WA State Pinball Tournament: Tik Tok’s Workshop Matchplay

Bremerton’s Tik Tok’s Workshop has always been more than just another neighborhood bar. With its unassuming exterior and a lineup that mixes vintage Ballys with brand-new Sterns, the spot has become a sanctuary for local pinball diehards. (The 4.7-star Google rating with over 200 reviews doesn’t hurt either.) On September 23rd, six players gathered for Tik Tok’s weekly Matchplay tournament, and what unfolded was less a casual weeknight diversion than a layered story of rivalry, partnership, and resilience played out across half a century of pinball design.

A Room Full of History

Step into Tik Tok’s and you’re stepping into a timeline. That night, competitors faced off on 11 different machines spanning 1972 to 2025.

• Fireball (Bally, 1972) brought spinning discs and zipper flippers to the table, chaos contained in a psychedelic package.
• Eight Ball (Bally, 1977) was the blockbuster of its era — simple, fast, and punishing when you dared underestimate it.
• Harlem Globetrotters On Tour (Bally, 1978) demanded quick reactions and rewarded flashy combo play.
• Devil’s Dare (Gottlieb, 1982) turned heads with eerie audio and a double-bonus feature that could swing games in a single shot.
• Rollergames (Williams, 1990) married pinball to roller derby kitsch and kept the loop shots flowing.
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Williams, 1991) upped the stakes with its DMD and legendary cannon shot.
• No Fear: Dangerous Sports (Williams, 1995) embraced ’90s extreme culture with punishingly fast shots.
• Monster Bash (Remake) (Chicago Gaming, 2018) let players assemble the Universal Monsters band, a modern favorite.
• Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant’s Eye (Premium) (Stern, 2025) represented the new frontier — fresh code, fresh rules, and little local experience.

It was the kind of lineup that tests more than reflexes; it tests adaptability. Veterans had to reach back into memory for flipper timing, while newer players got a crash course in pinball history on the fly.

Faces Behind the Flippers

Six competitors made up the field, but their histories intertwined in ways that made it feel larger than life.

• Andrew McCann (Bremerton, WA) — ranked #919 nationally, the favorite coming in. Nearly 700 events, over 200 top-three finishes. In Bremerton, his name is practically synonymous with “finals contender.”
• Richard Godwin (Bremerton, WA) — ranked #5859, Colleen’s husband and the tournament organizer,  a veteran of 600+ events. His consistency and leadership make him both anchor and rival in the local scene.
• Colleen Godwin (Bremerton, WA) — ranked #16029 and a steady competitor with 200+ events. The Godwins often travel and play together, but when they’re in the same group, marriage lines blur into rivalry.
• Michael Lawrence — the wild card. With only ten total career events, he had little track record but plenty of potential. By the end of the night, he’d turn heads.
• Kate Janeway — a developing player with calm focus and a knack for mastering classics.
• Kelly Frost WA — a familiar face at Tik Tok’s, sharp enough to steal points but fighting uphill against higher-ranked opponents.

Where the Rubber Meets the Outlane

Round 1: Andrew opened strong on Harlem Globetrotters, beating Richard and Kelly. Michael struck first blood on Devil’s Dare, edging Colleen and Kate with a last-ball surge.

Round 3: Kate surprised the room by winning Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant’s Eye, adapting quickest to its brand-new ruleset. Across the room, Andrew claimed T2 with clinical shotmaking, while Richard trailed in third.

Round 5: History and novelty clashed. On Fireball, Kate toppled Andrew and Colleen, showing off sharp nudging on the spinning disc. In the parallel group, Richard found traction on Eight Ball, outpacing Kelly and Michael.

Round 6: Richard and Colleen squared off on The Mandalorian. Richard stacked Razor Crest multiball at just the right moment, a textbook strategy that Colleen couldn’t match. Across the room, Andrew silenced conversation with a dominant win on Devil’s Dare.

Round 7: Richard gained a measure of revenge on Andrew by winning Eight Ball, while Colleen orchestrated a triumphant Monster Bash victory, stringing together multiballs to leave Michael and Kelly in her wake.

This Is the Way: Round 8 on The Mandalorian

By the time Round 8 rolled around, the tournament had already seen its share of swings — Kate’s surprise win on Fireball, Colleen’s orchestration of monsters on Monster Bash, and Richard’s resurgence on Eight Ball. But the draw for Round 8 created a matchup that became the defining moment of the night: Andrew McCann, Michael Lawrence, and Kelly Frost WA on The Mandalorian (Premium).

The Mandalorian, released by Stern in 2021 and designed by Brian Eddy (of Medieval Madness and Attack from Mars fame), quickly became a modern tournament staple. Its layout is a modern fan design, but the key to winning lies in managing Razor Crest multiball and choosing missions wisely.

For the uninitiated, here’s the short strategy guide:

• Plunge skill shot: A soft plunge that drops the ball into the upper playfield can net you a sneaky 750k.
• Razor Crest: Hitting the Razor Crest target three times lights multiball — but the real magic is stacking that multiball with a mission, doubling your scoring opportunities.
• Upper playfield: Feels like a gimmick at first, but during modes, it’s a point factory if you can keep control.

Andrew knew this game, and it showed. He worked the Razor Crest relentlessly, setting up the multiball stack on his second ball. When he finally triggered the start, the room tilted in his direction — jackpots flying, inserts flashing, Kelly and Michael suddenly forced to play catch-up.

Michael fought valiantly, staying calm and putting up a respectable second-place finish. For a player in only his tenth event, holding his own against a national top-1000 competitor on one of Stern’s trickiest modern titles was a statement. Kelly had her moments, but brutal outlanes punished her attempts at recovery, leaving her to settle for third.

The impact of the round was larger than just the score sheet. For Andrew, the Round 8 win essentially clinched the tournament. For Michael, it was the proof point that his podium finish wasn’t a fluke. And for Kelly, it was the kind of tough draw that turns a Tuesday night into a story retold over beers at the bar.

Washington’s Bigger Picture

While Tik Tok’s weekly matchplay was its own intimate battleground, it’s worth zooming out. Washington state boasts one of the strongest competitive pinball scenes in the country, and the current IFPA Top 10 is stacked with talent:

With Conrad Rustad holding the #3 spot statewide, Bremerton already has representation in the elite ranks. Players like Andrew McCann and Richard Godwin may not yet be in this statewide top tier, but tournaments like Tik Tok’s weekly series show the depth of competition brewing locally. The gap between Tuesday-night basement battles and the top of Washington’s standings isn’t as wide as it looks — and that’s what makes these weeklies matter.

How It Ended

When the final balls drained, the storylines converged:

• Champion: Andrew McCann — cool, consistent, ruthless when it mattered.
• Runner-up: Richard Godwin — the organizer kept pace, but couldn’t topple his long-time rival.
• Third: Michael Lawrence — the breakout star of the night, podium finish in just his tenth event.
• Fourth: Colleen Godwin — steady, with her Monster Bash win as the highlight.
• Fifth: Kate Janeway — her wins on Fireball and D&D made her the night’s spoiler.
• Sixth: Kelly Frost WA — unlucky with groupings, but tenacious throughout.

The Spark of Pinball

For an event with only six players, Tik Tok’s Matchplay 9/23 felt bigger than its bracket. The machines spanned five decades of pinball history. The players carried years of rivalries, friendships, and — in the Godwins’ case — marriage into the mix. And in the end, Bremerton’s Tuesday night scene delivered what it always does: skill, drama, and a sense of community that makes every drain and jackpot feel personal.

At Tik Tok’s Workshop, you don’t need 50 players to have a story worth telling. You just need a few locals, a half-dozen machines, and the spark that comes when pinball becomes personal.