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Salem man wins world pinball championship

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 8, 2009 06:19 PM

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

Kerins at home with some of his trophies last year.

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

Bowen Kerins hasn’t played much pinball lately. With a day job writing mathematics textbooks and a 1-year-old son at home, the Salem resident has a lot on his plate. But he’s still one of the greatest pinball wizards in the world, and he proved that last weekend in England by winning the World Pinball Championship for the second year in a row.

“I was really surprised,” Kerins said today. “There’s enough luck involved in pinball that anyone can win or lose anytime.”

The tournament, held July 31 to Aug. 2 just outside London, brought together 64 of the world’s top players. After Kerins won the tournament in Last Vegas last year, he was declared the No. 1 pinball player in the world, but he fell down the rankings over the past year because he cut back on his competitive events.

With his victory in the UK, Kerins is back up to No. 3 in the rankings and may rise further next weekend, when he travels to Pittsburgh for the Professional and Amateur Pinball Association championship, which will bring together about 400 players.

“One thing that helps me a lot is that I tend not to feel the pressure of the situation,” Kerins said. “It’s just a blast. It’s a lot of fun.”

Kerins has three pinball machines in the basement of his condo, where he lives with his wife, Nancy. By day, he writes mathematics textbooks, including the 8th-grade math curriculum being used by the City of Boston and about 500 other communities next year, he said.

"Bowen's achievement is truly remarkable especially given that for the first time in competitive pinball history, a World Championship was held on foreign soil,'' said Zachary Sharpe, vice president of the International Flipper Pinball Association. "For him to not only travel and compete head-to-head against 64 of the world's top players from 15 countries, but to also capture this title two years in a row, it's nothing short of spectacular.”

He took home a $1,100 cash prize and will receive a brand new pinball machine for winning the world championship.

Kerins learned how to play pinball as a kid, watching his father play at local arcades. His own son is “not quite tall enough” to play, Kerins said, but he can reach some of the buttons already.