Episode 420: Jason Werdrick
A long-time pinball pro, originally known as "The Kid". Jason tells us about playing pinball in the early days, testing games, early competitions and what's it's like to still compete today at a...
Highlights
- Jason Werdrick has played competitive pinball for 32 years and is now over 50 years old
- Werdrick has won 81 out of nearly 700 competitive events he's played in
- Werdrick was the first ever Classics Target Match Play winner at Indisc, beating Josh Sharp in second
- Werdrick finished second place three years in a row at the IFPA World Championships (1992, 1993, 1994), each time losing to a different player
- There are now five major pinball championships in 2025, including the return of Pinberg and PAPA
- Werdrick's first purchased pinball machine was Getaway, acquired from the Arizona Pinball Show, and he still owns it
- Werdrick has a Transformers collection of over 1,000 displayed figures with additional packed away
- Test locations like Town and Country in Chicago had Williams, Gottlieb, and premier games available for testing in the early 1990s
- Werdrick has flipper codes in multiple games including Spider-Man and references in Dwight games from early testing feedback
- Raymond Davidson won PAPA at age 32, and Stone is in his 40s and remains competitive at high qualifying levels
Notable quotes
“With this pro rating and everything, it's a little different. And, you know, you have to do well, too, at some of these big events to help with that. But just keep playing and try and do your best.”
“Right now you have to keep playing like the entire time so it's just so many so many more players now and higher level of competition”
“He just stood out right away while playing that first IFPA World Championships... And then, you know, getting to know him over the years and other things besides pinball. He had a passion for cars, too, and whatnot.”
“They're learning that right away. So that's a difference maker, too. Envious, again, is the key to this. But I'm also in awe. And we, the older generation, we learn from the kids.”
“I probably have over 1,000 of them displayed, and I don't know how many still packed away.”
Entities
- Arizona Pinball Show· event
- IFPA World Championships· event
- Indisc· event
- Getaway (Williams)· game
- Spider-Man (Stern)· game
- X-Men (Stern)· game
- Arvid Flieger· person
- Brian Eddy· person
- Ed Boon· person
- Escher· person
- Jack Danger· person
- Jason Werdrick· person
- Jason Zoller· person
- Jeff Teols· person
- Jim Belsito· person
- John Borg· person
- Josh Sharp· person
- Keith (Stern)· person
- Lyman (Stern programmer)· person
- Lyman Sheats· person
- Neil Schatz· person
- Raymond Davidson· person
- Roger Sharp· person
- Stone· person
- Walt Wood· person
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