Mitchell Breaks Tie with Schiffer at EinStein’s Drainiacs
Joshua Mitchell is making these weekend tournaments look routine. The Houston local secured another victory at EinStein’s Drainiacs on July 12, marking his 6th consecutive top-three finish since the streak began at this very same tournament back in June. Competing in the 14-round Group Knockout format, Mitchell claimed the top score on 6 of the 14 machines he faced to earn the 1st place finish.
Over his last 5 events, Mitchell has taken home 4 first-place trophies. Playing at the peak of his 4-year career as the 777th ranked player globally, he navigated the 352-minute tournament with consistent, methodical play.
Sunday Afternoon at EinStein’s
The July 12 group knockout drew 17 competitors to EinStein’s Pub in Katy. Outside, the overcast Texas afternoon sat at 93°F, with the humidity pushing the heat index to a heavy 106°F. Inside, the long-running bar provided a familiar backdrop of affordable drinks, accessible pool tables, and a deep lineup of pinball machines tucked in the back room. It is a comfortable room that rewards regulars with friendly service, pub grub, and cheap entertainment.
The entry list brought a standard level of competitive depth for a weekend event. All 17 participants carried active IFPA ranks, averaging an overall national standing of 7097. The draw featured exactly 1 top-1000 player in Mitchell, alongside 17 state-ranked competitors fighting for Texas points. This kind of field creates the steady rhythm of a weekly tournament, where players share deep histories across dozens of regional matchups.
Murillo and Simmons Find Openings
As the rounds progressed, familiar pairs tested each other on the venue’s wide-ranging 37-machine lineup, which spans from 1978 to 2026 across 7 different manufacturers. Stern’s Deadpool (Premium) proved to be the most active table of the day, hosting 3 separate tournament games. Across this deep roster, Tiffany Simmons and Henri de Ybarrondo met once again, staying dead even over their 15 shared tournaments after Simmons finished in 3rd place overall and de Ybarrondo landed in 8th. Meanwhile, Luis Maldonado secured an advantage over de Ybarrondo in their ongoing 18-tournament contest by finishing just ahead of him in the final standings.
The field produced several notable individual games. During Round 5 on Stern’s 2025 release King Kong: Myth of Terror Island (Pro), Andrew Murillo pulled off a challenging upset. In a 28-minute four-player game, Murillo earned 1.00 points by securing the top position, dropping Jack Schiffer into 3rd place with zero points. For competitors facing King Kong in future events, remember that when balls come down the left river path and feed the left flipper, you can consistently ski jump the ball over to the right flipper to establish a cradle.
Round 8 offered a high-stakes grouping on Foo Fighters (Pro), bringing together Simmons, Mitchell, Bill Nebeker, and Schiffer. Simmons controlled the 23-minute match to take 1st place, putting Mitchell into 2nd and leaving Nebeker and Schiffer to round out the bottom of the group. On Stern’s 2023 music pin, players have a choice off the plunge: you can soft plunge into the drop targets to secure a van modification and boost your next mode, or you can aim directly for the left outlane to chase larger immediate points.
Thirty-Five Years of Judgment Day
It is hard to overstate the impact Williams’ Terminator 2: Judgment Day had when it hit arcades in July 1991. Celebrating its 35th anniversary this month, the Steve Ritchie-designed machine was a technological leap forward for the industry. While Gilligan’s Island technically beat it to the production line with a dot-matrix display (DMD) due to T2’s long design phase, Terminator 2 was the first Williams WPC machine specifically designed around the revolutionary screen.
With a production run of 15,202 units, it remains a massive piece of pinball history. Doug Watson’s iconic backglass artwork—famously adjusted to include Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature sunglasses at the actor’s own request—sets the tone for a brutal, fast-paced layout. The machine replaced the traditional spring plunger with a trigger-based autoplunger, but its true signature toy is the oscillating Gun Grip Ball Launcher. Players fire a ball from the cannon at a bank of targets across the playfield, a mechanic that perfectly captures the film’s action. Ritchie even collaborated with director James Cameron and special effects legend Stan Winston during development, ultimately securing original voice work from Schwarzenegger himself.
Jack Schiffer certainly knew how to handle the classic table during Round 4. In a 19-minute match, Schiffer took 1st place against Nebeker, Cindi Brennan, and Mitchell. To succeed on Terminator 2, players have to master the flow: shoot the left and right ramps to eventually trigger Payback Time, turning all shots into a massive 5 million points for a limited window.
Mitchell Breaks the Tie
Jack Schiffer pushed hard through the later rounds, ultimately securing 2nd place overall and improving his IFPA rating to 1115. The placement held particular weight due to his ongoing history with Mitchell. Heading into Sunday, the two competitors were perfectly balanced across 26 shared tournaments. Over the course of the afternoon, they faced each other directly in 8 different group games.
Mitchell established an early edge in Round 1 by taking 1st on Stern’s Dungeons & Dragons: The Tyrant’s Eye (Pro) over Schiffer’s 2nd-place finish. Schiffer pushed back in Round 13 on Black Knight: Sword of Rage (LE), finishing a 14-minute game in 1st while Mitchell took 2nd. However, Mitchell finished ahead in 5 of their 8 shared games, including a critical Round 14 performance on Star Wars: Fall of the Empire (Pro) that helped him seal the tournament victory and edge ahead in their career rivalry.
Looking Ahead for Mitchell
This victory gives Mitchell 276 points and 14 wins across 20 events in the current Texas NACS season, firmly cementing his status as the 14th-ranked player in the state. Maintaining a top-three finish streak across 6 consecutive events requires immense consistency, and Mitchell shows no signs of slowing down. As the summer calendar continues, regional competitors will have to find new ways to disrupt his rhythm, or else watch him continue to walk away with 1st place.
The final podium results from EinStein’s Drainiacs:
- 1st: Joshua Mitchell
- 2nd: Jack Schiffer
- 3rd: Tiffany Simmons
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