Good evening, pinball fanatics and arcade purists across the great state of Texas! Outside on the Gulf Freeway, a blistering Houston heatwave pushed the feels-like temperature to a punishing 101 degrees amid 75 percent humidity. Step inside the doors of The Game Preserve arcade in Webster, however, and the atmosphere instantly transports you back to the golden era. Surrounded by space-themed cabinets celebrating nearby NASA, the room echoed with the glorious, nostalgic synth blips and electronic bleeps of classic 1980s solid-state machines. It was against this retro backdrop that organizer Space City Pinball dropped the green flag on Interstellar Training TGP NASA Season 7 #4.
Nineteen athletes gathered under the glass for 160 minutes of high-octane Group Match Play action. The draw featured a robust mix of seasoned competitors and local challengers, bringing together fifteen IFPA-ranked contenders alongside four unranked walk-ups. Carrying a national field average rank of #9214 and seventeen Texas North American Championship Series qualifiers, the room was primed for bracket drama. When the mechanical dust finally settled across the forty total games played, the night belonged entirely to Houston hometown hero Troy Witherspoon. Entering the event with his year-over-year rating trending sharply upward, Witherspoon displayed incredible command of the playfield, capturing first place overall and logging the top score on five of the eight machines he played.
A Rocky Launch on Time Machine
Every championship requires an early test of character, and Witherspoon—rocking his signature “ZAR” high score initials—met his right out of the gate in Round 1. Assigned to a formidable four-player opening group, Witherspoon started solid on Bally’s 1992 Doctor Who. He maxed out his playfield multipliers across the upper ramp loops to secure second place with five points behind John M. Kearns. However, the tracks slicked up immediately on Data East’s 1988 Time Machine. Witherspoon struggled to lock into the Star Warp center ramp, plunging to fourth place for a meager single point while Roy Beaty rode the cabinet to a seven-point victory.
In the cutthroat world of competitive match play, a fourth-place group finish can mentally sink a lesser competitor. Instead, Witherspoon tightened his grip on the flippers and dug deep. He immediately rebounded on Stern’s 1979 Meteor, expertly sweeping the edges of the classic drop target banks to build his rocket bonuses, capturing first place and seven points over Joshua Valdez, Beaty, and Kearns. He capped off his opening circuit with a grueling, 69-minute war of attrition on Gottlieb’s 1976 Pioneer, putting up 37,460 points for third place behind Valdez (50,660) and Beaty (47,280). Despite the early wobble on Time Machine, Witherspoon showed pure athletic grit, heading into the intermission sitting in second place overall.
Fifty Years Under the Glass: The Golden Space Odyssey Run
If Round 1 was about survival, Round 2 was a pure, unadulterated exhibition of floor generalship. Witherspoon shifted his game into supersonic gear, fittingly sparking his second-round output on a legendary milestone machine. Williams’ Space Odyssey officially rolled off the assembly lines in June 1976, meaning this electromechanical masterpiece was celebrating its exact 50-year anniversary this month. Half a century after its debut, the beloved space-themed cabinet—boasting an impressive 7.7 art rating on the Internet Pinball Database—continues to draw fierce competition. Across the entire tournament, Space Odyssey saw two intense multiplayer games averaging fifteen minutes apiece.
When Witherspoon stepped up to the anniversary classic for Game 5, he dissected the playfield with surgical precision during a brisk 14-minute matchup. He dialed into the upper lanes to collect the A, B, and C inserts, lighting the center saucers for massive double bonus payouts, while picking off the amber swinging targets to ignite the spinner. Witherspoon put up an untouchable 78,480 points, easily outclassing Steve Clarner’s 58,290 and circuit regular Rob Bellotto’s 55,150. That resonant victory established an unstoppable momentum, launching Witherspoon into back-to-back first-place conquests on Game of Thrones (Pro) and Stern’s classic Seawitch.
Houston Heavyweights Trade Haymakers Across the Floor
While Witherspoon systematically swept his second-round card, the rest of the Houston heavyweights engaged in absolute trench warfare across the room. In Round 1, Jay Martinets showcased his improving season form during a tense 26-minute bout on Bally’s 1980 Nitro Ground Shaker. Martinets exploited the repeatable feed on the left saucer to build his bonus, punching out a first-place finish over fifteen-year IFPA veteran Erich Stinson.
The most explosive individual scoring offensive of the night belonged to IFPA #4284 veteran John Syers on Stern’s 2013 Star Trek (Pro). Syers locked into Vengeance multiball and posted a mind-boggling 21,136,040 points—a runaway blowout that was 3.7 times higher than runner-up Marc Gammons’ 5,643,130. Gammons, currently ranked #109 in the Texas state standings, found his own redemption in Round 2 during the tournament’s absolute marathon. Battling through a grueling 76-minute test of physical stamina on Godzilla (Pro), Gammons conquered the Kaiju scoops to take seven points, narrowly edging out Stinson. The two rivals traded blows all evening, ultimately finishing locked in a well-deserved tie for fourth place overall.
Austin Powers Seals the Win
As the tournament crossed the two-hour mark, Witherspoon approached his final machine of the night looking to close out his flawless card. Playing on Stern’s 2001 Austin Powers, Witherspoon executed twenty-four precise main shots to conquer the Virtucon missions and cash in on the secret mode bonuses. He put together a staggering 130,990,390 points, crushing Clarner’s valiant 92,438,670 and leaving Bellotto (43,603,430) and Valdez (17,535,510) far behind.
That blowout victory secured Witherspoon’s fourth win in four games for Round 2, capping off a dominant performance where he claimed the top score on five of his eight assigned machines. Crucially, the triumphant night allowed Witherspoon to narrow his ongoing 21-tournament career rivalry against runner-up John Syers, while clawing back precious ground across the 39 shared circuit events he has battled against third-place finisher Dawn Freedkin. When the final flippers clicked silent inside the Webster preserve, Witherspoon had spined a perfect athletic comeback story, cementing his place atop the final podium:
- 1st Place: Troy Witherspoon
- 2nd Place: John Syers
- 3rd Place: Dawn Freedkin
No comment yet, add your voice below!