Klawitter Cranks It Up at Electric Bat’s Latest League Clash

While most of the country was still thawing out, the Electric Bat Arcade in Tempe brought the heat in the form of flippers and fierce competition. With just a few clouds in the Arizona sky and a perfect 68°F breeze slipping through the desert air, the Electric Bat League Season 15 Part 2 #1 drew 111 players into a battle royale of ramps, jackpots, and multiball madness. Hosted by the ever-reliable Rachel Bess, the tournament ran a solid eight hours—just long enough for skills to be tested and nerves to fray.

The Electric Bat Brings the Buzz

If you like your pinball rowdy, art-covered, and mixed with a dark rum float, then Electric Bat Arcade is your kind of place. Located at 29 W. Southern Ave in Tempe and hooked into the long-standing Yucca Tap Room, this arcade isn’t just another lineup of games—it’s a full-blown experience. Over 60 well-maintained machines line the floor, from classic EMs to the latest Stern releases. It’s a place where you can hear the mechanical clunks of Big Game just as clearly as the booming sound package of Venom. And with affordable plays, a tiki bar tucked inside, and the energy of regular league nights, it’s not just a good arcade—it’s one of the best in the country.

Avengers Assemble… Then Multiball Happens

Round 2 brought the drama, as four players squared off on Avengers: Infinity Quest (Pro)—Stern’s 2020 release that dropped in the middle of the pandemic, when new-in-box machines were selling faster than hand sanitizer. Designed by Keith Elwin, this is no button-masher. It’s a ruleset-rich, mode-stacking, gem-collecting beast of a game with combo logic that rewards chess-brained shot planning.

This match leaned heavily on the Soul Gem mode, known for inverting your flipper controls—an evil little mechanic that tests whether players are thinking or just reacting. Jim Smith, ranked 29th in the state, looked like he’d studied under Doctor Strange himself, flipping with precision and making calculated progress through the gem tiers. Ty Bull kept up the pace, using the upper flipper and Captain Marvel ramp to control the tempo. Kirsten Brandt and Scott Pobieglo struggled to settle in—Infinity Quest does not forgive hesitation—and both were thrown off when the gem modes started overlapping. Still, a battle worthy of the Avengers.

Pinball Machines That Made an Impact

Let’s talk metal, plastic, and flipper fury. The Electric Bat brought a stacked lineup, but five machines in particular stood out—either for their design legacy, cult status, or tournament-level playability.

Venom (Pro) – Stern, 2023
Released with a big Marvel license and the sleek design mind of Brian Eddy, Venom is deceptively fast. Instead of traditional multiball setups, you progress through the game by choosing different hosts, each with their own perks and powerups—almost like a pinball RPG. The big innovation is the Symbiote Path system that stores progress across games, even on location. Combine that with buttery ramps and fast return loops, and you’ve got a modern tournament darling.

Judge Dredd – Bally, 1993
This widebody tank of a pin was built during Bally’s golden age of experimentation. It features the Deadworld rotating planet—a toy that was supposed to pick up and drop balls for a multiball start but was famously too buggy, resulting in a physical lockout of the feature on many production models. Still, its seven-ball multiball potential, callouts dripping with satirical comic book flavor, and layered ruleset make it a tournament wildcard.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day – Williams, 1991
The first pinball to use a dot-matrix display, T2 was a technological trailblazer. Steve Ritchie delivered a layout with lightning loops, a motorized cannon, and one of the most iconic skill shots in pinball history. Arnold’s voice callouts, at-the-time cutting-edge animations, and a playfield designed for speed ensured this machine would become a cornerstone of any serious lineup. Players who lived and died by the chase loop definitely felt the pressure during competition.

Creature from the Black Lagoon – Bally, 1992
Built around a single wizard mode—Rescue the Girl—CFTBL offers a linear but story-driven game set in a 1950s drive-in theater. Designed by John Trudeau, this game features a backlit hologram of the Creature that reveals itself beneath the playfield during certain modes—still one of the most jaw-dropping mechanical effects ever put into a pin. It’s notoriously brutal if you can’t hit the left ramp, and the Snack Bar shot is tight enough to make you question your aim and your life choices.

Big Game – Stern Electronics, 1980
Here’s your history lesson. Big Game was Stern’s first widebody and one of the few early solid-state machines to pack in that many drop targets (thirty-nine, if you’re counting). It was designed to eat quarters and punish hesitation. This isn’t a pin you finesse—it’s one you grind. Its wide layout demands deliberate shooting and drain control, making it a surprisingly strategic machine in tournament play.

Finishing Strong on the Shaker

The last game of the night landed on Nitro Ground Shaker, Bally’s 1980 ode to drag racing, tight turns, and sudden drains. Designed by George Christian and decked out in wild muscle car artwork from Dave Christensen, it’s a deceptively simple game that punishes sloppy play. With tight pop bumper clusters and lightning-fast orbits, it’s a machine that can chew up a good ball in seconds—and when the tournament stakes are this high, there’s no room for weak flips or hesitation.

But Ken Klawitter wasn’t flinching. Ranked 126th in Arizona going into the event, he handled the Shaker like a seasoned driver on a quarter-mile strip, slamming the spinner, nailing the upper loop, and staying just out of the bumpers’ reach. His consistency across all five rounds paid off in the final showdown, pushing him ahead of higher-ranked competitors and landing him the win.

Jay Bondelli was right behind him, staying smooth under pressure. Known for his calculated style, he kept pace through the day and came into the final round with serious momentum. He couldn’t quite close the gap, but second place in a 111-player field is nothing to frown at.

Dave Halley and Andrew Roesch rounded out the top four with strong showings of their own. Halley, with over 500 IFPA events under his belt, brought depth and experience to the tournament. Roesch, ranked just a few spots behind him in the state, matched that energy all night with sharp play and confident shots.

Arizona IFPA Pinball Top 10 Standings:

A Toast to the Bat and the Best

From rotating Deadworlds to symbiote-fueled powerups, this tournament was a buffet of pinball history and competition at its finest. Huge thanks to Rachel Bess for organizing a seamless event and to the Electric Bat Arcade for once again proving that great pinball lives in the Valley of the Sun. Congratulations again to Ken Klawitter, whose steady hand and sharp aim turned a classic Bally shaker into a victory lap.

Look forward to more electric updates, spotlight matches, and pinball stories—because there’s always another ball to plunge.