Greg Jones Wins the 2016 Pinball HQ Marathon!

In an epic final that lasted hours between the top 4 players, Australia's own Greg Jones (AUS rank 19th) held off the 3 time European Pinball Champion Franck Bona (FRA rank 1st) to take the win.

It came down to the last game, on Hurricane, with odds on for Pat Nichols to take the over all win after a strong lead. Greg also managed to fend off Paul Jones in the same game, who was also crushing every competitor in the previous rounds.

Points allocated across the finals matches show how close the end game really was. Well done Greg!

• Greg Jones 10 points
• Franck Bona 9 points
• Pat Nichols 8 points
• Paul Jones 8 points

Full results of the marathon competition will be posted when they come to hand.

Highest Placing Female Player

Ceremony for the highest placing female player, Naiomi Goodwin! She won the same award last year too, and gets another trophy for the mantle, and another iPad. Well done Nomes! 

And the finals are in full swing, with 4 people remaining.

• Pat Nichols
• Paul Jones
• Franck Bona
• Greg Jones

State of Finals 4:30pm

Qualifier Winners Announced

Richard Rhodes wins the highest qualifier. There was also Kirby who won the best qualifier under 10 years old, and best qualifier under 15 won by Mia, and best rookie (not IFPA qualified). Now the finals begin! 

Finals Day

Scores are being triple checked, and the top 24 will soon be locked in for the finals. 

2016 Pinball HQ Marathon, Saturday Morning Results

Finals are tomorrow, Sunday from 3pm. You only have today and tomorrow morning to qualify in the top 24 in order to go through! Full results as of Saturday morning below.

The heavy hitters, Richard Rhodes (AUS rank 2nd) and Franck Bona (WORLD rank 46th), doing well as expected. Paul Jones doing exceptionally too. Who's going to win it!?

• 1 - Richard Rhodes
• 2 - Paul Jones
• 3 - Franck Bona
• 4 - Pat Nichols
• 5 - Matthew Venables
• 6 - Paul Reid
• 7 - Marc Bell
• 8 - Reon Seeney
• 9 - Greg Jones
• 10 - Brett Goodwin
• 11 - Zac Veron
• 12 - Greg Mc Mahon
• 13 - Naiomi Goodwin
• 13 - Tim Chapman
• 15 - Michelle Clark
• 16 - Martin Snicer
• 16 - Terry Hunt
• 18 - William Gill
• 19 - Rod Brooks
• 20 - David Loewy
• 21 - Ian Hooper-Richardson
• 22 - James Yau
• 23 - Regan Rist
• 24 - Larissa Veron
• 25 - Andrew Waszkiewicz
• 26 - Martin Toth
• 27 - John Pansini
• 27 - Norbert Snicer
• 29 - Jett Reid
• 30 - William Ward
• 31 - Andrew Sorensen
• 32 - John Arena
• 33 - Gail Steiger
• 34 - Sandra Epstein
• 35 - Ron Loewy
• 36 - Andrew Constantinou
• 37 - David McKinnon
• 38 - Gary Steiger
• 39 - Mia De Riz
• 39 - Kerby Reid
• 41 - Adrian Conti
• 42 - Lucas Christian
• 43 - Mia Sorensen
• 44 - Curtis Constantinou

2016 Pinball HQ Marathon, Begins!

The first day of qualifying starts for the Pinball HQ Marathon, and what a start it was! Regulars spotted include Pat, Paul Jones, Paul Reid, Reon, Terry Hunt, Brett and Nomes, Matt Venables, and the welcome return of Andy (MUD)! Plus many more. And it's only the first day, and only 6pm! Competition will be very tough indeed. 

**UPDATE** (JWP)
As of Friday night standings
1st RGR
2nd Paul Jones
3rd: Franc Bona

New shot of Ghostbusters playfield

A new shot of part of the playfield for Sterns upcoming Ghostbusters game has appeared online. The shot gives us a close look at some of the playfield art and inserts.

The art looks great, and more colourful than what we have seen from Sterns other recent games. We can also see two drop targets on either side. One labeled "Tony Scoleri" and the other "Nunzio Scoleri".

For those who aren't Ghostbusters nerds, the Scoleri brothers were sentanced to death by electric chair in 1948. Typically, they make themselves a nucence by coming back as ghosts and have to be put away by our heroes.

The Scoleri brothers - Ghostbusters II

It would appear as though these guys are going to pop up during play to be shot down ala Cactus Canyon.
Another point of note is the inserts that appear to lead towards the main shots in the game. In line with a 'jackpot' insert are inserts with the labels 'The ballroom', 'He slimed me!' and 'We got one!' While its only really speculation at this early stage, these would appear to be all themed around the Slimer ghost character. This implies that the shots will be in an Attack from Mars style (monster bash), wherein each shot lights an insert, and completing all the inserts on each shot starts a multiball.

This is of course a tried and true style we've seen on many games, and I for one would be happy to see this shot style on the new Ghostbusters!

Brisbane ACS in Full Swing!

Busy scenes here for the first night of the Australian Championship Series 2016 in sunny (humid) Queensland.