Outside, broken clouds offered little relief from a sweltering 90-degree Central Florida afternoon that felt closer to 103. Inside the Oviedo Bowling Center, however, the heavy air conditioning fought the summer humidity as forty-two competitive pinball hopefuls chalked their hands and prepared for battle. The Pinball Lounge was quietly buzzing before the opening plunge, serving as the immaculate proving ground for a marathon competitive test.
For local flipper enthusiasts and visiting road warriors alike, the Oviedo sanctuary represents the gold standard of arcade conditions. Tucked comfortably alongside the bowling lanes, the lounge pairs a full-service bar with a pristine, twenty-machine lineup spanning fifty years of silverball history. Thanks to legendary resident technician Ed, every pop bumper and drop target across the floor functioned with absolute tournament precision. Players slid pre-paid cards and dropped quarters into the coin doors, the ambient clatter of mechanical chimes setting the rhythm for what would become an exhausting, seventeen-hour endurance run.
A Heavyweight Draw in Central Florida
The tournament draw featured a robust forty-two participants, thirty-seven of whom carried official International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) rankings. It was a field sized perfectly for classic regional action—large enough to generate immense bracket crossfire, but intimate enough that the regulars knew the exact tactical tendencies of their peers. National standout Shannon Stafford, carrying a formidable rank of IFPA #192, entered the room as the highest-rated competitor in the building.
Beyond the national implications, the event served as a brutal collision course for the Florida North American Championship Series (NACS). Thirty-eight state-ranked contenders filled the lanes, bringing an eye-popping regional density that featured eight of Florida’s top ten leaderboard heavyweights. With state number one Vince Gelormine and number two Sean Palmer both in the mix, every four-player group pairing on the floor carried the heavy atmosphere of a regional title match.
Gelormine’s Control on the Qualifier Floor
Action opened with a grueling thirteen-round Target Match Play qualifying phase, and Vince Gelormine immediately demonstrated why he owns the state’s top ranking. Entering the weekend with two victories in his last five tournaments, Gelormine put on a suffocating display of floor control. The Fort Lauderdale native posted the top group score on eight of the twelve distinct machines he faced, effortlessly absorbing target points to capture the number one overall seed.
Along the way, Gelormine leveraged his brilliant mechanical execution to extend his career placement advantages over perennial rivals Andrew Dunn, Garrett Smoke, and John JT Thomas. Even against North Miami Beach standout Sebastian Bobbio—who historically holds the edge over Gelormine in shared events—the state number one finished ahead during the qualifier. The strong showing narrowed Bobbio’s career shared history lead to thirteen tournaments to twelve, adding yet another chapter of incredible shot-making to their twenty-eight shared appearances.
The qualifying floor produced a series of punishing physical grinds before the playoffs cutline was finally established. In Round 10, Bally’s 1981 classic Eight Ball Deluxe hosted a fierce fifteen-minute showdown between Smoke, Andrew Dunn, JT Thomas, and Bobbio. Smoke snatched the win by methodically clearing his numbered drop targets and relentlessly hammering the bonus multiplier drops to watch his score soar. Two rounds later, Arion Strealy outlasted Andrew Dunn and Shaun Spaid in a tense eighteen-minute tactical display on a 1976 Night Rider, keeping the silverball pinned up top in the saucer to exploit the lit spinner.
The Marathon Wick and Koscinski’s Cinderella Charge
As the evening wore on, the sixteen players who survived the 411-minute qualifier transitioned into a high-stakes Group Match Play championship bracket. The physical fatigue of the long day immediately crystallized in the opening finals round during a staggering, seventy-seven-minute war of attrition on Stern’s 2024 John Wick Premium. John Moschella survived the longest game of the entire tournament to edge out Tristan Stafford, Gelormine, and Nick Smith. Moschella secured his crucial four points by masterfully controlling the left orbit and car-smash multiball sequences while avoiding the devastating soft plunges that trap the ball in the crate and melt the ball save timer.
chicagoThat exhausting opening battle cracked the bracket wide open, eventually leaving the top-seeded Gelormine out of gas in fourteenth place. In his absence, the tournament witnessed an extraordinary Cinderella charge from Ponte Vedra Beach native Tank Koscinski. Scrubbing into the playoffs as the fourteenth seed out of sixteen, Koscinski mounted a breathtaking comeback from the back of the pack. He caught absolute fire under the bright lights, posting the top score on five of the six machines he played in the finals bracket, including dominant runaway victories on Creature from the Black Lagoon and Chicago Gaming’s Pulp Fiction (SE) that completely stunned the higher seeds.
Smith’s Quiet March to the Summit
While Koscinski’s explosive charge captivated the remaining spectators, tournament pinball ultimately crowns the competitor who refuses to make a fatal mistake. On this sweltering June night, that unwavering composure belonged entirely to Nick Smith. Entering the playoffs as the seventh seed, the veteran didn’t rely on flashy arena sweeps or blowout victories to survive the 612-minute finals gauntlet. Instead, Smith locked into a zen-like state of risk management, grinding out critical second-place group finishes across modern multiball arenas like Stranger Things and punishing solid-state classics like Eight Ball Deluxe.
His quiet, methodical point accumulation eventually allowed him to eclipse Koscinski’s aggressive push and outlast third-place finisher Garrett Smoke to capture the tournament crown. Beyond the hardware, Smith’s victory permanently broke his career rivalry tie with Koscinski, putting him ahead in three of their five shared events, while bringing him dead even with Gelormine’s career totals. As midnight struck at the Oviedo Bowling Center, Smith stood exhausted but victorious, embodying the absolute composure required to survive a regional masterpiece.
- 1st Place: Nick Smith
- 2nd Place: Tank Koscinski
- 3rd Place: Garrett Smoke
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