Ever since he was a young boy, he’s played the silver ball, from Arlington to Charlottesville, this Wahoo sure plays a mean pinball.
The clangorous cacophony of dings and rings from dozens of pinball machines in the basement of Charlottesville’s Decades Arcade does not distract Colin Sartori, not in the least.
Sartori, a University of Virginia second-year systems engineering major and member of UVA Club Swim, is an experienced pinballer, but don’t call him a wizard. Wizard status is reserved for those skilled players who reach a machine’s top state of play.
Call him, instead, a champion; last month, he won the third annual Thad’s Pinball Wizard Challenge, a local charity pinball tournament at Decades, an arcade populated with machines from the collection of UVA Health physician Dr. Paul Yates, an associate professor of ophthalmology. His play, so they say, was extraordinary, receiving only two of a maximum seven “strikes.”
“You’re playing in a group of three, and if you win, you get no strikes; if you’re second, you get one; and if you’re third, you get two. Your group is selected based on people who have similar strike counts as you, and the machine is chosen at random,” Sartori said.
“It helped that I come down here and play some of the machines and could get practice playing with the league before the tournament, but it doesn’t always give you an edge,” he said.
He stands like a statue, almost part of the machine. He casually manipulates the controls, catching the ball, holding it, and then sending it left or right, setting off ringing bells. He doesn’t rush. He’s unperturbed. Staying relaxed amid a ruckus is something he’s learned from years at the table.
“When I was a kid, there was a restaurant that had an Indiana Jones pinball machine with kind of a ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ theme. If the pinball hit the container with the Ten Commandments, about eight balls would fly toward you. That was so cool! It was kind of a key moment for me,” he said, his left hand flipping a ball into a trap, setting off more flashing lights than a freeway traffic stop.
“Eventually, we got some pinball machines for the family, starting with a ‘Jurassic Park’ machine where the dinosaur comes down and eats the ball,” he said, eyes on the ball, fingers on the triggers. “I just kind of always look forward to playing pinball, learning more about it, trying new machines. In my senior year of high school, I joined a league for the first time.”
Sartori’s fascination with pinball has taken him on tours of manufacturers based in Chicago. It’s also led him to assist in an ongoing project in UVA Engineering to create a UVA-themed pinball machine.
Gavin Garner, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, leads the project that helps students study mechatronics, the combination of mechanical and electrical design that powers pinball and other machines.
“It’s a great design,” Sartori said, his eyes lighting up like the pinball board. “It’s got some cool elements and ramps that are sinusoidal – serpentine – and a cool rotating Rotunda.”
Colin has been invaluable while coaching fourth-year mechanical engineering students on how to enhance their mechatronic inventions to make our unique game seem more professional and fun to play.
“Colin has been an amazing help, and we’ve been lucky to have him on the team,” Garner said. “His experience and expertise – and obvious love of pinball – have proved invaluable while coaching fourth-year mechanical engineering students on how to enhance their mechatronic inventions to make our unique game seem more professional and fun to play.”
Pinball is a pivotal part of Sartori’s life as it piques his curiosity while providing hours of fun.
“It’s all just games, something to just enjoy yourself with. I love going to arcades with my family and friends and, trying new pinball machines and talking about it, playing together. It’s something to enjoy, and if you decide to take it into a competitive aspect, that’s your choice,” he said.
“But what I really love about this is that it enables curiosity. ‘Oh, this light is really flashing. I should probably shoot at it and find out what happens next.’ And maybe the ball drains (off the board) before I can do that, so I’m curious now and am going try to get that scenario to happen again,” he said. “It’s pretty awesome.”
Reprinted from UVA Today with permission.