Winners are grinners! Andrew Winter, long time ZBall member and multiple ZBall league champion, picks up another trophy for the mantle - another pinball machine!
Andrew Winter knows his Champion Pub - and everyone else walked away knowing a lot more about the game afterward! Photo courtesy Matthew Venables Photography - http://mvenables.com
Andrew got to choose between taking home a Diner or a Black Rose pinball machine. As of wrapping up, that decision was still being mulled over. I don't think you can go wrong with either machine in my opinion...
The final wasn't quite as expected - with the machine to be played in the final originally planned as a wood rail. Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of Roger Z's control, this became unavailable on the day and he had to scurry around for another solution. The backup plan of Firepower also getting scuttled at the last moment, Roger ended up grabbing the only thing left in transportable distance - Champion Pub. Not much of a 'classic' in the true sense of the word, but as Roger pointed out - it is 20 years old! We can't fault him on that logic.
Beer, pinball and laughs - I think this photo captures the essence of ZBall quite well. Photo by Paul Kaczorek.
The format was every player has three games on the machine and their scores averaged across the three games. Andrew absolutely blew the game up on his first game and no one really ever threatened his lead from there. John Pansini (finishing 2nd place) gave it a good go, and Mark Tibbits (I think 3rd place?) almost got close too. In fact, Mark quite possibly could have passed it if he didn't drain before cashing in a giant jackpot, handily slam tilting the machine for it's troubles (much to the amusement of all on lookers).
It was a great night. If you want to take part or watch on, don't forget the second ZBall final is on next week, 23rd November at the Lord Raglan Hotel in Redfern. Hope to see you there!