Tim Sexton

Tim Sexton was born in 1993 and grew up during a time when pinball’s arcade presence was in decline​. Like many of his generation, his first exposure to pinball was virtual – notably the “3D Space Cadet” pinball game included with Windows XP. He played little physical pinball as a child, but that changed around 2012 when, at age 19, he visited the Pinball Gallery in Malvern, Pennsylvania​. There he discovered a vibrant collection of machines and a local league. Seeing league standings posted on a wall was an epiphany: it revealed to him that pinball was “a completely skill-based game. This realization sparked Sexton’s passion for competitive play. In 2013, while a computer science student at Penn State University, he joined the Pinball Gallery’s summer league and even traveled to compete in the Professional and Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA) 16 tournament that year​.

These early experiences laid the foundation for his dual path as both a top-tier player and a future pinball designer.

Sexton’s pinball design career took off when he was hired by Stern Pinball in early 2018 – an achievement he considers one of his proudest moments​. With a background in computer science (B.S. from Penn State in 2014)​ and software engineering experience at IBM, he entered Stern as part of a new wave of talent blending technical skill with competitive pinball insight. He started at Stern as a software engineer and quickly became a Lead Software Engineer.

Since joining Stern, Sexton has contributed to numerous titles, helping craft the rules and software that bring modern pinball machines to life.