The Score Card 18: District 82 SPC and Northwest Pinball Championships

The summer of 2026 has been an exciting one so far for competitive pinball, and while August was a bit slower when compared to the jam-packed July, the month still brought two massive tournaments to check out. The rising summer heat didn't deter hundreds of players from flocking to a pair of shrines for the silver ball, where competition was fierce, formats varied, and WPPRs were waiting.

On this edition of The Score Card, we're covering the last pair of summer tournaments on the Stern Pro Circuit, starting at a storied Wisconsin arcade and wrapping up on the West Coast, with no shortage of furious flipping between.

District 82 Summer Pinball Classic

In the second week of August, 145 players traveled to the recently expanded District 82 in De Pere, Wisconsin, for the D82 Summer Pinball Classic, a four-tournament series including a Classics competition, two knockout tournaments, and the Stern Pro Circuit certified Main tournament. For main qualifying, players competed in 10 rounds of Match Play with 2 games a round, on a bank of over 100 machines, spanning everything from 1960s EMs to the latest Stern releases. Considering the size of the playing field, making it to playoffs was an achievement of its own, with only the top 24 players progressing to A Division, while the next 16 occupied B Division, and the remaining 100+ players battled in a 10-strike progressive finals for C Division.

As usual for big D82 and Stern Pro Circuit events, Fox Cities Pinball broadcast the entire event on Twitch, providing great commentary and an excellent presentation of the weekend fun. The qualifying matches were tough, but a handful of players emerged at the top, including #1 seed David Daluga, with 12 total wins, as well as Score Card regular Jack Slovacek, Adam McKinnie, and 2024 IFPA Rookie of the Year, Jaden Rich. However, over 3 rounds of playoffs, most of the top qualifiers were eliminated, except David Daluga, who faced Raymond Davidson, Carlos DeLaSerda, and Nick Weyna in the 3-game grand finals.

In Game 1, KISS (Stern, 2015), ball 1 was a wash for all players, but on ball 2, Nick pushed ahead with 100 million points, despite draining while he had a mode and multiball ready to stack. That mid-game effort was enough to secure the win, as by the end of ball 3, David trailed with 59 million points, followed by Carlos and Raymond. Game 2 was on a tough copy of Magic (Stern, 1979), but Carlos was able to rip a few lit spinners and stayed alive long enough to score over 220,000 points for first place, while David picked up another second-place finish, followed by Nick and Raymond.

Coming into the last match on White Water (Williams, 1993), Nick and Carlos led the pack tied at 5 points each, and while Raymond was mathematically out of the running for first place, David still had a path to victory with 4 total points. On ball 1, David had a harsh drain during 5X playfield, and Carlos drained quickly as well, giving Nick an early lead with 84 million points. Ball 2 was great for Raymond and David: Raymond took the lead with 100 million points, while David gathered a few jackpots in multiball to move into second place with 88 million points. As is often the case, it all came down to ball 3, and while Raymond continued to fly ahead with 500 million points, Carlos and David were once again victims of quick drains, leaving the door open for Nick. With just one shot between him and victory, Nick nailed the whirlpool with relative ease, securing the tournament win at District 82's Summer Pinball Classic.

D82 Summer Pinball Classic Winners:

• Main A Division – Nick Weyna (Des Plaines, IL)
• Main B Division – Aaron Hanson (Minneapolis, MN)
• Main C Division – Brian Krivonak (Irmo, SC)
• Classics – Alex Phelps (Green Bay, WI)
• 3 Strike Knockout – Steven Bowden (Palatine, IL)
• 8 Fair Strikes Knockout – Carlos DeLaSerda (Columbus, OH)

Northwest Pinball Championships 2026

For the second and final Stern Pro Circuit event of August, over 165 players headed to Lynnwood Bowl & Skate in Lynnwood, WA, for the Northwest Pinball Championships. This end-of-month affair offered five card-based qualifying tournaments, including the Stern Pro Circuit Open, Classics, Women's, and a charity tournament, as well as a Sunday knockout tournament to boot. Continuing the tradition, GeekGamer.tv broadcast all the pinball action, with replays available on their YouTube channel.

Given the card-based qualifying format, players were challenged to put up their best scores on 5 machines in one go, chosen from a bank of 12 games that consisted of all-time greats like Attack from Mars (Bally, 1995) and Foo Fighters (Stern, 2023), as well as lesser-seen oddball titles like Night Moves (International Concepts, 1989) and Car Hop (Gottlieb, 1991). Luckily, there was a bit of extra room for players to progress to playoffs, with the top 40 qualifiers making it to A Division, while the next top 8 occupied B Division. After a couple days of qualifying, a few familiar faces popped up at the top of the standings, including Zach 'Zmac' McCarthy, defending champion Jason Zahler, Noah Sicard, and Greg Kennedy. Come time for playoffs, these top qualifiers continued to perform well, and although Greg Kennedy was eliminated in a semi-final tiebreaker, the other three successfully fought their way to the three-game grand finals, where they were joined by the #7 seed, Raymond Davidson.

In Game 1, Car Hop (Gottlieb, 1991), each player completed a single-player, three-ball game, and Noah Sicard set the bar high with 21 million points, thanks to a fantastic ball 3. While Zmac and Jason came up short with 7 and 6 million points respectively, Raymond made a run for Noah's score, but just barely came in second place with 20.9 million points. Game 2 was on the tournament classic, Iron Man (Stern, 2010), where Jason built up an early lead by hitting ramp combos for roughly 7 million points while everyone else suffered early drains. On ball 2, Noah packed on some points with some ramp combos of his own, but Jason only furthered his lead with Iron Monger multiball, pushing his score up to 19 million points. Ball 3 played out in a similar fashion as Jason continued to fly past the competition with more Iron Monger multiballs, ultimately taking first place with 34 million points, while Noah trailed with 11 million.

As Game 3 on Tag-Team Pinball (Gottlieb, 1985) began, total match points were relatively close, with Noah leading the group with 6 points, Jason close behind with 4 points, and Zmac and Raymond tied at 2 points each. With 4 points awarded to first place and 0 points to last place, everyone still had a path to an overall tournament win, making it a tense match on a somewhat janky game. On ball 1, Jason was the only player who really got a hold of the ball, and he did some serious work with the opportunity, scoring over 3 million points with calculated multiball play. Ball 2 was a wash, but things got interesting on ball 3 when Raymond started cashing in with his own multiball; but once again, he came up short and finished with 2.8 million points. Noah also made a run for first, but he was unable to catch either Jason's or Raymond's scores, making Jason Zahler the 2026 Northwest Pinball Champion.

NWPC 2026 Winners:

• Open A Division – Jason Zahler (New Jersey)
• Open B Division – Donald Warren (Seattle, WA)
• Classics A Division – Gregory Kennedy (Ravenna, OH)
• Classics B Division – Zach Amador (Seattle, WA)
• Women's – Mayumi Mae (Monterey Park, CA)
• Charity & Sunday Strikes – Luke Nahorniak (Lonsdale, MN)

Upcoming Pinball Tournaments and Events

The autumn months are always packed with events and tournaments, whether you're looking to compete or simply spectate. Firstly, the Stern Pro Circuit continues in mid-September with the PAPA World Pinball Championships in Stone Park, IL, and though tickets are sold out, you can catch the action live on Twitch via Fox Cities Pinball. Later in the month, the Stern Pro Circuit jumps the pond and heads to London for the UK Pinball Open, one of the biggest tournaments in England. If you're interested in playing competitively, but on a slightly smaller scale, we fully recommend checking the IFPA calendar for sanctioned tournaments or the IFPA league list for weekly meet-ups.

Come October, we're spoiled for choice with pinball conventions, including the Appalachian Pinball Expo in West Virginia, the White Rose Game Show in Pennsylvania, Pin-A-Go-Go in California, and of course, Pinball Expo 2026 in Illinois. In addition to huge selections of free play games, these shows will also host their own tournaments, with Pinball Expo 2026 being part of the Stern Pro Circuit, so consider attending and trying your hand at the competition. No matter how you choose to play, the pinball scene is abuzz with exciting new games, so get out there, learn some strategies, and start putting up some high scores; you too could be the next big winner featured on The Score Card!