Some of the world’s best pinball players have descended upon riverside for a world championship. Tony Shin reports for the NBC4 News on Jan. 5, 2024.
Bumpers, plungers and drains.
Pinball enthusiasts and pros gathered at the Riverside Convention Center for the It Never Drains in Southern California Tournament, a world pinball championship that brings in hundreds of players from around the globe.
Jasmjn de Jong, originally from the Netherlands, has won multiple worldwide competitions and now lives in Seattle with her husband, who also plays.
"I started playing pinball when I was 14 years old," said de Jong. "A lot of what Dutch people do is we travel to other countries like Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Finland, to play tournaments there."
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But it's not just games at the tournament, players like Cayle George come to compete and win the grand prize of $15,000.
"I've won the world championships twice," said Cayle George. "It's a sport to us, it's fun to come out here and compete and see these people that are also interested in doing the same thing.
Pinball is so popular that the tournament is now being live-streamed around the world.
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"Last year, we had over a million and a half viewers watching the Sunday final for the open the whole day," said Co-Director Jim Belsito. "And now, there is over a hundred thousand ranked players in the world."
Although the game does require some serious skill and impressive hand-eye coordination, some players think luck also plays an important role.
"A lot of it is about your skills. Can you catch the ball? Can you make the ball go where you want it to go? But do you know which shot is going to give you the most points," said de Jong.
No matter who ends up with the most points, everyone leaves a winner when they get a chance to connect and play with some of the greatest pinballers.
"Finding a sense of community has been great, making a lot of new friends," said pinball player Mayumi Roehm.
