Fun With Bonus

EDIT: Cupids and Canines has been postponed due to the huge snowstorm. It will be rescheduled.

STERN’s Big Buck Hunter Pro Pinball is In the Wild!

STERN’s newest pinball game, Big Buck Hunter Pro, has been released to market. For those of you in the New York metropolitan area who want to try out the game, it will be on route at Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan. Big Buck Hunter Pro, along with Twilight Zone by Bally, will be the games used for 2010, Season #1 of the New York City Pinball League. Commissioner “Max Pinball” is now accepting players to sign-up for this season. League rules, format and more information can be found at http://nycpinballleague.com. Players of all ages and skill levels are welcome.

Pinball + Gaming + Pooches = Charity!

On Saturday, February 6, 2010, the Professional & Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA) will host is annual Cupids and Canines Casino and Pinball Night charity event to benefit The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society and Bow Wow Buddies. The event will be held at the at the PAPA World Headquarters near Pittsburgh, PA. The facility is home to over 400 pinball games from every era. Along with the opportunity to sample all of these great machines, you can participate in the pinball tournament organized by world champion Bowen Kerins, and play blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker all for charity. The event starts at 7PM, but pinball tournament participants can get in as early as 11:00 AM.

Last year, more than $10,000 was raised for charity. Here are videos from the 2009 event.

Part One: Before the event

Part Two: Let the games begin!

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I’d like to give respect to Geraldo Beedog and Señor Perrito del Burrito for inspiring me to produce this tiny nugget of sweet journalism :`-)

War Twat
Insane Enemies – Fight handbags, buses, aliens and more

SYNSO2:Squid Harder
“4 worlds of non stop mayhem!”

bagfullofwrong

Pinball News provides coverage of the new Big Buck Hunter Pro pinball game from STERN, Inc. So far there are high res pictures of the playfield along with an introduction on the rules and features of the game. Keep this page on Pinball News bookmarked. As with previous Pinball News reviews, I expect that this initial coverage will soon be accompanied by recordings of the game’s sounds as well as a more detailed description of the game’s scoring features and modes. This game looks promising so far. Plus, this new pinball game is a natural compliment for any bar/amusement area that already has a Big Buck Hunter light gun arcade game.

Gauntlet Tournament by FunWithBonus
Create a custom tee shirt on Zazzle

Presenting… the official Jersey Pinball Association Gauntlet Tournament T-shirt. The tournament sponsors will each receive one of these shirts at the beginning of the Spring 2010 league season. I would like to take time to congratulate the winners of the JPA Gauntlet tournaments: Andrew Drabik – winner of the Spring 2009 tournament, and Jim Fordham – winner of the Fall 2009 tournament. I also would like to thank those players who sponsored the tournament: Koi Morris, Jim Fordham and Ed Zeltmann. Next season there will most likely be a PinGolf style tournament in addition to traditional league play. I’m looking forward to next season’s competition. For those of you who are interested, the Jersey Pinball Association meets on Wednesdays for 10 weeks in the Spring and in the Fall. The next season will begin in early March, and new players are always welcome.

Ashley Davis and Anthony Burch are crazy geniuses!

The International Flipper Pinball Association, in cooperation with STERN Pinball and the AMOA Show, held a Par 3 PinGolf Challenge event at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Competitors had to achieve a target score on two pinball games, NBA and CSI, while using the least number of balls as they could.

Players tried each game once, and then selected which of the two games would serve as their third game. The player with the lowest combined score won the tournament.

Breaking news from Pingame Journal: Big Buck Hunter from STERN Pinball, Inc. will start rolling off the assembly line at the end of January, 2010. Included is a link to a preliminary analysis of the game including playfield shots and targets. There’s also a deer that “runs” diagonally across the playfield. It’s looks like a prime target for smacking with pinballs, maybe during some sort of “bash the deer” mode. I hope such a feature is better than the “Bash Balrog” on the “Lord of the Rings” pinball game, because most players end up timing-out modes like that.

Also, the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada has finally moved to it’s new location. It’s way larger and closer to the strip than the old building. I can’t wait for my next visit to Vegas. Forget gambling, I want pinball!

The Amusement & Music Operators Association and the American Amusement Manufacturers Association Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Even though I don’t come CLOSE to owning an arcade, redemption games still give me an awful taste in my mouth.

Nick! from Arcade Hunters drops some science on the Xbox 360 conversion of Medieval Madness. It’s part of the Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection compilation game. If you are a pinball fan of ANY age, you should have this game already, or at least the one for the Wii. You DO have this game right? No? Well, what are you waiting for? A warning for you achievement hunters out there: If you want to 1000/1000 this game, you are going to have to complete one of the hardest challenges in pinball. You’re going to have to start and defeat “Battle for the Kingdom” on Medieval Madness. This mode is hard to get to on a physical Medieval Madness machine due to the randomness of typical pinball play, but as long you can figure out some of the patterns built into this electronic version (kick-out tendencies, ball bouncing tendencies), you may be able to defeat this challenge eventually.

2009 Canadian Pinball Championship in Toronto, Canada

All those who thought this might have been a small affair were drastically mistaken as over 120+ competitors attempted to qualify for the 2009 Canadian Pinball Championship. Many of the “heavy hitters” were there including Bowen Kerins, Paul Madison, Neil Shatz, Cayle George, Eden Stamm and more. Shrek, NBA, Batman, Dale Jr. were the tournament games, and there were multiple copies of each game. In fact, when a machine went down because of a mechanical problem, it was whisked away and a new one would almost magically be put in it’s place! This kept the action consistently high for the entire event. Gary Stern of STERN Pinball, Inc. was also on hand to present the prizes to the winners, which included a new-in-box NBA pinball machine awarded to Sean O’Neil. With the attendance that this event received, next year’s event may rival PAPA’s attendance. The tournament staff ran the event so well, I believe The Playdium Store will be ready for that.

Pinball News also has a detailed analysis of the event with pictures and results.