With PAPA Headquarters currently housing over 450 pinball machines in its 30,000 square foot dedicated pinball arcade, it’s sometimes difficult to remember how things used to be. PAPA 4 was held February 8, 1994 at the Omni Park Central Hotel in New York City and won by Bowen Kerins. Special thanks to Steve Epstein and Josh Sharpe of the IFPA for preserving the 35mm slides and saving this piece of PAPA’s legacy. We have recently converted these 35mm slides into digital format for everyone to enjoy. If any of our readers has any photographs or slides from older pinball events that they would like to share, please email us. We have also included a recent interview with PAPA 4 champion, Bowen Kerins.

What do you remember most about PAPA 4?

Bowen: I remember thinking I was eliminated. I finished the quarterfinal

round and was so sure I was out that I went back to my hotel room to

change into nice clothes for the party / final that was going to

happen. I came back down and they were yelling at me to come play

already. I had qualified through on a massive tiebreaker — at PAPA 4

the total score on all games was the tiebreak — and suddenly found

myself wearing my nicest clothes in the PAPA semifinal, and all the

pressure was off.

How long had you been playing pinball at that point?

Bowen: Competitively, only about 18 months. PAPA 4 was my first championship

tournament, but I had attended the Pinball Expo the previous autumn.

I learned a lot from playing local events and league in the San

Francisco Bay Area, and figured I would learn more from the pros at

PAPA. I wasn’t even too sure I wanted to enter A Division, but went

for it anyway. Then I won.

Did you know who Lyman Sheats was at the time? (Lyman won PAPA 3.)

Bowen: Absolutely, I knew him by name and by reputation. PAPA 4 was the

first time I met Lyman in person. I was pretty intimidated, since he

is and was such a terrific player. Lyman was very approachable and

helped explain some of the games I hadn’t played. Lyman also had a

presence on the Internet’s rec.games.pinball so I knew of his opinions

and his high-quality play. I was very lucky to get past him in the

final four.

What has changed most about competitive pinball since PAPA 4?

Bowen: The number of top players has increased dramatically. The number of

top events has increased dramatically. Players are smarter and

better, and know the games very well. The only thing that might be

“worse” is that there are fewer brand-new games in use. Players don’t

have to develop new strategies for new games as much. But they still

do: with tournaments using a wider breadth of games, players still

compete on games that they don’t know. I love that side of pinball,

it’s very strategic, and keeps you thinking at all times whether on or

off the machine.

Bowen: A more recent change is the ability for players to learn and share

game strategies and information through videos. I think that is a

major shift that will make a lot more players a lot better.

How do you feel you would do if you went back in time and competed now?

Bowen: I think I’d do well, though I might not get as lucky as I did at PAPA

4. Advancing past the first round took all the pressure off, and that

change in mindset means a lot. I played the semis and finals very

loose, and got to play my best pinball when it mattered. The mental

game is very important, and I wish I knew how to make it easy to play

as loose as I did that day.

What did it feel like to win your first PAPA World Championship?

Bowen: Beats me, I was 18. They quoted me as saying “Holy cow, did I win?”

when it was over. It was a total blast. My biggest regret is that it

happened at like midnight on Sunday, so my family had already left for

home. It was also a media circus, with local and national interest.

Idiotically, I turned down an appearance on The Tonight Show so that I

could avoid failing a college class. Clearly I did not make the right

decision there. I was on SportsCenter, and my answering machine

message was played live on the radio in Nagoya, Japan. I got to meet

the Bally/Williams pinball team, wore a helmet cam, and I was

interviewed and photographed for Bikini Magazine.

Who were you playing in the final round, and what do you remember about it?

Bowen: The opponents were Lyman Sheats, Dave Stewart, and Hal Erickson. They

wanted to give everyone nicknames: Lyman “Silk” Sheats, Hal “Tower of

Power” Erickson, Dave “Eurhythmics” Stewart. Dave hated that nickname

so they changed it to “Pinball Doctor” or something. I can’t remember

mine but it was probably “The Kid” or something. The finals were held

during some kind of closing party so there was music and dancing, and

it loosened me up a lot. Hal got really tense and rage-tilted, then

tilted Lyman’s ball when he tried to move the machine back. In the

last game I needed at least a second place on Tommy while avoiding a

Dave victory — Dave had won with a double super jackpot on Tommy in

the semifinals. I couldn’t look, and then it was over.

Do you stay in touch with any of the other competitors from PAPA 4?

Bowen: Nah, screw all them. I’m the world champ! (Alright, maybe I still

say hi.) I have made a large number of lifelong friendships through

PAPA and competitive pinball, and I have people like Steve Epstein to

thank for making it all happen. It’s a joy to see how many players

are passing on that gift to others today, whether it’s through quality

pinball events or even making the games that keep new interest in

pinball moving.

What are you doing to prepare for PAPA 15?

Bowen: Just last weekend, I practiced the 600-mile drive from Boston to

Pittsburgh. I think the best preparation is playing in other quality

events. I played pretty well at the NW Pinball Championship / IFPA

week in June and will be at Cal Extreme in July. In the end, your

preparation can only get you so far, you’ve got to execute and get a

little lucky to win a PAPA championship.

What are your thoughts on Street Fighter 2?

Bowen: BEST. GAME. EVER… to feature a car being crushed by a flipper. It’s

actually not that bad!