Greetings, silverball maniacs and retro arcade fanatics, coming to you live from the heart of Mesa, Arizona, on a scorching afternoon where the outside thermometer hit 104°F under clear desert skies. Inside Starfighters Arcade, tucked slightly off the beaten path on Jasmine Street, seventy-one serious athletes gathered for the high-stakes Starfighters Monthly Pace Match Play tournament. Surrounded by nostalgic toys, vintage posters, and classic arcade cabinets over forty years old in immaculate working order, local organizer and competitor Kevin Curtis put on an absolute sports broadcasting clinic.
Curtis swept across the carpet like a heavyweight champion, capturing the top score on seven of the thirteen distinct machines he faced across the day. In a brutal competitive crucible featuring fifty-six national IFPA-ranked veterans—including Arizona’s top-ranked titan John Shopple—Curtis refused to buckle under the intense pressure. It was an extraordinary showcase of athletic stamina and encyclopedic mechanical precision, spined dramatically by his dominant character arc and anchored by the milestone twentieth anniversary of Stern’s legendary Pirates of the Caribbean.
Twenty Years on the High Seas: Curtis Navigates Stern’s Pirates Arena
Every pinball tournament needs a legendary arena to test its athletes, and master architects at Stern provided the ultimate oceanic battleground back in June 2006. Celebrating its official twenty-year anniversary this month, Pirates of the Caribbean continues to draw serious competitors to its silverball decks two decades after its initial launch. Boasting an acclaimed ipdb playfield layout rating of 7.8, this masterwork of mechanical engineering served as a decisive arena across three grueling tournament rounds. Curtis established his early tournament rhythm by respecting the machine’s deep ruleset, treating every flip as a calculated step toward bracket survival.
Surviving the spinning Tortuga turntable on Pirates requires the tactical discipline of a seasoned archivist. Savvy athletes bypassed the top lanes by manually short-plunging their feeds to set up Tortuga multiball, while precisely sniping the green stand-ups to qualify the center compass awards. While IFPA standout Greg Mohs logged an exhausting forty-three-minute marathon victory on the ship over Alex Cardwell, Jard Cassell, and Jared Harris during Round 11, Curtis watched safely from the upper bracket as the field fought through the stormy mechanical waters.
The Gauntlet of Jasmine Street: Curtis Clashes with Shopple and Mohs
Hidden away from casual foot traffic, Starfighters Arcade transformed into an electric sports cathedral blending retro classics with modern arenas. The tournament grid featured sixty-three state-ranked Arizona athletes, spined by regional powerhouse John Shopple. Sitting atop the Arizona NACS standings with 648 WPPR points and eight victories across twenty events, Shopple immediately flexed his muscle by capturing decisive round wins on Whirlwind and Ghostbusters. Curtis met Shopple head-on in group play, conquering the national number 101 ranked titan with absolute poise before sweeping ahead of him across all three games they shared.
Right on Shopple’s heels was veteran Greg Mohs, currently ranked fourteenth in the state leaderboard. Treat every walk-up or ten-year veteran like a serious contender, and Mohs certainly played like one, capturing first-place round finishes on revered classic battlegrounds like Attack from Mars and Eight Ball Deluxe. Mohs also leaned into his recurring circuit history with Chris Peseri, finishing ahead of his familiar opponent across all three games they shared on the carpet.
Mid-Round Fireworks: Bizzi’s Xenon Upset and Curtis’s Getaway Test
While the regional giants traded blows at the bracket summit, the tournament floor erupted with thrilling mid-card drama. During Round 3, unheralded competitor Milliana Bizzi stepped up to Bally’s 1980 retro arena, Xenon. Over a nail-biting nine-minute multiplayer clash, Bizzi conquered the tube ramp and captured first place, finishing ahead of Justin Fink, Craig Back, and Lisa Ryan.
The competitive grit reached a boiling point for our central protagonist during Round 5 on Williams’ 1992 speed demon, The Getaway: High Speed II. Over an intense eighteen-minute four-player showdown, Chris Peseri shifted into fifth gear to capture the seven first-place points. Jard Cassell secured second place, forcing Kevin Curtis into a rare third-place finish, while Louis Rulon trailed in fourth. It was the ultimate gut check for Curtis, testing whether the local favorite possessed the mental fortitude to rebound from a brutal playfield layout.
Dominant Floor: Curtis Conquers Mohs and Seven Master Playfields
Despite that temporary stumble on The Getaway, Kevin Curtis’s arc across the thirteen rounds defined the entire tournament. Operating with the encyclopedic focus of a master archivist, Curtis reasserted his floor dominance by logging seven first-place round victories. He systematically swept through the master playfields of Whirlwind, Pinball Magic, Foo Fighters, Guardians of the Galaxy, JAWS, and Iron Man.
When Curtis locked horns directly with Greg Mohs in the late stages, the broadcasting booth crackled with pure championship energy. Across the four games they shared during the tournament, Curtis finished ahead three times, decisively extending his ongoing career rivalry lead over Mohs to eight tournaments against six. It was an unpretentious display of silverball grit from the IFPA number 606 ranked competitor, proving that mechanics and momentum were firmly on his side.
Silverball Immortality Under the Desert Stars
As the 383-minute endurance test finally drew to a close, the Starfighters community erupted in celebration of a truly unforgettable Pace Match Play championship. Kevin Curtis proved that a passionate local organizer can step behind the flippers and execute a legendary floor sweep against the state’s elite. Leaving seventy exhausted walk-ups and National contenders in his wake, Curtis captured local pinball immortality before landing atop the final tournament standings.
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1st Place: Kevin Curtis
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2nd Place: Greg Mohs
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3rd Place: Jard Cassell
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