Sixteen minutes is an absolute eternity in competitive pinball. That was the exact duration of the grueling two-player clash on Gottlieb’s 1988 classic Excalibur between top finishers Kim Smith and Zac Martin. The tension was palpable as the two battled through multiple sword-and-sorcery multiballs. On Excalibur, players must complete flashing target banks to light their locks at the center ramp. Once in the two-ball multiball, the ramp becomes a lucrative shot worth 10,000 points multiplied by the current multiplier. Ultimately, Smith executed this strategy flawlessly to secure the victory on the machine, handing Martin his only defeat of the entire evening.
Despite that single blemish, Martin’s performance was nothing short of spectacular. He ripped through the tournament by winning nine games in a row out of the ten he played, securing a hard-fought first-place tie. Martin has been quietly leveling up over the past year, currently sitting at a respectable IFPA rank of #2,529 and the #10 spot in the Pennsylvania state rankings. This defining Excalibur battle set the tone for an evening where endurance, deep machine knowledge, and consistency were the only paths to reaching the podium.
A High-Stakes Tuesday at Pinball Gallery
The setting for this Max Match Play showdown was Malvern’s Pinball Gallery, a beloved venue steeped in retro arcade nostalgia. Competitors happily leave their quarters at home in favor of a flat pay-by-the-hour model. This setup allows patrons to just push the start button and dive into a massive selection of old-school classics and modern releases, transporting older players back to the days when their parents would drop them off at the arcade. Pinball Gallery boasts a staggering 81 machines on the floor, spanning five decades of pinball history from 1975 to 2025.
The continuous head-to-head format generated 160 total games over 123 action-packed minutes, actively rotating opponents to maximize pairing diversity and game volume. The 32-player field was a perfect snapshot of a highly competitive regional ecosystem. Twenty-nine of the participants carried IFPA rankings, and the state-level talent was undeniable. The Pennsylvania NACS standings were heavily represented, boasting an average state rank of #147 across the participants, including four state top-10 players and six in the top 25.
Toppling the Top Seed on Taxi
Any serious discussion of the tournament’s fierce competitive context has to highlight the presence of Matt Strzelecki. Entering the event as the strongest competitor with a national rank of #382, Strzelecki had been riding an incredible three-event podium streak and claimed two outright wins across his last five outings. He currently dominates the Pennsylvania scene as the undisputed #1 ranked player in the state with 10 total victories this season. Across his four-year career, Strzelecki has amassed an intimidating 36 wins over the last three years.
However, the sheer depth of the Tuesday night field meant no easy matches, even for the heavy favorite. In one of the night’s most notable upsets, Josh Grove PA squared off against Strzelecki on Williams’ legendary 1988 hit, Taxi. Grove likely utilized the vital strategy of picking up passengers immediately after multiball ends to keep the right saucer lit for continuous locks. After a tightly contested 11-minute marathon, Grove emerged victorious, handing the top seed a critical loss.
Strzelecki ultimately finished in a respectable fifth place, but the tight standings allowed his rivals to gain ground. Don Werth capitalized on the moment, widening his lifetime head-to-head gap against Strzelecki to 8-5 with a higher final placement. Zac Martin also took full advantage, officially tying his own career rivalry record with Strzelecki at an even 7-7.
Werth’s Parallel Path to the Podium
While Martin was stringing together his incredible nine-game win streak, Don Werth was quietly orchestrating an identical run of sheer dominance. Werth, currently the PA NACS #4 ranked player, put up the top score on nine of the ten machines he played on his way to tying Martin for first place. Clearly a competitor on the rise, Werth now boasts three top-three results from his last five tournament outings.
The dual first-place finishes brought Werth and Martin’s ongoing rivalry to a perfect 5-5 equilibrium. Both players navigated the treacherous Max Match Play format with unmatched precision, refusing to yield an inch. Just behind them, Kim Smith and Joe Czapka ground out their own highly impressive performances to tie for third place. Smith, a veteran of 181 tournaments with 14 wins in the last three years, used her earlier Excalibur victory over Martin as a crucial stepping stone to secure her spot on the podium. The podium represented a blend of rising stars and seasoned veterans, all of whom had to fight through a deeply saturated pool of Pennsylvania’s best flippers.
As the machines powered down and the final standings settled, the evening reinforced exactly what makes local competitive pinball so compelling. A 32-player draw on a standard Tuesday night brought out world-class talent, saw unranked challengers scoring massive upsets against state champions, and featured a pair of co-champions operating at the absolute peak of their abilities. It was a brilliant showcase of a thriving regional scene where every single match is a heavy-hitting battle, regardless of the stakes.
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