"There are actual techniques and ways to trap the ball and ways to control the ball that I had no idea about before I started playing," says DeLaurier. Ranked 3,066th, she just barely made it into the top 16 for Kansas. He’s playing against BayleeDeLaurier who’s been into pinball for just over a year. But you know I’m here to have fun," says Phil Cridlebaugh, who is ranked 194th in the world, and leads in Kansas state rankings. "I’m kind of a point whore so I like to try to win as much as I can to increase my ranking. The bar is also IFPA sanctioned and hosts tournaments that add to player’s international rankings. It’s about the high score, solving the puzzle, keeping the ball in play, and practice. "But i can’t remove all the people space.”ĭuring the tournaments there’s a small buy in, but players don’t come for the prize money. "I know I’ll have eight there I hope to find room for ten," laughs Scholes. He hopes to be able to house more machines and tournaments. In fact, this next week Scholes is moving to a new bigger location less than a mile away to 614 Reynolds Ave in Kansas City, Kan. It’s like an NCAA bracket style, with double elimination rounds, and they attract all levels of players - and lots of them. Piles of quarters and drinks fill the tables.Įvery week since 403 Club opened in 2011, the narrow bar tucked away in Strawberry Hill has hosted open tournaments. They rotate between seven different machines: The Twilight Zone AC/DC and Wizard of Oz from the new Jersey Jack pinball manufacturer. "It’s unusual to see a bank of pinball machines in the Midwest anywhere," says Marion Richards, who is at 403 Club for a tournament with his two kids, ages 8 and 9 who also play. When he opened his bar, 403 Club in Kansas City, Kan., in 2011 he wanted to make it a pinball destination. He credits the dwindling local pinball population of the past 15 years to bar owners and vendors not wanting to deal with all the upkeep on the complicated machines. Scholes played a lot of pinball growing up. "It’s a grassroots movement in the fact that there’s only a few people that are trying to bring it back especially in Kansas City, and you know it’s gaining popularity so I don’t think it’s all for naught," says Scholes. "Three or four years ago I couldn’t even tell you one tournament in Kansas, and now there’s dozens," says Zach.Īnd that has a lot to do with Kansas City bar owner Artie Scholes. The increase isn’t just seen in the typical pinball hot spots like Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Denver and places on the west coast. "If you flash forward to today, there are actually over 1600 events with 22,000 players ranked, and it just keeps increasing up every year," says Zach. Zach says at the time when they re-launched there were only 50 events annually and 500 players ranked world wide. So, in 2005 the Sharpe brothers took over the once defunct International Flipper Pinball Association ( IFPA) and started a professional ranking system for players. There was no, like, umbrella of trying to achieve something outside of just one tournament," says Zach. Zach and Josh Sharpe competed through their teens and into adulthood in various tournaments, but they wanted to take pinball competitions to the next level. With it’s legalization and newer technology, pinball took off with arcades in the 1980s and 90s all around the country. "Like, our dad saved pinball," says Zach. He testified before the New York City Council in 1976 calling his shots with a ‘Babe Ruth-esque’ style to prove that pinball is in fact a game of skill. Their father Roger Sharpe is a pinball designer and is idolized in the pinball world. He and his brother Josh Sharpe, ranked 24th, were raised on pinball. “I am currently ranked 2 out of approximately 22,000 players in the world.” says Chicagoan Zach Sharpe, who is what you might call a pinball wizard.
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