London, Ont. pinball pro headed to Europe for world championship

Ever since he was a young boy, Jeff Teolis has played the silver ball.

“As a kid at a bowling alley, quarters would go fast in Space Invaders and Pac Man but if I played pinball they could last longer,” said the 53-year-old from London, Ont.

“I might get a match, I might get a free game. So I really enjoyed pinball.”

Fast forward to today, Teolis is currently the second-ranked pinball player in Canada.

He was ranked previously number one in the country and reached as high as number 41 in the world by the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA), which is the governing body for competitive pinball. 

At the end of May, Teolis is headed to Germany to compete against the best in the world.

“It is the biggest pinball competition the world has ever seen,” he said while practicing at Tilt Arcade Bar on Talbot Street in downtown London. “It is 11 days and it’s a three-tournament event."

It's the European Pinball Championship, the IFPA Olympics and then the World Championship.Pinball pro Jeff Teolis in London, Ont. on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

It's the European Pinball Championship, the IFPA Olympics and then the World Championship.

There is almost 100,000 ranked players and this big tournament I'm going to in Germany is taking the top two from every country. It’s only the top 80 in the world, so it’s a real special honour.”

What he loves about pinball is being able to compete against the best players.

“Most golfers cannot get to play against Tiger Woods, whereas in pinball, you get to play against the greatest players ever,” said Teolis, when referring to playing in competitive tournaments.”

“That was a big rush for me when I got a chance to play Keith Elwin who made the Godzilla game. He was the best and I beat him. I don't think I've ever beat him since but at least I can say I got him once.”

Teolis only picked up the game competitively nine years ago when after taking 19 years away from playing, he discovered the London Ontario Pinball League (LOPL).

“It was at a person's home where they had 11 machines,” he said. “I didn't know they were still around nor still being made today. Then I was told about competitive pinball and tournaments. I soon entered some including the Canadian Pinball Championship and surprised everyone by making the top 12. I was hooked.”

Pinball pro Jeff Teolis. (Courtesy: Jeff Teolis)

He believes anyone can become a good pinball player with practice and a lot of the skills can be achieved by watching videos online.

“It’s actually flipper skills,” when asked his keys to success.“A lot of times, you see the ball and think you’ve got to flip right away but a lot of times it's actually wise not to flip and to cradle up and get control of the game. So you learn different flipper skills. There's one where I'm trying to cradle up the ball and just then take your time and think 'okay, I need to make that shot, I need to make this shot.' It makes it a lot easier than just panicking and just flipping all the time.”

He relates the flippers to play baseball. He was a former outfielder for the London Majors.

“You need good hand eye coordination and just be able to kind of pick your shots,” said Teolis, a London South Collegiate Institute grad.

“I look at these [flippers] like baseball bats. Do I want to pull the ball? Hit it early. Do I want to go the other way? Hit it late.”

Teolis has spent the last 30 years in radio, including working for stations in London, Windsor, Sarnia and currently in Burlington.

He used his broadcasting experience to create the Pinball Profile podcast.

Pinball pro Jeff Teolis with fellow 'pinhead' Jason Sudeikis in Toronto, Ont. (Courtesy: Jeff Teolis)

“I was fascinated by going to these big events and seeing the greatest players in the world so I took out my phone and started recording them,” shared Teolis of how his podcast got started seven years ago.”

“I get to travel to places like Australia and Denmark, England, Germany and it’s a great rush.”

According to Teolis, many celebrities are pinball enthusiasts called “pinheads” like Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons and Slash from Guns and Roses.

Ted Laso himself, actor Jason Sudeikis, contacted Teolis through a friend to use a pinball machine while he's on location filming in Toronto.His goal at the upcoming events in Europe is to make the playoffs, which he did the last time he competed. He was ousted by Elwin at that event.

“That tournament in January, we had over a million viewers watching it on Twitch,” shared Teolis.“Many of those people watching didn’t know competitive pinball existed and have since become big fans.”

The IFPA tournaments can be watched live on Twitch.TV