Over the last number of days and two world championships, we have been following a group of six people; Robert Macauley, Brett Goodwin, Naiomi Goodwin, David Peck, Fiona Peck and Danielle Peck. These players represented Australia and New Zealand on the world stage, culminating in the IFPA championship of which Rob, Brett, David and Danielle were our stars and country representatives.
Naiomi Goodwin gives PAPA two thumbs up!
Unfortunately for most of the group, the competition proved too tough. Rob ended up in 59th place, and David 56th. Danielle fared better but ended just shy of the top 32 in equal 39th.
Brett Goodwin, the Lake Macquarie resident in upper NSW, had a much better run. Brett's first time playing internationally, he even had the famed Pizza n Pinball restaurant in Newcastle help raise funds to send him over to the world championship by raffling off a Gorgar pinball machine (no I didn't win, thanks for asking). He and partner Naiomi have been having a blast. Brett managed to qualify in the top 32 at position 27. To say this is a monumental effort is most certainly an understatement!
Robert Macauley and Brett Goodwin.
Brett now faced some incredible competition, being matched in the head to head rounds against Cayle George from the USA. Cayle is not only ranked 11th in the world, he is also a multiple world championship holder, having won both the PAPA and IFPA world championships before! While the 32 players in this top group are all incredible competitors, it would have been hard for Brett to find a tougher first opponent.
Impressively, Brett took it down to the wire. In the seven game playoff, the two competitors were tied after six games. Cayle managed a win on Indi 500, Mousin' Around, and Harlem Globetrotters. Brett managed a win on Attack from Mars, Dracula, and Space Race. It was off to the tie breaker match! I could only imagine how Brett must have been feeling, having taken this multiple world championship holder to a sudden death playoff...
The first game chosen in the best of three match was Dirty Harry, of which Cayle won. The next chosen was World Cup Soccer, and going into the third ball it was close. Cayle on 100-odd million, and Brett on 60-odd. Brett had his third ball cradled on the left flipper, with multiball lit, he just needed to pop that ball in the scoop to potentially start something big and catch Cayle's score. Unfortunately, and as I have seen almost everyone do on that particular World Cup, the shot hit the post next to the hole, and the ball flew straight out the outlane, ending Brett's chances and allowing Cayle to plunge his third ball and walk away.
Brett did very well to end up where he did. Steve Edwards, Australia's former number 1 player and now in semi retirement, is the only Australian to have performed better in the IFPA world championships, making it past the first head to head match.
A huge congratulations to all our representatives for a very entertaining competition. For those that want to follow on with the rest of the IFPA World Pinball Championships, they are still going and you can watch live on the Twitch stream RIGHT HERE.
Author: Marc Bell