Nate Smith Dominates Sunday Night Fights Pinball at The L.A.B.
Nate Smith arrived at The L.A.B. in Ogden, Utah, as the clear rating favorite for Sunday Night Fights. Holding the top spot in the state rankings with 15 wins across 20 events this season, the IFPA #556 competitor closed out the July 5th tournament exactly as his resume suggested. Smith, who previously hit a career peak of #211 in 2022, navigated a 21-player field through 149 minutes of Flip Frenzy action before dominating the four-player group finals. The commanding performance marked his second victory in his last five outings on the local circuit.
The Sunday weather outside reached a sweltering 96°F, but the atmosphere inside the local bar was as welcoming as ever. Regular competitors consistently praise the venue for its deep lineup of machines, great vibes, and high-value play cards. It was a standard competitive draw for a weekly event, featuring an average national rank of #8,632 and drawing two of Utah’s top ten NACS players.
Chasing Cade Vincent in the Frenzy
While Smith ultimately took the crown, the qualifier phase belonged entirely to Cade Vincent. Vincent, holding the IFPA #2999 rank, mounted a seven-game winning streak out of the 13 matches he played. He was an unstoppable force on the floor, logging the top score on eight of the nine unique machines he faced on his way to a first-place qualifying finish.
The time-limited Flip Frenzy format kept competitors cycling rapidly; winners stayed at the machine while losers headed to the back of the queue. Smith spent the afternoon tracking right behind Vincent’s tear. The two top finishers crossed paths on Flight 2000 (Stern Electronics, 1980), where Vincent secured first position in an eight-minute clash. Vincent also spent the afternoon chipping into Dallin Hudson’s slim edge in a long-standing rivalry that now spans 46 shared tournaments.
Other familiar pairings shaped the qualifying rounds. Megan Weir, whose rating has been on the rise over the past year to IFPA #5,287, and Kyle Hudson added to their shared history of 14 events. It is a matchup where Weir has historically finished ahead more often. Vincent and Weir are also no strangers, having crossed paths 40 times on the circuit. Weir expertly navigated the frenzy to successfully secure the top overall seed heading into the final bracket.
Judgment Day at 35: The Machine That Changed Pinball
Williams’ Terminator 2: Judgment Day hit the floor in July 1991, and 35 years later, it still commands the room. With a massive production run of 15,202 units, it remains a cornerstone of competitive play and a defining milestone in pinball history.
Players know it for its signature gun grip, which replaced the traditional plunger and put a weapon directly in the player’s hand. They know it for the oscillating ball cannon that demands perfect timing to hit targets on the left side of the playfield. But its legacy goes far deeper into the very bones of modern pinball design.
Led by the legendary designer Steve Ritchie, the team built a machine of absolute firsts. Terminator 2 was the first pinball machine ever designed to feature a Dot Matrix Display (DMD), an innovation that forever changed how games communicated with players and tracked complex rulesets. Because of that new display technology, animators John Vogel and Scott Slomiany were able to introduce the first-ever “Video Mode”—a mini-game played entirely on the screen using the flipper buttons. It was also the very first machine to utilize an autoplunger mechanism.
The aesthetic of the game is equally iconic, anchored by Doug Watson’s timeless artwork and Chris Granner’s driving sound and music design. Pinball history notes that Watson initially drafted the backglass featuring a standard T-800 endoskeleton. When the art was shown to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor requested the addition of his signature sunglasses. Schwarzenegger loved Watson’s revised art so much that he agreed to step into the booth and provide custom voice lines specifically for the game.
Today, competitors are still stepping up, loading the cannon, and aiming for the flashing targets. For anyone looking to conquer the table 35 years later, remember the core strategy: shooting the left and right ramps will eventually start Payback Time, bumping all shots to a massive 5 million points for a limited window.
Happy 35th to a machine that proved the future was already here.
Kesler’s Cinderella Run
The format shifted to a single round of Group Match Play for the finals, bringing Smith, Dallin Hudson, Weir, and Connor Kesler to the floor. Kesler, sitting at IFPA #3,171, entered the finals as the fourth seed out of four, setting the stage for a deep run from the back of the bracket.
Flight 2000 made another crucial appearance during the finals. In a 35-minute marathon, Kesler secured four points, finishing ahead of Smith, Hudson, and Weir. The 1980 widebody game rewards strategic play; the left spinner is incredibly valuable after multiball, and if locks are already achieved, each switch that kicks a ball to the lanes scores 10,000 points, turning it into a 20,000-point play plus the spinner.
Kesler’s strong showing on Flight 2000 allowed him to keep a narrow edge over Hudson for the evening, writing another close chapter in a rivalry spanning nine shared tournaments.
Smith Closes the Book
Despite Kesler’s momentum from the bottom seed, Smith proved exactly why he was the clear rating favorite. The veteran player held his ground when the group moved to the modern titles.
On Stern’s 2023 release Foo Fighters (Pro), Smith took the four-point win in a 30-minute game against Hudson, Weir, and Kesler. Competitors on Foo Fighters can hit the UFO captive ball a few times to light the action button, which can then be used to spot a lit shot. Smith followed that up with another four-point victory on Earthshaker, firmly establishing his dominant performance to close out the bracket and take the tournament win.
With Smith taking the overall victory, Kesler held on for a highly respectable second place. Dallin Hudson rounded out the top three, securing his third consecutive podium finish in recent events.
Final Podium
- 1st: Nate Smith
- 2nd: Connor Kesler
- 3rd: Dallin Hudson
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