It took twenty-five grueling minutes on Led Zeppelin (Pro) to fracture the quarterfinals group and set the stage for the rest of the night. Top finishers Michael Reimer and Jamme Thomas found themselves locked in a four-player battle of endurance alongside Guy Merrill and William Roman, trading shots and outlasting the competition until Reimer walked away with the crucial five points. The marathon match proved to be the defining ripple of the Pinball Gallery Monthly Tournament on June 9, 2026, establishing a grueling pace that Reimer would ultimately master on his way to securing the championship.
With 36 players converging in Malvern, Pennsylvania, the tournament featured a blend of seasoned state contenders and eager challengers fighting through 151 minutes of continuous Max Match Play before transitioning to the ruthless Group Bracket playoffs. Reimer’s dominant performance in the finals bracket capped off a quietly brilliant season, bringing him his third podium finish in his last five events and cementing his status as a formidable force at IFPA #2,224.
Embryon’s Forty-Five Years of Punishment
The path to the bracket was paved with nostalgia, heavily influenced by the atmosphere of the Pinball Gallery itself. Competitors stepped off Lancaster Avenue and into a haven of retro arcade charm, where a flat rate replaces the need to carry heavy pockets of quarters, and the glowing backglasses of classic pinball machines stand alongside vintage track-and-field and Skee-Ball cabinets. The venue’s carefully curated lineup set the perfect stage to celebrate a major milestone: the 45-year anniversary of Bally’s Embryon, originally released in June 1981. The Claude Fernandez-designed machine holds a unique place in history as the last widebody pinball produced by Bally before its acquisition by Williams, and it notably marks the first Bally game to feature artwork by Tony Ramunni, whose striking sci-fi fantasy aesthetic continues to captivate players.
The widebody classic showed its teeth during the qualifier, demanding precise control and punishing stray shots over four tournament games that averaged six minutes a piece. Players had to navigate its unique layout, which notably features Bally’s trademarked “Flipsave”—a small, timed vertical flipper in the right outlane intended to save draining balls. Seasoned players quickly learned to ignore the tantalizing but perilous two-ball multiball, which is famously difficult to trigger and offers no substantial scoring advantage. Instead, the key to survival was trapping the ball and consistently backhanding the right saucer from either flipper, a strategy Tessa Morton used to mount a dominant run, winning six games in a row out of ten played on her way to a tied second-place finish in the qualifying phase.
Turning Up the Hollywood Heat
As the field narrowed to the top 16 for the group bracket playoffs, the anniversary celebrations continued with Hollywood Heat turning 40 years old. Released in June 1986 by Premier Technology (under the Gottlieb banner) and designed by John Trudeau, the sun-drenched table—famous for being advertised as the first pinball game to feature 8-digit scoring—became a critical battleground as the pressure mounted under the bright lights of the playoffs. The machine’s aesthetic perfectly captures a distinctly 80s Miami Beach vibe, complete with a photographic translite of Ocean Drive where a keen eye can spot a fun production secret: artist Don Marshall retouched a burned-out hotel neon light for the main photo, but its absence is still visibly entirely unlit in the reflection on the car’s hood.
Players fighting for survival on Hollywood Heat had to strategize around its highly unusual layout, which includes an isolated pop bumper that can only be hit via a captive ball, as well as its unique “remote trip” linked drop target banks during multiball play. The most successful competitors focused their fire on the upper playfield to quickly maximize the drop values—knowing that dropping a target on one set automatically drops a target on the other—reaping significant points once the three-ball chaos began. The machine hosted a closely matched eight-minute duel earlier in the event, where William Roman narrowly edged out Chris Carlucci, showcasing exactly how tense the classic deck can be in a head-to-head format. Roman utilized that early momentum to punch his ticket to the playoffs, highlighting how crucial legacy machine knowledge is in a diverse tournament field.
Rivalries Settled in the Semifinals
The momentum from Reimer’s 25-minute quarterfinal victory carried him directly into a semifinal clash that carried heavy personal stakes. Reimer found himself repeatedly crossing paths with Keith Saroka throughout the evening. Saroka had absolutely dominated the qualifier, putting up the top score on nine of his ten machines played to claim the number one overall seed. He even managed to edge ahead of Don Werth in their personal rivalry, breaking a tie to lead 4-3 in their head-to-head history. However, in the playoffs, Reimer found the extra gear required to overcome Saroka, officially breaking their own dead heat and taking a 2-1 lead in their shared event record.
While Reimer carved his path forward, the other side of the semifinal bracket produced its own fireworks. On Gottlieb’s 1986 Rock Encore, Cooper Martin pulled off a stunning 14-minute victory over Jamme Thomas, Keith Saroka, and Don Werth in a tense four-player grouping. Martin’s impressive five-point finish on the music-themed table proved he is on a genuine upward trajectory this season, climbing to IFPA #8,722 by the end of the night.
Slaying the Dragon for the Crown
The final group converged on Stern’s Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant’s Eye (Premium) for a deciding 26-minute showdown to crown a champion. Michael Reimer carried his unshakeable momentum into the fantasy realm, methodically dismantling the table and fending off his elite opponents to secure first place overall.
Tom Garrett, riding an impressive hot streak of his own, claimed the second-place finish in the finals. Garrett’s performance extended his podium streak to three consecutive events, demonstrating his remarkable consistency under pressure and cementing his reputation as a top-tier competitor. Jamme Thomas battled fiercely to claim third, while Cooper Martin rounded out the final group in fourth place after an exhausting tournament run.
Reimer’s triumph was a masterclass in stamina and situational awareness, perfectly executing when the lights were brightest. From outlasting his peers in a half-hour endurance test to breaking a tie against a fierce rival, Reimer proved that in the chaotic world of tournament pinball, persistence is just as vital as precision.
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