Australian Results - PAPA World Pinball Championship

The PAPA World Pinball Championship has concluded once more. A grueling test of endurance and skill with hundreds of players over four days, it is simply the most difficult and prestigious event on the pinball tournament calendar.

Australia had three players competing at this years PAPA as mentioned in previous articles, and they placed in the various divisions as follows;

Robert Macauley (AUS Rank 4)

• A Division (the big one!) - 58th place
• Classics 1 - 96th place
• Classics 2 - 69th place
• Classics 3 - 75th place

Brett Goodwin (AUS Rank 5)

• B Division - 16th place
• Classics 1 - 135th place
• Classics 2 - 42nd place
• Classics 3 - 19th place
• Split Flipper - WINNER!

Naiomi Goodwin (AUS Rank 47th)

• B Division - 70th place
• Women's Division - 9th place
• Split Flipper - WINNER!

Not the greatest result from Rob, with a middle of the road finish for each division he entered. While respectable in the biggest competition in the world, with the worlds best players, I'm sure he'd be disappointed in those results and will strive to do better next time.

Brett and Naiomi fared better in their respective divisions, though it is worth noting they abstained from the A Division. Naiomi just missed out on qualifying for the Women's Division finals by placing 9th, one off the cut off point.

Believe it or not, this is the Split Flipper PAPA trophy...

The good news story coming out of this though is that both Brett and Naiomi won the Split Flipper division! A bit of a fun competition, players choose a partner (and there's trouble if Brett or Naiomi chooses someone else...) and each take a flipper each on the respective game, and effectively play two player team pinball. This requires a lot of skill, trust, and patience as you rely on your partner to handle their side of the game. The team beat some incredible competition including Josh and Zach Sharpe, Adam Lefkoff and Keith Elwin, Jason Werdrick and Jim Belsito, and many, many more. 59 other teams to be exact! What a result for two of the most accommodating Australian pinball players around. Congratulations Brett and Noms!

Of course we can't forget our friends over the pond. New Zealand's best known pinball family also attended with David, Danielle and Fiona Peck.

David Peck (NZ Rank 1)

• A Division - 105th place
• Classics 1 - 41st place
• Split Flipper - 9th place

Fiona Peck (NZ Rank 16th)

• Women's Division - 29th place

Danielle Peck (NZ Rank 2nd)

• B Division - 58th place
• Women's Division - 7th place
• Juniors 1 - 2nd place
• Juniors 2 - 3rd place
• Juniors 3 - 2nd place

A very impressive result for Danielle. Something tells me her fathers number 1 rank in New Zealand isn't going to last much longer...

Before we go and wrap up this years PAPA, there is another great story that came out of this competition - not just Brett and Naiomi's fantastic win in the Split Flipper category. PAPA crowned a new world champion this weekend in Canada's Robert Gagno! Robert has really taken the scene by storm in the last few years, with not only playing some incredible pinball and rocketing up the world rankings to (currently) 10th. But he's also the subject of a new documentary that is being released in just a few short weeks: Wizard Mode.

Robert Gagno, the world's newest pinball champion.

I won't go into the movie here, but I strongly urge you to watch the trailer (click HERE to go to the site) and track down a way you can see it when it's released, as it looks truly amazing. The documentary follows Robert and his family as they struggle with autism and Robert's dream of becoming a world pinball champion. I get the feeling there will be some very quick edits and additions before the movie is released, as the dream has become a reality, and the film can now show one of the great human stories and accomplishments. What a fantastic result!

Author: Marc Bell

World Pinball Championships - Australian Players Compete

The biggest and most prestigious pinball competitions in the world, the PAPA World Pinball Championship, and the IFPA World Pinball Championship, are for the first time happening within days of each other. This of course helps international competitors to play in both, in what could only be described as an absolutely exhausting and ultimately rewarding number of days of competitive pinball.

Robert Macauley from Adelaide (left, receiving the trophy), and Brett Goodwin from Lake Macquarie (right).

Those two competitions are happening in the USA, and RIGHT NOW.

PAPA is an open event that any player can sign up for, yet the IFPA championship is invite only. Every year, the IFPA invites international players who are ranked 1 and 2 in their respective countries. If for whatever reason a player can’t attend (it’s expensive to travel overseas!), then country tournament directors will move down the list of ranked players until they can either a) fill the two spots, or b) reach a cut off point deemed by the country director as the maximum rank that an invite should be forwarded to (in Australia, that cut off is generally 6 to 8 or thereabouts).

This year, Australia has successfully managed to have two representatives attend IFPA, and due to the timing of both IFPA and PAPA events, have two players in each!

Robert Macauley (AUS rank 4th), a seasoned international competitor (and multiple Twin Galaxies video game world record holder), and Brett Goodwin (AUS rank 5th), who is attending his very first international competition.

Robert Macauley.

Robert, from Adelaide South Australia, has a strong tournament record with his best result arguably his win in the 2015 Lake Macquarie Pinball Open. He has also taken the top spot in the 2014 Timezone Supanova National Grand Final, and both the Auckland and Christchurch championships during the 2014 Kiwi Pincade tour. Robert has attended the IFPA World Championship before - in fact just last year - and I’m sure he’s looking to improve upon his finish last year of 40th out of the 64 competitors. This will be Robert’s first PAPA World Championship!

Brett Goodwin.

Brett, from Lake Macquarie in NSW, has made leaps and bounds in his short career in pinball competition, having started just two years ago in 2014. Not letting time get in the way, he’s already a national champion with a win in the 2014 IFPA Australian Championship Series, and wins in both the Batcave Masters and ACS Pin-Golf side tournaments. As mentioned, it’s Brett’s first international outing, and what a way to start! The two biggest tournaments in the world!

The gruelling PAPA qualifiers are already on their way and about a day in. If you think wandering in to the PAPA World Championships would be easy due to it being an open event, you’d be sorely disappointed. Regarded as the most difficult competition in the world to qualify for, players are required to play a qualifier ‘ticket’, which is selecting five games to play out of an available ten, and that ticket of five games are ranked as an entire entry against all other competitors. This means that you can’t have a bad game in that five and just restart that one game. If you have a bad game you are more than likely looking at restarting your entire ticket. Players - to be competitive and make the finals cut off - would likely be required to either have great results in all five games, or ‘blow it up’ on at least two, and post good results on the remaining three. One single bad game could mean the end of your qualifying ticket, and to get back in line and start again.

Just one day in on qualifying (three days of qualifying, finals of the top 24 players on the fourth day), and the level of competition is already second to none. Robert was impressively qualified in 19th place, but less than an hour later had dropped to 25th - just outside the cut off point. Keith Elwin (USA, ranked 3rd in the world), is holding on to the top spot, with Zach Sharpe (USA, ranked 5th in the world), Markus Stix (Austria, 23rd in the world), and Daniele Acciari (Italy, 2nd in the word), barking at Keith's heals.

Keith Elwin, multiple time PAPA World Champion.

To give you some context of what us Australians are dealing with here, even our number 1 ranked Australian player (Peter Watt from QLD) is world ranked 105th. So to say we have our work cut out for us, is probably an understatement!

Brett has elected to participate in the PAPA World Championship in the B Division, perhaps feeling that the pressure of the A Division would be a little too much for his first international outing. So far he is doing very well and is qualified in 3rd place!

Other divisions and standings of interest;

• Danielle Peck (NZ rank 2nd) - 9th in the B Division and 3rd in the Women’s Division
• Naiomi Goodwin (AUS rank 47th) - 6th in the Women’s Division

Daniele Acciari, multiple time IFPA World Champion.

Straight after the PAPA World Championships, the IFPA World Championships begin. Thankfully for our two Australian representatives, there is no gruelling qualifying process due to the invitational structure of the event (although that does mean Naiomi can’t compete!). Instead the 64 country representatives will play in groups of four in the first round in a total of eight sessions. Each session is made up of playing one game from each ‘era’ deemed by the IFPA as OLD, MID, and NEW. Once that round of eight sessions is complete, the rankings will be determined and the top 32 players go through to play head to head matches in a best of seven games! Feeling tired yet?

Provisional first session groupings for Robert and Brett look like this in the IFPA so far;

• Group #8
• 8. Sean Grant (USA)
• 25. Adam Becker (CAN)
• 40. Ernö Rotter (GER)
• 57. Brett Goodwin (AUS)

• Group #14
• 14. Josh Sharpe (USA)
• 19. Markus Stix (AUS)
• 46. Peter Andersen (DEN)
• 51. Robert Macauley (AUS)

Certainly tough groups for both players, but really, there are no easy groups in the world championships...

Join the comments below and let’s see how our players fare in the toughest challenge they’ll face in pinball. You can follow the PAPA divisions qualification and finals live as it happens at the PAPA SITE HERE.

Author: Marc Bell

Z Ball Pinball Musings - Months of February / March

As always, Roger from Z Ball Amusements has released his latest monthly newsletter, this time reflecting on the month that was February / March. Some tasty morsels include a dinner with Gary Stern, some interesting (and tough) questions to the big man himself, and the top earners for February!

Roger Z and Gary Stern (I wonder if there was a selfie stick used here...).

During the dinner, Mark Williams (Z Ball technician) pulls no punches and - as he is want to do - calls it as he sees it as he questions Gary; "So why have Stern gone back to the crappy latches instead of the lock down bar?". Gary responds with equal honesty (and throws Steve Ritchie under the bus!); "I'll be honest you can blame Steve Ritchie for that. He never liked the lock down bars and felt they still moved even when they were locked down, he prefers the latches as they lock down real tight and don't move... plus they are cheaper to manufacture." A line of questioning only a man who has unlatched thousands of lock down bars could feel a passion for...

And of course, Gary deftly sidesteps the question on the possibility of an Iron Maiden pinball machine, by simply reminiscing on the days when everyone wanted Williams (not Mark this time, Williams the pinball company) to make a Rocky Horror Picture Show pinball. Gary should work in politics.

There's lots of information on the upcoming Z Ball tournaments in the newsletter, which I won't elaborate on here. Other than to say Sydney has yet another Super Selfie League with Roger starting one too!

You too can look as cool as this guy, by participating in your local Selfie League (stick not included).

Upcoming dates for the start of the normal Z Ball Pinball League (which I am really looking forward to, it has been way too long...) as below;

• Tuesday May 3rd 7pm Courthouse Hotel
• Wednesday May 18th Lord Raglan Hotel
• Tuesday May 31st Annandale Hotel
• Tuesday June 15th Courthouse Hotel
• Wednesday June 29th Lord Raglan Hotel 
• Tuesday July 12th Annandale Hotel

And last but not least, the top earners across all of Z Ball's sites for February;

1. Game of Thrones - Courthouse
2. Kiss - Courthouse
3. Attack from Mars - Courthouse
4. Star Trek Next Gen - Lord Raglan
5. Twilight Zone - Lord Raglan
6. AC DC - Courthouse
7. Addams Family - Courthouse
8. Walking Dead - Newtown
9. Creature from the Black Lagoon - Courthouse
10. Tales from the Crypt - Belfield

Game of Thrones still holding the fort, as it were. I don't think there's any surprises there.

The full newsletter can be read over at the Z Ball Newsletter Page HERE.

Author: Marc Bell

Bell tops Sydney Super League Final

The first Sydney Super selfie league drew to a close at the end of March, and on Sunday the top qualifiers played off to see who was the supreme super selfie silver-ball soul in Sydney.

City Heroes on George st. Sydney

Nine finalists entered the A division on the day and so games were played in groups of three. Consistancy was the key on the day with each finalist playing 9 games over the 4 hours.

Iron man was a particularly fast player with finalists rarely scoring over 20 million on the day. There were a few last minute game changes to keep the players on their toes. Kiss and Metallica were taken out and replaced with a beautiful ACDC that played magically. During practice Matt Venables. showed us he wasn't phased by the change, scoring a 300-something million on the ACDC. However at the end of the day he was beaten out by the consistancy of skill displayed by Marc Bell.

Paul Reid was hot on Marc's heels chasing 1st, and it came down to the last game. Paul needed a first place on the walking dead in his last group to match Marc's 54 points, however, Matt stood in his way taking the 7 points effectively pushing Paul to 2nd overall.

Young David Loewy took 3rd position, with Ben Hayes following him in 4th.

Final Positions:

Division A
1,Marc Bell
2,Paul Reid
3,David Loewy
4,Ben Hayes
6,Matthew Venables
6,Nathan Clissold
6,John Pansini
8,Regan Rist
9,William Gill

Division B
10,Pat Nichols
11,Tim Chapman
12,Duncan Macdonald
13,Terry Hunt
14,Ron Loewy
15,Robert Cartlidge
16,Michelle Clark
17,Gary Doust
18,Greg McMahon

The selfie fun isn't over! Qualifying for the April Sydney Super League has already begun at the Courthouse Hotel in Newtown.

The Courthouse Hotel. Kiss, Attack from Mars, The Shadow, Creature, Addams Family, Game of thrones, ACDC and Metallica!

The line up at the Courthouse can't be described any other way than EPIC! Some absolute and undoubtable classics like Adams, Attack from Mars, and The Shadow, as well as the latest Sterns like Game of Thrones! This months comp is sure to be a great one!

Author: John Pansini

In Depth: Different Games for Improving Specific Skills

A topic I always find interesting, as a keen competitive pinball player, is which skills are important to master, and which games are ideal for practicing them.

While flipper skills can be practiced on all games, some games are definitely more suited to practicing certain skills than others. Below are some of some my game picks for mastering some of the most important skills in pinball.

Drop Catching

Drop catching is a vital skill, which is utilized constantly by the best players in the world. There is a great Lyman Sheats quote while commentating during a PAPA broadcast, where he simply said, “everything changed when I learned how to drop catch.”  In my opinion the best games to master drop catching are those with nice open playfields, where you often get balls angling diagonally towards the inside (thicker part) of the flipper. A few of my game picks for practicing drop catches are:

• Metallica (perfect returns from Sparky for this)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Medieval Madness

Live Catching

Having a good live catch in your artillery gives so much more control to your game. It is something that you see guys like Bowen Kerins (multiple world champion) and Jorian Engelbrektsson (current number 1 in the world) use all the time. Unlike drop catching, live catching is effective when the ball is angling towards the centre. Some of my picks for practicing live catching are:

• Creature from the Black Lagoon (feeds from sides)
• Attack From Mars
• Iron Man

Multi-ball Control

One skill, in which you see most of the top players in the world apply, is trapping up during multi-ball, cradle-separating, etc. I was talking to Richard Rhodes (AUS rank 2nd) at Coogee about this and it was his view that this skill is under-used by Australian players. I think the best games for practicing multi-ball control are Williams games, particularly Pat Lawlor games, where there is a very specific shot to make in multi-ball, and you can’t get away with flailing. My picks are:

• Addams Family
• FunHouse
• Fish Tales
• Creature from the Black lagoon

Other Skills

Furthermore, accuracy, dead-bouncing, and nudging (probably the three most important skills) can be practiced on just about anything, . There are also more specialised skills such as tap passing (pick - any 80’s Bally games - particularly Paragon), loop passing (pick - Attack From Mars), post-catching (pick - Spiderman), but these skills probably aren’t quite as important to master as the previous ones noted.

For some great player resources and info on different skills, check out PAPA’s website http://papa.org.

These are just some of my picks of games to practice specific skills - we’d love to hear some of yours in the comments below.

Author: Jack Hutchinson

IFPA Australian Championship Series (ACS) 2016 Watch

The first quarter of 2016 has passed, making this a good time to check in with how the ACS standings are looking for this year. The ACS is surely now recognised as Australia’s official national pinball championships, with Paul Jones the current holder of the title.

The big tournaments which have influenced the 2016 standings thus far are the ACS 2015/Pingolf held in Brisbane, and the Pinball HQ Marathon in Sydney. Minor club tournaments make up the remainder of the results.

Out in front after taking out a big victory in the Pinball HQ Marathon, as well as a strong 2nd in the Pingolf in Brisbane, is Greg. Greg has also been getting around to local tournaments in different states, which will no doubt help his 2016 ACS surge.

Peter Watt, Australia’s top overall ranked player, trails narrowly after his 2nd in the 2015 ACS, and a third in the Pingolf. Peter has also had some solid victories in some smaller local Brisbane tournaments, including a recent Houseball victory still to be posted on the IFPA site.

In third is Paul Jones after his massive 2015 ACS success, and a solid top-4 performance at the Pinball HQ Marathon.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of Brett Goodwin, Pat Nichols, Chris Jennings, Jack Hutchinson, Jordan Tredaway, Luke Marburg and Rob Singh. Some familiar names in that mix, as well as Melbourne wonder kid Jordan Tredaway who has been showing everyone how good he really is in recent times.

From 11-20 we have Marc Bell, Franck Bona, Martin Snicer, Richard Rhodes, Paul Reid, Peter Nash, Chris Watt, Evan Lathouras and Wal Dickie. Some great players in that bunch who will no doubt be pushing for more breathing space in the top 32.

Greg, winner of the 2016 Pinball HQ Marathon. Photo taken from the Australian Pinball League Facebook page.

Making up the remainder of the 32 are Geoff Wills, Glen Forster, Stuart Thornton, Rob Macauley, Matthew Venables, Andrew Ferguson, Mitchell Setschnjak, David Loewy, Andrew Thomson, Johnny Crabtree, Corey Hamilton, Andy Kay and Jason Lambert. Some highly ranked players in there, as well as some newer competitors, who will all be trying to solidify their position for the next 2016 IFPA Australian Championship Series.

It is worth noting that results in NZ do not count towards the ACS, otherwise these standings would look quite different.

For more info visit the IFPA ACS 2016 ranking page HERE.

Australian Pinball Majors Circuit - Batcave Masters 2016

The concept of an Australian pinball majors circuit has only been around for a little while now - in fact just a few short months. The first Batcave Masters tournament -  which was held in Sydney at the tail end of 2015 - started the conversation and aspirations of this recognition. Essentially, due to the IFPA endorsement and points distribution changes that year, the tournament structures that were traditionally run in Australia were no longer valuable events for world ranking points accumulation. A much more exhaustive approach to tournament design needed to be put in place to match the IFPA’s expectation on what constitutes an event that demonstrates and rewards player’s skill.

Marc Bell (yes me!) and Steve Edwards (in the grey hoodie, watching on) battle in the final on one of the three deciding games for first and second place at Batcave Masters 2015.

Besides the IFPA rule foundation, there was also a desire to hold events that would truly be recognised as ‘world class’. In that the structures were such that a level of rigidness and confidence in the rules would be up there with the large international events such as the PAPA World Championships, European Championships, and so forth.

As it stands, there is still no formal recognition, nor formal body, which has been developed in order to agree upon what exactly is the ‘Australian Pinball Majors Circuit’. Though currently it is generally accepted that the following tournaments are a part;

• Batcave Masters (NSW)
• Pinball Expo (NSW)
• Australian Pinball Championship (NSW)
• Queensland Pinball Open (QLD)
• Brisbane Masters (QLD)
• Australian Championship Series (changes annually)

These major events still rely on the enormous efforts of dedicated individuals and are not guaranteed to occur annually or indeed, continuous at all. However it is hoped that with the growing support of the community, and the growing organisational and volunteering effort of others, that we can hope to see some or all of these events taking place every year or two. Indeed, the Australian Championship Series is expected to be annual as it is supported by IFPA themselves who are actively promoting these events to find national champions (and state champions, in the case of the USA).

Rob Macauley (AUS rank 4th) plays a tournament game on Ski Jump, under the trophies and gaze of spectators.

This brings us to the next event in the majors circuit in Australia, which is the Batcave Masters this May. The second Batcave Masters to take place, it is a rigorous tournament held over three days, with the main tournament qualification taking up one of those days, finals another, and then two more ‘side tournaments’ taking place in between. And like other events in the majors calendar, these multi-day tournaments often test a players stamina and focus, not just the players ability to flip the ball. It’s common for players to be competing for 14 hours or more, only to catch a few hours sleep and get up the next day and do it all again - if they are fortunate to stay in the running that is!

With the first event taking place last year, the Batcave Masters was and still is considered by the IFPA as Australia's most highly rated event and most indicative of player skill representation, based on their Ratings Strength metrics. It is expected to retain that crown for it’s second outing. At this point all previous winners of the Batcave tournaments are set to attend this years run, and attempt to defend their honour. Though Steve Edwards (the then ranked number 1 Australian player) has yet to indicate if he will set aside his temporary retirement and join the fun again;

2015 Main Tournament

Competitors get some rare time to have some 'free play' in the bunker, before the 2015 Batcave Masters kicked off.

• 1st: Marc Bell (AUS rank 10th)
• 2nd: Steve Edwards (AUS rank 3rd)
• 3rd: Evan Lathouras (AUS rank 44th)

2015 Side Tournament

• 1st: Paul Jones (AUS rank 8th)
• 2nd: Greg Siegele (AUS rank 7th)
• 3rd: Marc Bell (AUS rank 10th)

2015 Pin-Golf

• 1st: Brett Goodwin (AUS rank 5th)
• 2nd: John Hutchinson (AUS rank 9th)
• 3rd: Richard Rhodes (AUS rank 2nd)

44 of Australia and New Zealand’s best players attended last years event, with an unprecedented 10 out of the top 10 in Australia, and 18 of the top 20. It is expected that most of these players will confirm their attendance for 2016 as well.

Held at a private residence, the Batcave Masters is not an event that the general public, nor the ‘pop-in’ player, can come along and expect to spectate or play in. This tournament has a pre-registration process as well as a preference for existing ‘world ranked’ players. Having said that though, it is not expected to reach capacity and need any culling of the entrants. The full details and registration information can be found on the Aussie Arcade forum thread which you can find by clicking the link here.

gamethesystem.co will aim to delve further into the players and their stories leading up to the tournament. So when it finally kicks off in just over a months time, the anticipation and excitement of one of Australia’s most prestigious pinball events can be shared by all.

The first month of Sydney's Super League in its final qualifying days!

Author: John "Magic Hands" Pansini

March has been a very busy month of intense pinball competition with Pinball HQ's marathon and Pincade happening over the pond (NZ). But if that wasn't enough for you, we also had the first month of the new Sydney Super League. 

If you didn't already know, qualifying for our super league is happening from the 1st to the 31st of March, which means there are only 2 days left to get down to City Heroes on George street to post scores.

Selfie stick is recommended. It is actually quite a challenge getting ones head and score into frame.

There has been some pretty tough competition from some great players like Matt V., Ben H., and Nathan C. who hold the top three qualifying spots currently.

Putting up a score on each machine will earn you points, with the top three scores getting 100/90/85. After that the point value only drops by one so 4th position on that game earns 84 points. This makes the top three spots on a game worth a lot more.

Current standings:

The final will be held at City Heroes on Sunday the 3rd of April. On the day each of the qualifiers will be put into divisions based on their qualifying position. At the moment it looks like Matt, Ben, Nathan and Pat will be playing off in  the A division to determine 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the final.

Zoe Vrabel - Worlds First Women's Pinball Champion

As announced on the IFPA page HERE, Zoe Vrabel has survived a tough head to head elimination bracket to win the 2016 Women's Pinball Championship tournament held in the USA.

Zoe Vrabel with the spoils from the inaugural championship

The first of it's kind, the Women's Pinball Championship had 16 competitors - chosen by world ranking - playing a best of 7 games format and single elimination head to head bracket. Portland's Zoe played a total of 27 games in order to progress through the brackets and finally take the win from Sunshine Bon, also from the USA.

Danielle Peck, 3rd place in the System 11 World Championships

As one of only 3 international competitors in the bracket, New Zealand's own Danielle Peck (NZ Rank 2nd) was unfortunately knocked out in the first round by USA's Echa Schneider. In a marathon 3 hour round, Danni and Echa were 2-2 in some very close games, until Danni had 3 house balls on Volley to give Echa an easy 3-2, and then Echa again taking the game on Batman and win the round 4-2.

Danni's record speaks for itself, with her most recent highlight being the 3rd placing at the World System 11 Pinball Championships held just this month, with 74 players competing.

Congratulations go to Zoe Vrabel and all the competitors of this prestigious - and now annual - event.

Australia's Number 1 Pinball Player Wins Again

Australia's number 1 ranked player, Queensland's Peter Watt, has secured yet another win and another feather for his already crowded cap. Winning the 2016 Brewsvegas competition held in Peter's home state on Thursday 17th March, he fends off the tough competition to take both the 3-strikes tournament, and the Pin-Golf competition held the following Saturday.

Peter only recently took the number 1 spot in the IFPA Australian ranking from the two previous champions that have traditionally ruled the positions for years - Richard Rhodes and Steve Edwards. Peter has been on a surge since winning the Pinball Expo Championship in 2014, and has since won major events such as the 2015 Brisbane Masters and 2015 Queensland Pinball Open.

The full results of both competitions at Brewsvegas 2016 below;

Main Tournament

• 1 Peter Watt
• 2 Chris Eccles
• 3 Chris Jennings
• 4 David Lomas
• 4 Hugh Dickson
• 6 Chris Wade
• 6 Greg Jones
• 8 Caitlan Christie
• 8 Corey Hamilton
• 8 Dirk Booy
• 8 James Angliss
• 12 Adam Segall
• 12 Chelle McIntyre
• 12 Matt Usher
• 12 Andrew Wade
• 16 Barrie Valentino
• 16 Gordon Shears
• 16 Josh Court
• 16 Randal Kempel
• 20 Angus Gillespie
• 20 Bill Segall
• 20 Edward Partridge
• 20 Jock O'Kane
• 20 Michi Henning
• 25 Simon Booy
• 25 Geoff Marshal

Pin-Golf Tournament

• 1 Peter Watt
• 2 James Angliss
• 3 Greg Jones
• 4 Andrew Wade
• 5 Jason Lambert
• 6 Michi Henning
• 7 Nathan Brant
• 8 Bill Segall
• 9 Daniel Figgis
• 9 Chris Wade
• 11 Matthew Hetherington
• 12 Michael Peck

Houseball Returns for Season 2

Houseball, Queensland’s own residential pinball league, returned for the opening meet of season two at Hutch’s last night. Inspired by the success of Wildball in NSW, Houseball was started last year with five members of the Queensland pinball community stepping up to host meets. It has been an undeniable success, and hopefully will continue for many years to come. The inaugural league winner last year was Peter Watt (pictured below with perpetual shield).

Last night’s meet was played exclusively on System 1 Gottlieb’s with the titles being Charlie’s Angles, Buck Rodgers, Sinbad and Pinball Pool. The top 8 who qualified for PAPA-style finals on the night were:

1. John (Jack) Hutchinson
2. Brian Green
3. Joe Taranto
4. Corey Hamilton
5. Peter Watt
6. Rob Singh
7. Chris Jennings
8. Nick Keros

The four who then progressed to the final were Peter Watt, Jack Hutchinson, Joe Taranto and Chris Jennings. Peter proved too strong throughout the semi-final and final and took it out convincingly. Jack took second, Chris third, and Joe fourth. Full results will be available for viewing on Aussie Arcade and will be submitted to IFPA.

It was a great start to what is sure to be another awesome season of Houseball.

Keep an eye out for the time and location of the next meet on Aussie Arcade.

ZBall Pinball Top Machines

As one of Australia's most frequented pinball locations - ZBall's Courthouse Hotel in Newtown Sydney - it's always fascinating to hear what machines are the most popular compared to ZBall's other locations. And unlike just about every other coin-op operator out there, Roger from ZBall actually releases this earnings information in his monthly newsletters!

So how do the new machines fair against the old stalwarts from decades past? Read on!

Top 10 Machines and Locations:

1. Game of Thrones LE - Courthouse Hotel
2. Kiss LE - Courthouse Hotel
3. Transformers LE - Annandale Hotel
4. Spiderman - Orange Grove Hotel
5. Walking Dead LE - Newtown Hotel
6. Attack from Mars - Courthouse
7. AC DC LE - Courthouse Hotel
8. Avengers LE - Newtown Hotel
9. Junkyard - Lord Raglan Hotel
10. Guns N Roses - Annandale Hotel

Interesting to see Junkyard up there in the top 10, but the less I say about that game the better...

Other interesting tidbits from the newsletter include the details of the upcoming ZBall Pinball League competitions starting in May (3 competitions this year, giving away 2 pinball machines as the prizes (yes, GIVING AWAY pinball machines, Roger has done this for 12 years now)), and 3 new pinball machines coming our way to play at the Courthouse Hotel: Safe Cracker, Ghostbusters LE, and Medieval Madness!

You can read the full newsletter by CLICKING HERE, and join the fun that is one of the longest running pinball competitions in Australia's history.

Australia's First Super Selfie League

Do you live in the Sydney or NSW region, and want to get involved in one of the coolest concepts to come about in pinball for years? Of course you do! It's not only stupidly easy to take part, there's also no registration or joining fee. Just rock up and play whenever you want!

The concept of a Super Selfie League really started to take off in the last few months over in the USA, with Josh Sharpe from the IFPA starting his own. It wasn't long after that everyone realised how fun the idea of posting images of your own grinning mug next to your score, and ripping on other people's funny photos, and selfie leagues started popping up everywhere. It's a very social way to get involved in competition play, without the burdens of strict attendance schedules and registration formalities.

Australia now has it's own Super Selfie League, thanks to Magic Hands Pinball in Sydney! Again the concept is very simple; head to the venue that the competition is taking place for the month (this March it's at City Heroes on 505 George Street, Sydney CBD), anytime you like.

Play on one or as many of the 8 machines as you can that include Iron Man VE, Star Trek LE, Metallica LE, Avatar, Tron, LOTR, Kiss and The Walking Dead. When you get a score, take a picture of that score and include yourself in the picture (hence the selfie part). Now head on over to the Magic Hands page and click on Post Score. Then simply;

• Click on the Comments
• Feel free to write something funny - a call to arms, a challenge, taunt your opponents!
• Click on the little Image icon and attach your image
• To post, either log in with your Twitter, Facebook, Google, or Disqus account (it will ask you to create a Disqus identity to map to your other social media account). Or, you can post as a guest by using the 'OR SIGN UP WITH DISQUS' dialogue and choosing the 'I'd rather post as a guest' option (but we don't encourage that, half the fun is participating in the conversation!)
• You're done!

More information is available on the Magic Hands Pinball site HERE. Take part in the worlds newest pinball sensation, and start snapping!

New Zealand Pincade 9 Closes

And so, after a whirlwind 5 days of pinball, arcade, console and computer gaming across the amazing country of New Zealand, us international visitors (at least most of the Australian crowd) are back in our homes, and back at our day to day lives. I for one feel saddened and somewhat relieved; I miss it already, but I was happy to get some good sleep in my own bed after a very exhausting and fun time.

Gary Stern, brandishing a few drinks, and mulling over the abundance of door prizes at one venue in Pincade 9.

As always with these events, and especially with the tight community of pinball and arcade enthusiasts, it's the people that make it. The people you already know and get to know a little better, and all the new people you get to meet and share the passion for this amazing hobby. The personal stories and backgrounds of how these 150 odd people decided to get together and mingle for 5 days, share in the exhaustion of little sleep, and play together on some of the best machines around. From the common A-List titles that you see everywhere, to the incredibly obscure that you'll never see again, it was a pleasure for all to enjoy these games together.

There are obviously too many incredible moments to mention. Such as getting to know one of the guys who work on the MAME project and has done so since the beginning. Wandering the devastated streets of Christchurch. Walking into a gameroom of over 100 pinball machines on free play. Chatting with Gary Stern over a healthy number of beverages, and witnessing and sharing in some of the greatest competition play in pinball.

Mark Tibbetts being presented with the grand champion prize for winning the System 11 World Pinball Championship.

It's all possible thanks to some very dedicated and generous people both in New Zealand and Australia. If you wish to get involved for next year, you best join the wonderful pinball and arcade community over at http://www.aussiearcade.com.au and join the conversation.

I personally can't wait until New Zealand Pincade 10. Only one whole year away!

Just a very small sample of a room that housed 100 pinball machines, all waiting for someone to walk up and press the start button.

System 11 World Pinball Championships

Mark Tibbetts wins the first System 11 World Pinball Championship held during Pincade 9 in New Zealand. Matt Venables finishes 2nd. A final of 3 games played, best out of 5. Mark took Matt to Grand Lizard first, then Matt chose Elvira and the Party Monsters, then Mark choosing Grand Lizard again, to take the best of 3 in one sweep. 

After a playoff for 3rd, Dani Peck and Rob Singh played a best of 3 on Radical, with Dani taking it in a very close game, with a 5 million jackpot on her last ball to squeek past Rob. He was unable to catch back up on his last ball despite getting within a million. Very close game!

New Zealand Pincade, Day 3!

Traipsing all over Auckland, we visit 4 venues which end in a world ranked tournament. The tournament was held at a beautiful location overlooking the bay.

74 people competed and finally saw Richard Rhodes win, John Cosson 2nd, and David Peck 3rd.​

​Full results at matchplay.events here.

Pincade Day 2

No competitions today, it's all a social romp through some great personal collections. A last location in Christchurch, and then jetting off to Auckland for 2 more.

Most of us are hitting the sack at 2am, in readiness for more tomorrow morning at 9.

Pincade Day 1

Franck Bona wins the first competition here in New Zealand at the C1 Cafe. Luke Marburg finishes 2nd. The pair faced off on Game of Thrones, with Franck putting up over a billion on his first ball. Luke was never able to crawl back.  Gary Stern presented the trophies to the winners.

Celebrating International Women's Day

It's a great time to be involved with pinball with the resurgence of the hobby over the last few years. New players are finding the love of the silver ball, and so is a wider and more diverse group of players, young and old, male and female, it's an exciting expansion on the wonderful pinball community.

What better time to celebrate the growth of pinball than International Women's Day! Over time we are seeing more and more women and girls joining the hobby, playing in competitions and enriching the experience for everyone with fresh perspectives and killer skills.

Naiomi Goodwin - Highest placing female player at the recent 2016 Pinball HQ Marathon

Today and for the rest of the week, the Welcome page will feature female players exclusively. We also of course can't go without mentioning the successes of two of the female players in the recent 2016 Pinball HQ Marathon, pictured here with their winnings, Naiomi Goodwin (AUS rank 47th) winning the highest finishing female player, and Mia De Riz (AUS rank 320th) winning the highest qualifying player under 15 years of age. Both of these great competitors have been playing for a number of years, with notable results including Naiomi taking 3rd place in the 2014 Australian Pinball Expo Championship (which until just recently was the largest and most difficult competition ever held in Australia), and with Mia taking 11th place in the 2014 Supanova NSW State Final (and knocking me out of the competition to boot!).

Mia De Riz - Highest qualifying player under 15 years of age at the recent 2016 Pinball HQ Marathon. Look at all those prizes!

An Australian Women's Pinball Championship has been talked about for a little while now. Let's hope this great initiative gets off the ground very soon - the players are ready!

2016 New Zealand Pincade 9

Had enough pinball for a while? Need a break after the week long Pinball HQ Marathon competition? Well as a wise man once said, “No time for that now!”.

The 2016 New Zealand Pincade kicks off this Thursday, 10th of March, and spans across the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Attendees of this annual Pinball and Arcade extravaganza will arrive in Christchurch on the Thursday and visit 2 different venues and participate in a world ranked pinball competition. On Friday, visit another venue, then fly out to Auckland in the afternoon and visit yet 2 more! Saturday in Auckland will see no less than 4 pinball and arcade venues, and another world ranked pinball competition.

On the Sunday, again in Auckland at another venue, attendees will play in the inaugural World System 11 Pinball Championships. This will be a massive competition where players face off on every System 11 pinball machine ever made!

Monday will more than likely be recovery time for everyone involved… Plus some more pinball I’d say…

Extraordinarily, there are 150 people attending across the 5 days, including 31 Australians, 1 from the USA (Mr Gary Stern himself), and 1 Frenchman (Franck Bona).

It’s going to be a whirlwind tour of fun and games. We will be there and attempting to update everyone with the crazy times as they happen.