Sure play a mean pinball

Pat Sajak and Vanna White could prove to be the wildcard standing between a pinball wizard and his trophy.

The faces of TV's sunniest game show hosts adorn the backdrop of the latest pinball game, Wheel of Fortune -- a make-or-break machine in this weekend's World Pinball Championship in Las Vegas.

Four Northwest suburbanites will vie for the title in a field of 64 players from 12 countries trying to demonstrate their command of the 2.8-ounce silver ball on both modern machines and models from decades past.

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Among the front-runners are brothers Josh and Zach Sharpe of Palatine and Arlington Heights, respectively. They're currently the No. 3 and No. 7 players in the world, according to International Flipper Pinball Association rankings.

Pinball is a Sharpe family birthright.

Josh, 28, and Zach, 26, were born into a New York City studio apartment cramped with six pinball games.

"We'd fall asleep with the game lights all on," said Josh, an accountant by day. "It was like Benadryl for fussy babies."

Their father, Roger Sharpe, is widely credited with helping to legalize pinball, which was once outlawed in many cities, including Chicago.

In 1976, Roger, a pinball designer and historian, testified before the New York City Council seeking to lift a 35-year ban on pinball machines. Former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had deemed them gambling devices.

The councilmen watched Sharpe play and saw pinball was a game of skill, not chance. Just as a pool player calls his shot, the ball went exactly where Sharpe said it would. New York soon repealed the ban, and Chicago followed suit later that year.

He's since passed the torch to his sons, who in January appeared on "Good Morning America" to mark the 60th anniversary of the flipper -- and the sport's resurgence.

"Each new day brings a new peak of where competitive pinball's at," Zach said.

The brothers, who help run the international pinball association, thought it was time to bring back the world championship after a 14-year break. They hope to make it an annual event held alternately in the U.S. and Europe.

Since the association unveiled its official ranking system two years ago, the list has grown from 400 to more than 2,100 players worldwide.

"There's even a 4-year-old ranked," said Josh. "He'll be a force to be reckoned with once he hits puberty."

The marathon tournament, which has a prize package of $14,000, kicks off today at the Pinball Hall of Fame. Players will compete from 10 a.m. to midnight in eight rounds, trying to rack up enough points to make the top-32 cut. After that, it's a head-to-head, March Madness-style single-elimination contest. The winner will be crowned Sunday.

Also competing from the suburbs are Lyman Sheats of Hoffman Estates and Jason Werdrick of Park Ridge.

The 42-year-old Sheats, ranked sixth in the world, says he's going in with a relaxed attitude.

"I've won enough stuff in the past, so it's not about being competitive," he said. "Everybody wants to win, but I'm looking forward more to the social aspect."

All four have an edge over the rest of the field. Many of the featured pinball games are made by Melrose Park-based Stern Pinball Inc., the only manufacturer of coin-operated pinball machines left in the world.

Sheats is a software engineer at Stern, where the group occasionally gathers to practice on games to which players would otherwise have limited access. They're familiar with Stern's new Wheel of Fortune game, which many will be seeing for the first time.

"We're at a huge advantage because new games are very complex these days," Josh said. "You read rule sheets, talk strategy and draw up a play book just as a basketball coach would."

He adds: "Chicago is totally winning this thing."

Pinball wizards can take hours to finish a game. Josh recalls playing a single ball for the entire duration of a movie before it "drained."

"I've had police ask me to leave an arcade when I was younger because of curfew," he said.

The Sharpes liken competitive pinball to chess, in which players think several moves ahead rather than playing defensively.

They'll root for one another -- unless, of course, it's brother vs. brother.

"Then it's death, baby," Josh said.

"We're like the Williams sisters," Zach said.

"We're both extremely talented, just shorter," chimed in Josh.

"And," added Zach, "probably less manly."