Sweeper City Pinball Championships 2024: Learning the Ropes of Card

While many pinball tournaments use the standard Match Play or knock-out formats to great success, a big chunk of the events on the professional circuit are all about card-based qualifying. Events like the INDISC Tournament Series, YEGPIN Best Card Championship, Cleveland Pinball and Arcade Show, and many more employ the use of card-based qualifying, making it a must-learn format for aspiring competitors. In early July, I took a trip to the first-ever Sweeper City Pinball Championships, located at the Hoover Lodge in North Canton, Ohio, where dozens of talented players tackled the art of the card for the very first time.

Organized by tournament directors Galvin Morgan, Gregory Kennedy, Michael Bair, and Nic Shakyo, the Sweeper City Pinball Championships offered four days of competitive pinball across a variety of tournament formats. In addition to the card-based Main and Women's tournaments, players could also try their hand at the Herb style Classics competition or the casual Sunday knock-out, along with a Juniors tournament for the youngest of competitors. For practice and casual play, there was also a wonderful line-up of free-play games, including John Wick, The Godfather, and even a prototype of Turner's Ninja Eclipse, all provided by Mad Pinball. With the variety of tournaments, line-up of free-play titles, and even a pancake breakfast, the 2024 Sweeper City Pinball Championships was an ambitious inaugural event.

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Qualifying is All in the Cards

Even if you've competed in several pinball tournaments, card-based qualifying can feel intimidating and complex. Unlike Match Play, you're not competing against other players during your qualifying matches, but instead, you're playing single-player games, where you must consistently get decent scores and not screw up along the way. The concept is relatively simple: pick five different games from the approved bank and get the best score possible with only one attempt per game. Those five games make up a “card”, and your scores are ranked on a machine-specific leaderboard. The higher you place on each leaderboard, the more valuable that “card” is, but as more players enter their scores, your position may shift. In the case of the Sweeper City Pinball Championships, you could submit as many cards as you could afford (roughly $15 per card), but other tournaments might put a limit on submissions.

There are several pros and cons to card-based qualifying, and in general, it feels like a completely different beast than the other, more common formats. In my opinion, one of the best aspects of card format is the freedom it affords the player, as there's no time limit to worry about. If you want to play one game, chill for an hour, play two games back to back, and then finish the rest of your card on another day, that's completely fine. Additionally, you can pack your card with games you actually enjoy, so you're never stuck playing a stinker. On the downside, card-based qualifying lacks the camaraderie of Match Play, as you're playing by yourself and are hyper-focused on your own performance. It can also get pretty pricey after submitting a few cards, and that's where the sunk cost fallacy can start to take hold.

However, the appreciation or disdain for card-based qualifying is ultimately based on preference and the type of experience you want from competitive pinball. When speaking with other Sweeper City competitors, there were differing opinions across the board, with equal parts praise and hesitation for the card format. Caleb Smith of Cleveland was refreshed with the change of pace, stating that he “enjoyed playing solo but still in a competitive mindset”, while Matt Waters of Columbus felt that the card format was “challenging, but interesting to learn”. Nicole Turk of Cleveland, who qualified for all three major tournaments of the weekend, said she “appreciates the nuances that come with card format”, citing that picking the right games and knowing the card format-specific strategies are vital to success. As Carlos DeLaSerda of Columbus (#13 World ranked) puts it, “If you play your card right, you can qualify in five games. Free.”

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Playoffs and Pancakes

Qualifying sessions for the Sweeper City Pinball Championships Main, Women's, and Classics tournaments were open throughout Thursday and Friday, with Saturday marking the start of playoffs time. Every playoffs tournament (and a large portion of qualifying) was streamed live on Twitch, thanks to the Northeast Ohio Pinball channel. The Sweeper City Women's Finals started at around 11:30 AM, with the six top qualifying players competing for the grand prize. In a tight semi-final round, Sabrina Dugandzic and Madison Worthy were eliminated despite their impressive play, leading to the intense final four match-up. After a trio of matches on Meteor, The Addams Family, and Led Zeppelin, the first Sweeper City Pinball Women's Championship was in the books. Emily Harrison was crowned as the Sweeper City Women's Champion, while Deborah Tahlman, Nicole Turk, and Johanna Whitsel earned second, third, and fourth place respectively.

Shortly after the Women's finals, the Sweeper City Classics Championship playoffs began, with 24 players eager to take home the gold. Thanks to a last-minute high score on Seawitch, I managed to qualify for the playoffs and embarked on one of the toughest tournament runs in my brief competitive career. Over the course of three brutal rounds, I managed to scrape by, all while playing against some of the best players in the world. Leading up to the finals, I was honored to face off against several Top 100 World ranked players, such as Trent Augenstein and Dalton Ely, as well as recent Ohio State Pinball champions like Gregory Kennedy. After duking it out in four climactic games, including Harlem Globetrotters, Aladdin's Castle, Sure Shot, and Trident, the finals were wrapped. In the end, Galvin Morgan nabbed first place, with Carlos DeLaSerda, Stephen Prusa, and Matt Owen (hey, that's me!) placing second, third, and fourth.

The next morning, it was time for the Sweeper City Main Championships, which held over 32 players split into A and B divisions. But first, many players indulged in the decidedly delicious pancake breakfast, whipped up in-house at the Hoover Lodge, with proceeds going towards the Project Pinball charity. When playoffs began, I was comfortably hanging out in the B Division, but after a few tough matches against top-tier players like Matt Waters, Andy Lee, and Nic Shakyo, I was eliminated and wound up in 22nd place overall. After battling through finals, Mike Winzinek won the B Division championship, while Caleb Smith, Nolan Liem, and Brent Reed occupied second, third, and fourth. Meanwhile, the A Division Finals raged on, leading to four final games on Seawitch, Space Station, Metallica, and Dark Rider. When the dust settled, Stephen Prusa emerged triumphant as the 2024 Sweeper City A Division Champion, with Greg DeFeo taking second place, Trent Augenstein in third, and John Delzoppo in fourth.

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The 2024 Sweeper City Pinball Championships was a solid weekend of competitive pinball that taught some valuable lessons about card-based qualifying, while still providing alternate formats and casual fun. For a first-time event, the tournaments were all run relatively smoothly, rulings were fair, and the cash payouts were surprisingly high. In addition to my decent placements, I'm glad that I attended the 2024 Sweeper City Pinball Championships, as it served as an accessible introduction to card-based formats. Now, I'll feel much more prepared for major tournaments in the future, or at the very least, when I return to the Sweeper City Pinball Championships next year.