The Score Card: A Beastly Summer of Competition

Summer is a season that pairs well with activities like hiking, camping, and picnics, but if you're a dedicated pinhead, it's home to some of the biggest tournaments of the year. Where others would rather pack up their gear and hit the great outdoors, we pinball players can often be found lurching over machines and sweaty from intense play, thanking the gods for air conditioning, or cursing them for the lack thereof.

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Moving through the dog days of summer, there have been a handful of large events, plenty of local leagues, and a few player-favorite competitions that have kept our flipper fingers warm. In this sixth edition of our series covering competitive pinball, The Score Card, we're diving into three events, including one of Australia's premier competitions, the second-year return of a historic tournament, and a Northeastern battle that's new to the 2025 Stern Pro Circuit. Let's take a look at all the frenetic flipping from the past few months and see who's dominating this heated summer of pinball.

Brisbane Pinball Masters

After a bit of a summer break, the Stern Pro Circuit picked back up with the Brisbane Pinball Masters, a tournament held in Queensland, Australia, in mid-July. Part of BPAC 2025, an annual event held by the Brisbane Pinball and Arcade Collective, this tournament was added to the Stern Pro Circuit in 2019 and has grown over time into one of the biggest pinball competitions in Australia. This year, the tournament pulled in over 200 entrants, all fighting for circuit points and the big win.

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Streamed live on Twitch by netherworldarcade, the qualifying portion of the tournament consisted of 21 total games of Match Play, with the top 32 players moving forward to the A Division head-to-head finals. Four extremely talented players fought their way through to the semi-final round, with Escher Lefkoff facing Paul Jones, and Gino Thimios taking on Anthony Cirillo. Ultimately, Escher and Gino won their respective bouts, leading to a best-of-five final round between the pair.

The grand finals got off to a humorous start on Sky Jump (Gottlieb, 1974) when Gino got the ball stuck on the up-post, but thanks to a fortuitous lazarus ball and some skilled play, Escher picked up the first win of the round. Escher kept the pressure up in game two on Spider-Man (Stern, 2007), scoring over 120 million points and pushing the round to 2-0. However, Gino fired back by blowing up Star Wars (Data East, 1992), refusing the sweep with a hefty win of his own.

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Sitting at match point, the pair moved onto Grand Lizard (Williams, 1986), where they showcased the power of stage-flipping, using multi-ball for safety as they grinded out points in the upper portion of the playfield. Executing his stage-flipping basically without flaw, Escher kept his cool and scored a whopping 9 million points to Gino's 1 million, securing the tournament win with next-level flipper skills.

Brisbane Masters Winners:

• First Place – Escher Lefkoff (QLD, AUS)
• Second Place – Gino Thimios (Brisbane, AUS)
• Third Place – Anthony Cirillo (Perth, AUS)
• Fourth Place – Paul Jones (AUS)

Pinburgh 2025

One of the five “Major” IFPA tournaments of the year, Pinburgh is a staple of the competitive pinball scene, with a long history dating back to 1998. Recently reinvented and now held at Rezzanine Esports in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, this iconic competition retains the popular Match Play format, with only 250 spots available. Highly sought after, tickets to Pinburgh were both sold in raffle style and awarded to winners at various satellite tournaments throughout the year, offering guaranteed spots to some of the top players in the region. In addition to the focal Match Play event, Pinburgh 2025 also hosted a variety of extra pinball battles, including Herb-style “Bash at the Burgh”, 3-strike knockout “Steel City Strikes”, the Stern Pinball Gauntlet, and the 2025 Women's International Pinball Tournament.

Pinburgh Main

Thanks to the consistent streaming of Foxcitiespinball, qualifying and playoffs were broadcast live on Twitch, leading to loads of intense competition. Players endured 20 rounds of Match Play on Day 1 before being split into divisions, leading to another 20 rounds of Match Play on Day 2. Finals kicked off early on Day 3 and the field was cut down to the final four: Jason Zahler (#1 World Rank), Zach “Zmac” McCarthy (#2 World Rank), Arvid Flygare (#4 World Rank), and David Riel (#52 World Rank).

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Jason got off to a strong start with an 880 million point game on Deadpool (Stern, 2018), followed by another win on High Hand (Gottlieb, 1973), while Zmac picked up second place on both. In their third game, Hoops (Gottlieb, 1991), Zmac had a huge ball 2 pop-off, taking the lead and picking up a win of his own. With Jason at 8 total points and Zmac at 7, the $6,000 championship came down to the last game, Black Hole (Gottlieb, 1981), while Arvid and David fought for third place.

A clear strategy in mind, Jason spent his three balls aiming exclusively for the left saucer, nailing it roughly 50 times for over 450,000 points. Though Zmac played tough and fumbled a potential lazarus on ball 3, he only cleared 100,000 points, wrapping up the championship in the process and granting Jason his second Major tournament win of the year. Playing solid throughout the series but without any wins, Arvid and David placed third and fourth overall.

Women's International Pinball Tournament

The Women's International Pinball Tournament was also hugely successful, with 72 total players competing in 18 matches of Match Play qualifying, with the top 16 players making it to the playoffs. Competing on an eclectic bank of games, four finalists emerged for the deciding three-game round, including Kat Lake, Keri Wing, Beck Gallagher, and Zheanna Murray. Keri sped out the gate with a dominant score in game one on Transformers (Stern, 2011), while Kat nabbed second place.

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Zheanna picked up a big win on Blue Chip (Williams, 1976) and Kat got another second, tying up her total points with Keri as they approached the final game, Flight 2000 (Stern, 1980). Playing wickedly fast, Kat scored roughly 500,000 points, but Keri took fourth, making Kat the WIPT Champion and forcing a tiebreaker for second. After a quick game of Target Pool (Gottlieb, 1969), Zheanna earned second place overall, putting Keri in third and Beck in fourth.

Pinburgh 2025 Winners:

• A Division – Jason Zahler (New Jersey)
• B Division – Matt Rowbottom (Los Angeles, CA)
• C Division – Phil Cridlebaugh (Kansas City, KS)
• WIPT Champion – Kat Lake (North Carolina)
• Bash at the Burgh Winner – Arvid Flygare (Sweden)
• Steel City Strikes Winner – Gregory Kennedy (Ravenna, OH)

The BEAST 2025

New to the Stern Pro Circuit this year is The Buffalo Extravaganza Annual Summer Tournament, or BEAST for short. Held at Pocketeer Billiards in Buffalo, New York, from July 31 – August 3, The BEAST offered three major tournaments, including Main, Classics, and Women's. The BEAST was also broadcast live on Twitch by Foxcitiespinball, just one week after Pinburgh, a testament to their commitment to competitive pinball streams. Throughout the weekend, over 130 players battled in unlimited pump and dump qualifying for all three tournaments, with the top 40 players making it into A Division playoffs for Main and Classics, while Women's playoffs only took the top 12. All playoffs followed PAPA style format, with three games per round and 4-2-1-0 scoring.

The BEAST Women's

In Women's playoffs, competitors played on a varied bank of mostly DMDs and moderns with a sprinkling of older machines, including Fireball Classic (Bally, 1985), World Cup Soccer (Bally, 1994), Star Trek (Stern, 2013), and more. Four players made their way into the finals: Christina Capra, Kim Martinez, Kaite Martin, and Kirsi Midyette.

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In game one, Star Trek, Christina had an impressive 90 million point game, but Kim was close behind with just under 90 million. Moving onto Fireball Classic, Kim got a handle on the game where no one else could and scored over 1 million points, while Kirsi got a second with just over 200,000. With Kim in overall first place moving into the final game on Lord of the Rings (Stern, 2003), the pressure was mounting, but Christina, Kaite, and Kirsi steeled themselves for the last match. In the end, Christina clinched the win with 33 million points to Kaite's 22 million, earning the overall tournament victory at the same time.

The BEAST Classics

The A Division Classics game bank was full of popular tournament titles, including the likes of Joker Poker (Gottlieb, 1978), Stars (Stern, 1978), Eight Ball Deluxe (Bally, 1981), Trident (Stern, 1979), and more. 40 players battled through four rounds of playoffs leading up to the finals, where David Riel, Paul Englert, Sterling Mitoska, and Nick Greenen fought for the win. Lucky Hand (Gottlieb, 1977) was the first of three games, where Nick nailed his WOW targets for 500,000 and got the first win, but Paul held on with over 250,000 for second place.

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In the next game, Star Gazer (Stern, 1980), Sterling found his groove and the spinners on ball 2, ripping them for a total of 2.4 million points and first place, but again, Paul picked up a second place with 1.2 million points of his own. With the championship still in reach for all players, a particularly tough Paragon (Bally, 1979) served as the deciding machine. Though many were appropriately dunked by the infamous “Beast Lair”, Paul adapted his strategy and squeaked out the win, pushing past his opponents by roughly 40,000 points and nabbing the Classics championship simultaneously.

The BEAST Main

The A Division Main game bank featured a wild assortment of 20 games, ranging from brutal classics like Flash Gordon (Bally, 1981) to unlikely moderns such as Ninja Eclipse (Turner Pinball, 2024) and Legends of Valhalla (American Pinball, 2021). Like in Classics, 40 players made the cut, but only 4 could make it to the finals. 

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Fresh off the grand finals at Pinburgh, Jason Zahler and Zach “Zmac” McCarthy returned, accompanied by Raymond Davidson and Carter Casselman. Not one to lose his mojo after the previous weekend, Jason tore off on game one, Taxi (Williams, 1988), scoring over 4 million points for first place, with Zmac in second with just under 2 million, followed by Raymond and Carter.

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In game two, Iron Man (Stern, 2010), a similar story played out. Though Jason struggled on his first two balls, he made up for it in a big way on ball 3, scoring over 55 million points with unbelievable nudging and multiple trips to Iron Monger multiball. Zmac primed for his own big ball 3 comeback but came up short, finishing in second while Raymond and Carter again took third and fourth.

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Yet, the script was flipped in the final game on Creature from the Black Lagoon (Bally, 1992), as most of the action took place on ball 1, with Jason putting up roughly 150 million to Zmac's 250 million. Needing anything but last place on Creature to win the whole tournament, Jason was spared from Zmac's late-match surge, as Carter wound up in fourth. For two weekends in a row, Jason Zahler played strong and with notable confidence, taking the overall first place finish, with Zmac in second, Raymond in third, and Carter in fourth.

The BEAST Winners:

• Main A Division – Jason Zahler (New Jersey)
• Main B Division – CJ Smith (Brooklyn, NY)
• Classics A Division – Paul Englert (Germany)
• Classics B Division – David Morris (Canada)
• Women's Champion – Christina Capra (Charlotte, NC)

Upcoming IFPA Events

There's still plenty of competitive pinball left this summer, including four Stern Pro Circuit events. Mid-August spells a trip to District 82 for the Summer Pinball Classic in De Pere, Wisconsin, followed by the NW Pinball Championships in Lynnwood, Washington the next weekend. In the Eastern part of the US, the 2025 PAPA World Championship is set for September 4 – 7 in Schaumburg, Illinois, with the Cleveland Pinball and Arcade Show just one week later in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Of course, you don't have to commit to the professional circuit if you want to play in a tournament, as you can find local events on the IFPA Tournament Calendar with ease. Summer pinball leagues should be wrapping up soon as well, so if you haven't played in one yet this year, consider checking out your local IFPA leagues for the upcoming Fall season. As an alternative to the official IFPA website, you can also search through the Pinside Event Calendar for various tournaments and conventions to attend. Whether you're chasing WPPRs or just watching from the sidelines, there's seemingly no end to upcoming pinball tournaments, and as the scene continues to thrive, we'll keep on covering it.