“They always say, ‘If you want to sell it, call me first,'” Butler said. “And pinball people are some of the most polite, down-to-earth, nicest people you’ll ever meet.”Īnd none of them, he added, are in it to get rich. “I’ve traveled all over the place to buy machines,” he said. Tom Butler, a Sharpsville native and another tournament competitor, said he has only had good experiences when dealing with other pinball fanatics.īutler, a serious pinball collector in his own right, said his 12-machine collection was the best in town before Retro Arcade hit the scene. They have developed their own tight community. And if no one shows up, it doesn’t matter because I still love playing.” I wanted to bring something in for people to do. “I see kids on drugs, sitting outside on the curb just doing nothing. “There’s nowhere around here really to play pinball,” he said. He’s just in it for the love of the game. Thomas knows there isn’t a ton of money to be made in pinball, but it doesn’t matter, he said. “A lot of places only have 8 to 10, and that’s considered a lot.” “It’s very rare to have 36 machines in the same place,” Tomsich said. “There’s definitely some skill involved, but also a lot of luck.”Īs much as Thomas loves playing, he said most of his satisfaction comes from buying new machines for the arcade to challenge for the players.

“Once you get past the fundamentals, it all comes down to the machine,” Tomisch said. Each requires a separate approach and presents its own unique challenge to the player. You have to think about what to do to safely get a certain amount of points without losing a ball.”Įvery pinball machine is built and scored differently, he said. “There’s a lot of game planning involved. Part of the challenge, Tomsich said, is to always be thinking one step ahead.

“And I hope it will.”īut Gearhart quickly learned there is a lot more to the game than many people think. “I absolutely think it will grow,” she said of pinball. If her mom can get into the game, Gearhart said, anyone else should be able to, as well. One was her mother, who, against all odds, stole the beginners’ league crown the day before. She even recruited a few folks to step to the flippers at Retro Arcade’s beginners’ league, which meets on Tuesdays. “There’s a lot of trash talking, but it’s all good sportsmanship. “It can get pretty loud in here,” said Kelly Gearhart of Sharon. In fact, most people involved were fairly new to the “competitive” pinball life. Not everyone at the arcade’s tournament was a ranked player. “It’s a single-elimination tournament, and all that could be for nothing.” “That first-place finish doesn’t mean a whole lot,” he said. His accolades have even earned him a sponsorship from Birdfish Brewery in Columbiana, Ohio, which supplies its star player with “quarters and porters,” he said.īut despite holding high scores on a number of Retro Arcade’s machines, the pinballer stayed humble as he awaited his turn at the machine Wednesday. Tomsich pulled out a first-place regular season finish in the Retro Arcade league to earn a first-round bye in the tournament. The Youngstown native is ranked as the fifth-best pinball player in Ohio, and 254th nationally, according to IFPA’s website. John Tomsich, whose near-7-foot frame is more indicative of the NBA’s Washington Wizards than Retro Arcade’s resident pinball wizard, was the favorite to win. On the line at Wednesday’s playoffs - a little bit of cash and a whole lot of pride. All scores are logged and sent to the International Flipper Pinball Association headquarters in the Netherlands for international ranking consideration. It is Retro Arcade’s first ranked pinball tournament. Sixteen of Thomas’ regulars packed the arcade on a recent Wednesday night for the intermediate-level pinball league playoffs. Players, young and old, have started to become regulars at the arcade. Word of his collection has spread quickly. “But pinball people feel strongly about it and will seek it out.” “I’m much better at buying them than I am at playing them,” Thomas said.

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