in Tempe, Arizona
Pulling into the parking lot of Electric Bat Arcade at 11:57am to find it completely packed full of cars. Oh, no. Did we miss the 150 player cap?
Nope.
Yucca was packed to the gills with soccer fans. Triple overtime and their game was apparently a really big deal.
By 12:30 pm, all the sports fans filtered out of Yucca Taproom.
Inside Electric Bat, 53 pinball players were preparing for their own endurance event:
A race-to-40 qualifying sprint for the Top 16 finals.
My tournament started with Black Jack Pinball and a 3rd place finish. Classic EM-style chaos right out of the gate. No warmup. Just bonus counting, danger, and Electric Bat energy.
Next came Big Game Pinball, which absolutely lived up to its name. A rougher round and a reminder that race formats punish early mistakes fast.
Then things started clicking.
A huge 1st place finish on The Walking Dead (Pro) helped stabilize the run and settle the nerves.
From there, two strong finishes on Andromeda Pinball showed up as important momentum-builders during the middle stretch of qualifying.
Not every round was clean. Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast Pinball was brutal, and both Solar Ride Pinball and Creature from the Black Lagoon Pinball reminded everyone how quickly older games can humble you.
But the bright spots were bright.
Another 1st place finish came on The Getaway: High Speed II
Black Knight: Sword of Rage (Pro), and the final qualifying game ended with a win on The — one of the loudest, fastest, most exhausting machines in the building.
Final qualifying total:
– 10 games played
– 38 points earned
– 3 first-place finishes
– multiple top-two finishes
– 5.5 hours of “golf” according to Fitbit
– approximately 3000 incidental exercise steps on concrete floors
Incidental Exercise Receipts
Just missing the Top 16 cutoff stings a little, but honestly? Still proud of this run. Race formats are unforgiving. One rough round can bury you, and every single point matters.
After narrowly missing the cutoff, Andrew and I processed our emotions the traditional Midwestern way: Culver’s.
Security was being provided by a man wearing a kilt, tasseled socks, plaid, and a bulletproof vest.
Arizona remains undefeated in side quests.
Meanwhile, the finalists moved on to the Amazing Race finals format featuring games like Whirlwind Pinball, World Cup Soccer Pinball, and Viking Pinball while we watched the elimination scores climb from our back patio like fireworks.
The Amazing Race finals ended up lasting 16 games deep for the eventual winner, Matt JohnsonAZ — a reminder that endurance mattered just as much as pinball skill all day long.
Electric Bat really does know how to throw an endurance tournament.
Still counts.
Want to read about more pimball tournaments?
Are you interested in playing pinball?