I was 7 years old in the mid-70’s, and the parents were carting myself and a few rep-team baseball buddies home from a game. They decided to stop at an old bowling alley in Burford, Ontario to get a bite to eat. I don’t remember what I ate, but what I’ll never forget was discovering that large cabinet standing on four metal peg-legs in the corner of the alley. Jutting up from the back was a headboard depicting brilliantly lit cartoon-like women with implausible breasts, silently calling out to me to come closer. My one baseball bud knew what it was all about. “Hey, do you want to play a game?” I most certainly did want to play a game. He dropped a quarter in the machine, pushed the credit button and the machine chugged to life. I’ll never forget my first game of pinball.
That moment started a lifetime love for me.
The number of hours spent chasing the silver ball in arcades, bowling alleys, laundromats and pizza parlours may have cost me a few grade points in school, but I developed into a very skillful player, winning cash prizes, a television, and my greatest tournament victory: a classic pinball machine which I now get to play at home. I even travelled to The World Pinball Championships in Pittsburgh to test my flipper prowess against the best, and found out I still had skills that I needed to work on!
Pinball kept pleasure and solace at never more than 25 cents away.
Nothing could clear my head and put me in the moment like releasing the plunger and sending that silver sphere jetting onto the playfield. What was going to happen this time? The nudge of the machine was its very own dance; enough pushing to alter the path of the ball, yet not so much that you might incur a disqualifying “tilt.” The immense satisfaction of a well-targeted flipper shot hitting the mark, the helpless feeling of a ball heading down the middle with maddening precision. The shrill clang of the bells, the churning of the scoring reels on the way to a free game. Man, there was nothing else like it. For the Silo, John McIntosh.
Have a hankering for some classic silver ball action? Check out these sites:
The Church of the Silver Ball is a warehouse of pinball machines in Mississauga open to the public to play. Check it out at www.thechurchofthesilverball.com
The Toronto Pinball League has game nights all across Southern Ontario in home arcades. Go to www.topl.orgfor info.
Want to play with the big boys? Check out PAPA, the home of The World Pinball Championships held each year in Pittsburgh www.papa.org/index.php
Paris, France. April, 2024– Leading esports club Team Vitality is thrilled to announce the contract renewal of star Counter Strike 2 player Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut. Having been with the club since the beginning of his professional career in 2018, ZywOo has renewed his commitment to the organization until 2026, ready to take on new sporting challenges.
THE KING STAYS IN PARIS UNTIL 2026
ZywOo’s journey with Team Vitality has been nothing short of extraordinary. Even amidst an ever-evolving industry with a variety of opportunities to explore, ZywOo made the resolute decision to renew his contract with the club that nurtured his talent, built a team around his incredible skill set, and propelled him to new heights. This decision underscores his loyalty, commitment, and unwavering trust in Team Vitality and its vision.
“I have always seen Team Vitality as a family, where I can flourish and develop my full potential. I feel there’s a strong sense of unity, it’s my second home. I also wanted to stay because I believe strongly in our project, in my team. I think we have a brilliant lineup,” explains Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut. “In 2023, I experienced an incredible moment and managed to win a Major with my teammates. I’m delighted to continue this adventure with the club, and I’m convinced that we can go even further.”
“One of the greatest responsibilities I’ve had to manage as the founder and President of Team Vitality was to ensure that this 18-year-old player who joined us in 2018 could one day be crowned the world’s best player and win a Major,” said Fabien ‘Neo’ Devide, co-founder and President of Team Vitality. “Thanks to his exceptional individual skills, he quickly became recognised as the best player in the world. For the Major, it was a longer, collective effort: it was a project that was held together thanks to loyalty, hard work, repetition, and an appetite for effort. In the years to come, we will continue to help him evolve into a leadership role. He will take even more space because he is not only the face of our future team but also that of Team Vitality.”
To celebrate this momentous occasion, Team Vitality hosted an exclusive event at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Fans gathered to witness the unveiling of ZywOo’s renewal, which was broadcast live on Team Vitality’s social media accounts.
Mathieu Herbaut started playing Counterstrike when he was only seven years old. He began his career with Team Vitality in 2018, joining the CS:GO roster as the French club ventured into the title. Alongside French teammate Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, he negotiated the club’s turning point towards the international scene at the end of 2021. By the end of 2023, the CS2 roster was crowned the best team in the world by HLTV.
Since entering the professional scene, ZywOo’s exceptional skill has not only led Team Vitality to multiple championship titles, such as securing the final CS:GO Major on home soil in Paris, but has also garnered numerous individual awards, including being crowned HLTV’s Player of the Year award in 2019, 2020, and 2023 and his inclusion in the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2021.
These accomplishments have earned him the affectionate nickname of ‘The Chosen One’ within the Counter-Strike community. A nickname all the more relevant as the young Frenchman was born in the same month as the release of the original Counter-Strike game.
ZYWOO, THE FACE AND FRANCHISE PLAYER OF TEAM VITALITY
Since its creation in 2013, Team Vitality has had the mission of identifying, developing, and nurturing talent in the esports scene. Among the young athletes who have particularly marked the history of the club is ZywOo.
Ten years later, Team Vitality and ZywOo have left an indelible mark on the esports landscape, winning numerous titles and consolidating their position as leaders in the Counter-Strike scene. As they look towards 2024, their goal is to build on these achievements and continue to lead the way in innovation and excellence in esports.
“This is the third time in his career that ZywOo has renewed with us since 2018,” continues Fabien Devide, co-founder and President of Team Vitality. “We are proud to have such a magical talent among our athletes. I even think he deserves even more recognition on a national scale – just like Mbappé in football, Karabatic in handball, or Wembanyama in basketball. ZywOo is part of this generation of great French champions.”
His Preferred Settings
ZywOo’s mouse settings
DPI: 400
Sensitivity: 2
eDPI: 800
Zoom Sensitivity: 1
Polling Rate: 1000 Hz
Windows Sensitivity: 6
ZywOo’s video settings
Resolution: 1280×960
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Scaling Mode: Stretched
Brightness: 110%
Display Mode: Fullscreen
Boost Player Contrast: Enabled
Wait for Vertical Sync: Disabled
Multisampling Anti-Aliasing Mode: 4x MSAA
Global Shadow Quality: High
Model/Texture Detail: High
Texture Filtering Mode: Anisotropic 4x
Shader Detail: High
Particle Detail: Low
Ambient Occlusion: Medium
High Dynamic Range: Quality
FidelityFX Super Resolution: Disabled (Highest Quality)
NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency: Enabled
ZywOo’s HUD settings
HUD Scale: 0.9
HUD Color: Team Color
ZywOo’s Radar settings
Radar Centers the Player: Yes
Radar is Rotating: Yes
Toggle Shape With Scoreboard: Yes
Radar Hud Size: 1
Radar Map Zoom: 0.7
ZywOo’s crosshair settings
Copy and paste the following text into your console and press enter to activate ZywOo’s crosshair settings. Here’s how to open the console in CS2.
Settings
Value
Crosshair Code
CSGO-qiqNa-8FZmF-4mnTa-LSGNc-AioUE
Style
Classic Static
Thickness
One
Follow Recoil
No
Dot
No
Length
1.5
Gap
-2
Outline
No
Color
Custom
Red
255
Green
255
Blue
255
Alpha
Yes
Alpha Value
255
T Style
No
Deployed Weapon Gap
No
Sniper Width
No
That’s how French superstar plays CS2. Screenshot by Dot Esports
ZywOo uses a VAXEE AX OUTSET Wireless mouse, a Xtrfy K5 Compact keyboard, and a ZOWIE XL2546K monitor.
Here are ZywOo’s monitor settings:
DyAC: Premium
Black eQualizer: 12
Color Vibrance: 20
Low Blue Light: 0
Picture Mode: FPS 1
Brightness: 75
Contrast: 51
Sharpness: 10
Gamma: Gamma 3
Color Temperature: User Define
Red: 100
Green: 100
Blue: 100
AMA: Premium
ZywOo’s career so far
Courtesy of dotesports.com. When it comes to talented and renowned CS players, there are hardly more popular names than ZywOo. In January 2024 the French sniper earned HLTV’s Player of 2023 reward. He also boasted that title twice before, becoming the second player next to s1mple who achieved that three times.
It’s obviously not an accident. ZywOo led Vitality to their first Major on home soil in May 2023, where they hoisted the BLAST.tv Paris Major. The 23-year-old was awarded with the MVP award of the event. Besides claiming a Major trophy, ZywOo and Vitality have numerous other gold medals under their belt, being undoubtedly one of the greatest teams of the current era.
What about players here in North America?
Stewie2K’s settings, crosshair, and viewmodel for CS2
Photo by Joao Ferreira via PGL
Stewie2K is one of North America’s most well-known Counter Strike and VALORANT players.
The 25-year-old cemented himself as one of the five North American players to come back against FaZe Clan in the final of the ELEAGUE Boston CS:GO Major 2018. It’s the only CS:GO Major won by a North American squad.
After months of ups and downs, Stewie2K retired from Counter-Strike and transferred to VALORANT in July 2022 to become a full-time content creator. But when CS2 was announced on March 22, the American shared that he was “ready to grind” again. On March 29, he joined Legacy on loan, marking his official return to professional action.
Stewie2K’s crosshair settings in CS2
Copy and paste the following text into your console and press enter to activate Stewie2K’s crosshair settings. Here’s how to open the console in CS2.
Settings
Value
Crosshair Code
CSGO-Oi38Z-qyYYO-iv9Pn-GjwrN-eaiGH
Style
Classic Static
Thickness
Zero
Follow Recoil
No
Dot
No
Length
2.5
Gap
-2
Outline
No
Color
Green
Red
255
Green
255
Blue
255
Alpha
Yes
Alpha Value
255
T Style
No
Deployed Weapon Gap
No
Sniper Width
Zero
The North American player has a thick, green crosshair. Screenshot by Dot Esports
