Today was Starfighters Monthly at Starfighters Arcade in Mesa, Arizona.
Tournament format:
7-5-3-1 pace scoring — players who reach 28 points by Round 7 continue. After that, the qualifying score increases by 7 points each round. It took 12 rounds. 63 points+ wins. CONGRATULATIONS Brian Pinney for winning 1st Place!
Translation:
play a lot of pinball, try not to finish last too often, and learn something every round.
The machines had opinions today
Some games cooperate. Some… have personality.
For me today:
A mix of good rounds, stubborn machines, and one very satisfying practice game.
The Addams Family pinball machine – strong magnet, but I managed a 2nd place
TRON: Legacy pinball machine – 1st place even without multiball
Metallica pinball machine – Sparky said “nope” all day
Party Animal pinball machine – chaos classic Bally energy
Eight Ball Deluxe pinball machine – tight, low scoring survival game
Practice after I fell out of the tournament:
And one of my personal favorites:
Flash Gordon pinball machine
I managed 636,540 on a 3-ball game, which felt pretty good on a fast machine.
Strategy there is simple:
upper playfield control → drop targets → multipliers → let the spinner rip.
Incidental exercise: tournament edition
Fitness trackers don’t really understand pinball.
Mine logged the whole tournament as “golf.”
But the numbers say otherwise:
3 hours standing
1,296 steps
~293 calories
Pinball tournaments are a mix of:
concentration
quick reactions
walking between machines
and mental endurance
It’s not cardio, but it absolutely counts as NEAT movement (non-exercise activity).
The real win
Today I left the tournament in “play better mode.”
That’s the mode where you’re not blaming machines or luck — you’re thinking about:
ball control
shot choices
better decision making next time
And the good news?
I get to practice.
Community matters
Events like Starfighters Monthly are one of the reasons the Arizona pinball scene is so great.
Alex Cardwell and Hailey Buhrman were celebrating their birthdays.
You get:
tough competition
weird machine personalities
and a room full of people who genuinely love the game.
And yes… sometimes the machines win.
But that just means we come back and play again.
Still counts.