Individual game becomes group competition in Butler pinball league
BUTLER TWP — Many of the pinball machines at Tokens Arcade display “JEREMY” at the No. 1 spot on their high-score list, and the name appears in many spots in the Top 10 on many of the games.
So when Dan Wilhelm, of Butler, heard he was placed in a group with 15-year-old Jeremy Schreffler for week four of the Butler Area Pinball League on Wednesday evening, Oct. 2, he couldn’t help but groan for his chances at taking first place in the group for the night.
Despite his low confidence in being able to keep pace in the league standings, Wilhelm said he always enjoys playing some pinball at the Lyndora arcade.
“I’m just happy we found an arcade in the area,” Wilhelm said. “It’s something to do, just hang out.”
This is the sixth season of the Butler Area Pinball League, which is hosted by Tokens and organized by its owners, Chris and Brandy Henry. The league this year has about 15 people in it, who gather every Wednesday to play pinball and accrue points for their international rankings.
Chris Henry said that although there is an entry fee to join the league, anyone can sign up and get started relatively easily.
“It's very easy for folks to get into,” Chris Henry said.
He encouraged people to “come on down” on open nights, held Wednesdays or Fridays.
“If they're not sure, they're more than welcome to come talk to us Wednesdays,” he said. “We can explain better the workings of it.”
The Butler league’s season kicks off each September and lasts 12 weeks. This season began Sept. 11 and will end Nov. 13. The league is registered with the International Flipper Pinball Association, which tracks player points across the world.
On league nights, players are separated into groups of four or three people, and each group plays three games. The first person chosen in the group gets to choose gamer order, and then whoever scores the lowest gets to choose the order and so on.
A four-person group can score five points for the highest, then three, two and one, which are calculated for their league score and are submitted to the national league as well.
A three-person group will only score five, three or one for each person, depending on where they rank, Brandy Henry explained.
The first machine Jeremy and Wilhelm’s group played was one based on the 1989 horror television series, “Tales from the Crypt.” The machine featured a screen displaying elements from the show, and the obstacles on the board also were iconography from the series. Wilhelm said he likes the machine because it’s a show he watched in his youth.
The three players took turns playing one ball at a time, and they rotated when their ball went down the bottom chute. The turns varied in length, and Jeremy pointed out that it may only take one good ball for a player to turn their game around.
“It’s all circumstantial,” said Jeremy, who lives in Butler. “I’ve won on one ball before.”
If one ball can turn a player’s game around, a player can rack up huge points in a full round of pinball. Jeremy said he has been going to Tokens since 2019, the year it opened, which has given him a lot of practice on the machines there.
Jeremy added that he has traveled to pinball tournaments in other cities and states, which have been sanctioned by the International Flipper Pinball Association.
“With these games, I’ve had a lot of time on, and I think that has definitely improved my skill,” Jeremy said. “I’ve gone to some tournaments in Ohio, placed pretty well there. I’ve been down to Pittsburgh to play in a few tournaments.”
Many people in the Butler Area Pinball League this season are members of the same family, who visit the arcade to get some family together-time. Wilhelm goes with his wife, Stormie Wilhelm, and teenage daughter to the league every week, where they can bond and also get some friendly competition in.
“Mommy and daughter got grouped up on the same group for the first two weeks, and daughter put mommy in her place,” Dan Wilhelm said. “Daughter beat mommy in all three games.”
Stormie Wilhelm said although the games can be competitive, everyone in the league is a good sport, and players are friendly with one another whether they win or lose.
On the other side of the arcade that Wednesday, across from the “Tales From the Crypt” machine, was another multigenerational family of flippers. William Mizerak, of Butler, is the league’s oldest player at 87 years old, and he said he plays in the league in part to stay active. While the arcade has some vintage machines active for play, Mizerak said most of them are different from the ones he played when he was a child.
He hasn’t gotten too much better since his childhood, but that’s not the point, he said.
“As a youngster, I was never very good at it,” Mizerak said. “My sons got me back into it. It’s about the fun.”
Brandy Henry said anyone interested in joining the league can come to the arcade, 18 Chesapeake St., Lyndora in Butler Township, at 7 p.m. Wednesday evenings. There is a fee to join the league, which goes into the prize money pot for the end of the season, and players also pay $5 for open play each night, but Henry said those are the only costs to play.
For more information, visit tokensarcade.com.
