine beard with the new movie Logan coming out. I will be once Pinberg starts up. Attaboy. I always thought it'd be kind of cool if you came out with like flippers for claws. Not a bad idea. There's some cosplay at Pinberg too. Think about it. Yes. Well, tell the one or two people who don't already know about Tilt Amusements and how busy does that keep you, especially when it comes to taking you away from actually playing pinball? We are busy all the time. You know, we're the largest Stern distributor in the world, and, you know, a lot of it we can do remotely, you know, over the computer, over the phone, and we ship a lot of stuff out of Stern directly, so it keeps us busy. Does that actually limit you from playing in tournaments? No, not at all. You know, generally, I can work whenever I need to and play whenever I need to. It also justifies it, too, if the pinball tournament has a show. Right, yeah, exactly. Well, we all enjoy the Tilt swag, whether it's the Papa Cups, and I hope those are still going to be around, even though they're not taking coins anymore at Papa, but the Ghostbuster stickers. What's next for Tilt? We're working on Aerosmith right now. Aerosmith. Boy, that's getting a lot of buzz. Have you played it yet? Back to Aerosmith came in today, but I haven't pulled it out of the box yet. So I'm keeping you away from it. No, not at all. We're still on the road. With the recent adjustments to the scoring on IFPA, You had more IFPA points than any other player in 2016. You are the unofficial 2016 IFPA player of the year. You had a lot of good wins last year The Buffalo Pinball Summer Open gave you the most points What your favorite tournament that you played last year Well you know replay is always a blast and I always like playing at Expo too You know I like playing head tournaments generally Dory Hill is probably my favorite tournament. It's a lot of fun. You know, it's funny. You were talking to me in Buffalo about Dory Hill. You were saying that that, in Colorado, is absolutely one of your favorites. What makes that one so special? We basically camp out the whole weekend. So, you know, it's different. A lot different than going to a hotel and, you know, being in the pinball hall and all that stuff. Didn't hurt that you won it, too. Yes, exactly. I know you're going to Copenhagen. You played in Sweden in 2015. You've been to Robert Englunds before. What's it like playing across the pond representing the USA? It's a blast. Probably the most fun is just playing different people. A lot of times in the U.S. you end up playing the same people over and over again. We get to go over there and see how we do against some different people. Some different formats, which is kind of cool. Just the general environment is different than what it is here. What kind of different formats? One of the neatest formats we did last year, I think, not last year, but the last IFBA in Sweden, was a combination of golf and achieving a score. There were five objectives on a game, three of them were score, and then two others that were achievement-based. It took two or three different strategies to achieve everything, which is kind of different. It's a pretty good field. I can imagine you get jet lag actually on the way over there. It's always better coming back than going back. Yeah, it's always good to take a nap, you know, try to get back on schedule. I wouldn't recommend going there and playing the same day. Have the day before. Right, exactly. Well, even though you're in Ohio, how many state finals did you qualify for in the top 16 last year? I don't remember. I want to say it was like maybe 10 or 12. You actually chose South Carolina, which you won. Why there and not Ohio? We had a lot of fun down there, and Marco is down there. and Rebecca ended up also qualifying for South Carolina and that was the only one she qualified for. So we both made the trip down there together And you won it Yeah it ended up being Rebecca and I in the finals as well And I ended up taking first and she ended up taking second How was that car ride home Well we ended up flying but it was fun We were both happy to be in the finals. For sure. You know a lot about the history of pinball. You've seen the ups and downs. Is right now the strongest and maybe the best time for pinball with different companies, tons of players, the tournaments, and so on? It definitely is in recent history. You've got to go back to the early 90s to get as many manufacturers as we've gotten. And we've got to actually probably go back to the 90s to get as many games being made as we are now. Speaking of all the new games, though, I'm wondering, as time goes on, do you think we're going to see less and less EMs and solid states in tournaments? It actually seems like we're going the other direction. We're starting to get more and more tournaments, and now that the side tournaments are worth the same amount as the regular tournaments, we're seeing a lot more classic tournaments out there. I think the lineup for Papa, too, is going to be quite a few older games, more than normal. Do you like that? I do. Yeah, I like playing everything. Unlike previous Papas, when you have to do a run, you kind of don't want to throw a DM in there, but when you're playing one game at a time, it's more likely to play that way. I'm going to miss the Papa format, but I understand why they're doing it. And I say that having sucked at that format, but it was unique for sure. What do you think about the new format? I like it. I always liked playing Herb style. If you want to play Papa style, I think PPO is still using it, so you can always find it somewhere if you want to. You played in so many tournaments. What other ones come to mind that people might know about? As far as tournaments, there's California Extreme. It has a good tournament. Pre-play Florida was a good tournament this year. A lot better than in the past. Texas had a great show. The Expo tournament was a lot of fun. Buffalo was great this year. The Sanctum is an awesome, unique format. We had a blast there this year. Did you think you were going to be able to do the 24 hours? Yeah, I figured I would. But those last six hours wondering how you going to hold up is what you got to figure out See I go on the offense You know when you up for a lot of hours and then your breath gets really really bad like sleep breath That might be a good tactic too Yes, exactly. There was a lot of that going on. I bet there was. So what's the plan for 2017? Trying to do as many tournaments as you did last year? Yeah, you know, just go to the shows and tournaments and enjoy the people. Getting ready to head out to the Louisville show and then we'll be in Texas for a couple weeks and then the Ohio show comes up at the end of March. Is there a unique format in the years of you playing that you'd like to see maybe come back or maybe at least more of? Well, you know, with as many tournaments we've got going on, we do have a lot of unique formats out there. I've always liked playing head-to-head double elimination. I do like the new IFBA format where it's best of seven. We played the state championships and we're playing IFBA. You know, the Sanctum was neat to play that. The golf format is really cool. We'll get the chance to play that. One of the things we haven't done in a while is the gauntlet. The gauntlet was always a lot of fun. I'd like to see someone throw that in again. I've never played the gauntlet. Can you explain for those who don't know? The gauntlet is achievement-based. There's an achievement on each game. And then once you finish that achievement, you have to go to the next game, finish that one, go to the next one, go to the next one. So you're not counting balls at the timed event. So you sit there at that game until you get it done. And then you've got a set number of games with achievements. And the person that does it the fastest is the winner. The most unique one was probably the one at Papa, where the games weren't all lined up in a row. You actually had to run and run in between games. It was kind of neat. I've seen some of the pinball players run. It can't be a pretty sight. Yeah. You're pretty agile. I'm sure you'll do fine at Gauntlet, and I'm sure you'll do fine at the tournaments in 2017. Best of luck at your upcoming events, including Copenhagen. Awesome. Thank you very much, Jeff. You can catch Trent at TiltAmusements.com, and you can find us on our Facebook group. Follow us on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us, pinballprofile at gmail.com. I'm Jeff Teolis.