A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on top.
He started playing pinball when he was a teenager.
“I remember the local fish and chip shop had a pinball machine,” he said. “I’d put in 20 cents and play.”
He said it was the randomness of the game that attracted him.
“The ball has a mind of its own and you try to control it. I think that’s fascinating,” Dave said.
Over the past four or five years, Dave and his wife Kim can often be found playing pinball machines at the Sherbrooke pub.
“It’s our thing. It may not be for everyone, but it’s what we do,” Kim Formenti said.
Kim and Dave Formenti play pinball at the Sherbrooke pub. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
They were there Easter weekend to play a few games on the Foo Fighters pinball machine.
“It’s fast. It’s a three-fin game with multiple ramps and a very interesting code to try to complete,” Dave said. “An extremely challenging game with a great soundtrack and lots of fun.”
Foo Fighters pinball machine at the Sherbrooke Pub. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
It’s a machine that Dave has played at least 100 times over the past year. Soon, in that two-player game, he won an extra ball.
“At first it was like, ‘Oh man, he’s got the extra ball. He’s just going to move on. I’m on my phone for a while. This is going to be a while before I get my turn,'” Kim joked.
He said 20 minutes later Dave was still playing.
“I thought, ‘Okay, I better pay attention here.’ We’ve never gotten this far and sometimes he looks at me for a sign,” Kim said.
Foo Fighters pinball machine at the Sherbrooke Pub. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
“You have to be very strategic in your gameplay and completions in order to progress in the game,” Dave said.
“The big points come from the final battle. So if you can progress through the game and get to that final battle, you’ll get huge points,” he added.
Dave completed all the modes necessary to finish the game; then the screen shows the end-of-game credits.
“It shows all the characters in the game as it progresses. An old black and white movie script appears showing Jack Danger’s name as the credits roll at the end of the game,” Dave said.
“Then a little rewind icon appears and the movie rewinds and everything restarts at the beginning and you start the game again,” he added.
“I told my wife we want to see this because we’ll never see it again.”
“We sat together, amazed. We were just kind of caught up in the moment and the emotion of it all,” Kim said.
Foo Fighters pinball machine at the Sherbrooke Pub. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
Dave won five extra balls during his game. He said he still had two left to play after the game restarted. His entire game lasted about 40 minutes.
“It generated a score of 6.2 billion points that I had never achieved before, not even remotely close,” Dave said.
“I’ve seen him do 1.4, 1.6, but I’ve never seen him go that high,” Kim said.
Dave Formenti’s high score on the Foo Fighters pinball machine at the Sherbrooke Pub. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
“It’s extremely difficult,” said Jason Zazula, another local pinball player.
Zazula has been playing for over a decade and competitively for about nine years.
He bought his own Foo Fighters machine in August and plays it at least six times a day.
“I’m not even over a billion yet and Dave’s hit six billion,” he said.
“To do that in a game that’s not in your house, where you can just remove the glass and cheat is a huge feat,” he added.
Zazula posted a photo of Dave’s high score on a social media page for fans and collectors of the machine.
One of the comments came from ‘Dead Flip Pinball Streaming’, a page run by Jack Danger.
“He’s the lead game designer for Foo Fighters. He recognized that score as a big WTF, literally blown away,” Dave said proudly.
It’s a thank you that Dave said made him feel special.
Dave Formenti playing the Foo Fighters pinball machine at the Sherbrooke Pub. (Amanda Anderson/CTV News Edmonton)
“It was a special game. It happened once, it’ll probably never happen again, but I’m terribly grateful for people who recognize that it’s something a bit special,” he said.