![]() ![]() He recalled one time filling a two-hour parking meter outside The Break pinball arcade in New Jersey for a game, then running out when that single game was over to find the meter had run out. Then there’s the 60 billion Bowden racked up on the ’90s title “Attack From Mars,” which he called a tougher score because that game’s more open playfield makes it take longer to rack up points.īowden’s played his share of marathon games, too. Steve Bowden, one of the top 10 pinball players in the nation and 14th in the world, plays the machines at What's Brewing Coffee Roasters.īowden’s best pinball score ever was 89 billion on “Johnny Mnemonic,” a 1995 game based on the Keanu Reeves sci-fi sleeper. “As soon as you do one flipper at a time,” Bowden said, “you’re already better than 50 percent of the players in the world.” As much as Bowden chirps along with a pinball game’s sound effects and slaps its flipper buttons like he’s charging a horse into battle, he often holds a ball in place with an upturned flipper, carefully gauging which other shimmering target to strike next for the best score. It’s pretty cool to watch.”Ĭhbeir said Bowden is the kind of pinball player who knows all the games’ tasks and objectives, typically referred to in pinball parlance as “the rules.” He knows exactly how to pace his shots for bigger scores or “jackpots,” Chbeir said, unlocking combos that can blow up a tally from 10,000 points a shot to 10 million points a shot. “I guess we’ll call him a Rembrandt,” Chbeir said. “It comes down to the art form of being a tournament player as opposed to just being a casual arcade player,” said What’s Brewing co-owner and pinball enthusiast Tony Chbeir, who has seen Bowden’s pinball skills since Bowden first moved to San Antonio nearly two years ago. “He’s very deliberate when he plays and very calculated.” “He’s world class,” said Sharpe, who’s known Bowden since he started playing competitive pinball 16 years ago. The IFPA ranks Bowden ninth in the United States out of nearly 26,000 players and 14th in the world out of more than 40,000. He thinks it may have been the 1984 title “Space Shuttle,” though he’s certain it was at an arcade in the old Union Market shopping center in Vauxhall, N.J., about 15 minutes away from Orange, N.J., where he grew up.īowden has competed in more than 600 tournaments large and small, across the country as well as in Canada and London, with more than 150 first-place finishes. And now I work in it.”īowden figured he was a young boy in elementary school when he played his first pinball game. And it’s his hobby with his pinball news site,, and the occasional pinball podcast. He lives with pinball, with five pinball machines in the living room of his home near the Medical Center. On : Where to play classic pinball and video games in San Antonio On March 25, Bowden will help launch Deeproot Pinball, a new San Antonio-based pinball company, as the full-time rules maker for its debut game, “Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland.” Bowden left a job in school administration in his home state of New Jersey for the pinball startup. Later this month, he will take on all comers as the top seed of the Stern Pro Circuit Championship in Chicago, promoted in part by the oldest pinball manufacturer in the nation. ![]() The San Antonio native has written for the Express-News for more than 20 years. Read him on our free site,, and on our subscriber site,. Guzman writes about various types of culture with character in San Antonio, from historic institutions and individuals to colorful collectors and conventions. When Bowden finally stepped away from the game at What’s Brewing Coffee Roasters, where more than a dozen colorful pinball machines line the walls of the shop just north of the airport, he spoke of his love for the game with the same rapid-fire intensity. Then at the construction-themed “Red & Ted’s Roadshow” pinball machine, Bowden broke a billion as he imitated every quirky sound effect and even quirkier commentary from the game’s pair of creepy ventriloquist dummy heads wearing hard hats. Over a thunderous pinball game of “Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast,” 41-year-old Steve Bowden rocked with the heavy metal band’s music as he batted about several balls at once to rack up more than 300 million points. Since players have to keep playing to retain their ranks, Bowden has dropped to 11th in the nation and 19th worldwide.īowden, now 42, has competed in more than 600 tournaments large and small, across the country as well as in Canada and London, with more than 150 first-place finishes.ĭeeproot Pinball was rescheduled to open this month, but those plans have been postponed again, according to the company's website. ![]() The coronavirus forced the International Flipper Pinball Association to suspend sanctioning tournaments for rankings, Bowden was ninth in the United States out of nearly 26,000 players and 14th in the world out of more than 40,000. ![]()
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