
Episode 341: District 82 Great Lakes Open recap
Serious action in Wisconsin with several players travelling to check out this amazing facility for a weekend of a lot of pinball. Hear from many of the participants including: - Erik Thoren...
Highlights
- District 82 attracted 130 players, their biggest tournament ever
- District 82's leagues now have almost 60 players
- Less than 40 of the 130 players were locals
- Texas Pinball Festival Classics division had nearly 240 competitors with only 24 qualifying spots
- Travis Murray started a new position handling marketing and content marketing with The Pinball Company
Notable quotes
“We have 130 people here right now. It's amazing. Rarely do we get over 100, and just to push it to 130, it's really comfortable in here still.”
“It's a regional facility that's gone national to where it's kind of changed the game in terms of tournaments because a lot of people want to come and be able to play four or five different tournaments as opposed to one or two.”
“As soon as you walk through the doors, you know you're in a pinball facility. That's the bottom line. You don't feel like you're in an arcade. You're in a pinball facility, which to me in 2022 is excellent.”
“I would tell anybody out there, if you're really wanting to draw players from a regional or even a national level, if you have multiple tournaments, that will go a long ways, just up front.”
“Stephanie, you've got the goods.”
“This is the one that sets the bar, and you can't find too many places like this.”
“When you first came in here, you saw it and you realized, this is a special place. And more people need to know about this.”
“It's probably a future home of major, major tournaments, but you've got to like it so far. Oh, it's a rip-off.”
Entities
- The Pinball Company· company
- Brisbane Masters· event
- Fox Cities Winter Bash· event
- Great Lakes Open· event
- Texas Pinball Festival· event
- Slam Tilt Podcast· media
- Triple Drain Podcast· media
- District 82· organization
- Rochester Pinball Collective (RPC)· organization
- Slap League· organization
- Bruce Nightingale· person
- Carlos (Laser Los)· person
- Chris Hare· person
- Dominic Loiselle· person
- Eric Thorne· person
- Jeff Teolis· person
- Logan Smith· person
- Michael Weinberg· person
- Rachel Risto· person
- Simon Peel· person
- Stephanie (Pinball Princess)· person
- Tom Graff· person
- Travis Murray· person
More from Pinball Profile
→ All content from Pinball ProfileEpisode 439: Emily Reilhan
Talk about a banner year…and it’s only June! Emily has won everything under the sun so far in 2026 as you’ll hear, including the Women’s World Championship, the WNACS, the first ever Women’s...
Episode 438: David Morris of Phantom Amusement
If you’re ever in Manitoba, Canada, check out their growing pinball scene. David talks about the birth of the creating a pinball environment with the Manitoba Pinball League, the MPC, his arcade...
Episode 437: The Pinball Capital’s Francis Wisniewski
Good luck this weekend with the Grand Opening, including a Roger Sharpe appearance, a signed Bank Shot machine giveaway and more! Find out about this huge arcade in Stone Park, Illinois, and hear how...
