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The Maryland Pinball Championship | August 1st, 2010

funwithbonus — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:51:14 +0000

Another unrelated pinball pic

Via Chris Newsom:

Announcing:

The Maryland Pinball Champoinship

The tournament will be held on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Town Hall Liquors, 8135 Baltimore Avenue, College Park, MD, 20740-2431. Qualifying will begin at 11 a.m. There will be two divisions.

Entry Fees:

$50.00 A Division $20.00 B Division

All entry fees (less ~ $150 for awards and plaques for each division) will go to prize fund as follows:

A Division

1st: 50% and laser engraved award (A minimum of $300 is guaranteed to the A division winner)

2nd: 25% and laser engraved award

3rd: 15% and plaque

4th: 10% and plaque

B Division

1st: 50% and laser engraved award (A minimum of $100 is guaranteed to the A division winner)

2nd: 25% and laser engraved award

3rd: 15% and plaque

4th: 10% and plaque

Games will be priced at 50 cents per game. Extra balls will be disabled on games where this is possible. Ball savers will be turned off on games where this is possible. Bang backs and death saves are not allowed. The format for the tournament is head to head, best two out of 3, double elimination. Each loser from the main bracket will go to a second chance bracket for another match, with the winner of that bracket going to a final match against the winner of the main bracket. In order for the player from the losers’ bracket to win the tournament that player will have to defeat the player from the winners’ bracket in two straight matches (thus givinig that player their double elimination).

First, second and third place will be decided by the double elimination. All other players will be put into a quick playoff round to determine fourth place. Initial brackets will be seeded by a one-ball qualifier. Competitors ariving to the tournament too late for qualifying will be given lower seeds. We expect to have between 5-8 games for the tournaments. Competitors deemed too skilled to play in the B division will be placed in the A division. This includes but is not limited to players who have won pinball tournaments in the past and players who have been successful in pinball leagues. I will be running the tournament but will not compete in them.

Return from the Desert Pinball Tournament | July 30-31, 2010

funwithbonus — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:42:25 +0000

Unrelated pinball picture ^_^

Via Chris Newsom:

Announcing:

Pinball Tournament at John’s Place Restaurant, in Fairfax, VA. Located in the Kamp Washington area, at 11104 Lee Highway.

Return from the Desert Pinball Tournament July 30-31

The Classics Tournament will take place on Friday, July 30 at 7:30p.m. Entry into the tournament will be $15.

Games will be priced at 50 cents per game. This will be a double elimination tournament with one game matches.

Plaques will be awarded to first and second places. The entry fees will be pooled (minus ~ $40 for the plaques) and paid

out as follows:

1st: 50% and plaque

2nd: 25% and plaque

3rd: 15%

4th: 10%

The main tournament will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m. Qualifying will begin at 12:15 p.m. This will be a one-day competitive pinball tournament, played in two divisions.

Entry Fees:

$50.00 A Division $20.00 B Division

All entry fees (less ~ $150 for awards and plaques for each division)

will go to prize fund as follows:

A Division

1st: 50% and laser engraved award (A minimum of $300 is guaranteed to the A division winner)

2nd: 25% and laser engraved award

3rd: 15% and plaque

4th: 10% and plaque

B Division

1st: 50% and laser engraved award (A minimum of $100 is guaranteed to the A division winner)

2nd: 25% and laser engraved award

3rd: 15% and plaque

4th: 10% and plaque

Games will be priced at 50 cents per game. Extra balls will be disabled on games where this is possible. Ball savers will be turned off on games where this is possible. Bang backs and death saves are not allowed. Format: Head to head; best two out of 3; double elimination. Each loser from the main bracket will go to a second chance bracket for another match, with the winner of that bracket going to a final match against the winner of the main bracket. In order for the player from the losers’ bracket to win the tournament that player will have to defeat the player from the winners’ bracket two matches (thus givinig that player their double elimination).

I will be running the tournaments but will not compete in them.

Pin-Maine-ia 4 News Article and Video

funwithbonus — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:55:24 +0000

Via WCSH6

Pinball was a real hit in Gorham this weekend. It was Pin-Maine-ia 4, the New England Pinball Championship. John Reuter held the event in his basement. He owns more than 100 pinball machines. About half of them are at his home. The rest are at friends’ houses. More than 50 people took part in this event, where the top prize was $375. The champion, Steven Bowden, says his real prize is the camaraderie of meeting fellow pinball players.

THE IFPA 7 Photo Set | Event Analysis

funwithbonus — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:30:33 +0000

The IFPA 7 World Pinball Championship Competitors

Yes, the word “THE” is in all caps on purpose because this photo set of the event by Mark Teskey is the only one that you really need to see.

Also, check out Jason “Crazy J” Rufer’s detailed analysis of the event posted on Pinball News. He gives his perspective on what it was like to host the IFPA 7 World Pinball Championship. Once again, I would like to thank Jason for all of his hard work, and for inviting us into his home for some world class pinball.

Pinball Stories of the Week

funwithbonus — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:48:43 +0000

National Pinball Museum headed to Georgetown?

National Pinball Museum coming to Georgetown Park

A Review of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection | Go Kids
National Pinball Museum headed to Georgetown? | Washington Post
Pinball Struggles to Survive in a Digital World | @rticles on the Net

Jersey Pinball Association Spring 2010 PinGolf Results

funwithbonus — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:56:44 +0000

Here are the standings for all participants in the 2010 JPA PinGolf Tournament. I look forward to doing it again next League season which starts in early September. Many thanks to all who played.

1st Jim Fordham
2nd Sanjay Shah
3rd Kevin Smigel
4th Ed Zeltmann
5th Paul Drabik
6th (TIE) Steven Bowden
6th (TIE) Frank Romero
8th Koi Morris
9th Mike Field
10th Joe Oesterling

Click here for the complete standings [PDF]

Click here for the PinGolf Final Match Results [PDF]

Pinball makes a comeback in Colorado, U.S.

funwithbonus — Sat, 29 May 2010 23:42:23 +0000

DenverPost.com writes about Lyons Classic Pinball and pinball’s resurgence.

STERN Pinball conducts market test at Costco

funwithbonus — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:25:05 +0000

From the press release:

Stern Pinball Inc. is conducting a limited market test exclusively in 16 select Costco stores in 12 states. The test includes a total of 48 reduced feature, lower cost, custom designed Batman pinball machines with less complex playfields. Participating Costco stores have three games each. Stern is conducting this test to study products best suited for various segments of its market. These games are shipped from the factory set on free play and have only one fixed coin setting of five credits per one coin.

Stern plans to sell no more of this test Batman in this configuration in the U.S. If the test is successful, Stern will further simplify the game design for tested market segments, such redesign including a much more simplified cabinet, replacement of the current dot-matrix score display, and other features. Stern will continue to build its full line of traditional coin-op pinball games as well as collector models.

Costco store test locations are in: California (Carlsbad, Rancho Cucamonga, Simi Valley, and North Fresno), Nevada (Reno), Oregon (Tigard), Washington (Issaquah), Utah (St. George), Texas (San Antonio and Houston), Kansas (Overland Park), Ohio (Deerfield Township), Virginia (Chantilly), Georgia (Alpharetta), Florida (Pembroke Pines), and New York (Melville).

Pin-Maine-ia IV is On!

funwithbonus — Fri, 28 May 2010 09:41:32 +0000

Pin-Maine-ia 2009 was amazing! Get ready for Pin-Maine-ia IV at the end of June 2010!

Maine’s premier pinball tournament, once thought to have been called off, is a thing that is happening June 25-27, 2010. Last year, the tournament hosted more than 66 players along with a number of other spectators. This year will be slightly scaled back, but the competition will be just as fun and furious. Click here for more information and to register for this fantastic event.

Last year, I helped to administer the scoring for the event. This gave me a little taste of the experience of running a pinball tournament, and helped me to concentrate more while playing.

I hope to see you there.

New JPA League Champion!

funwithbonus — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:23:21 +0000

After reigning for 1 1/2 years (3 league seasons) as the champion of the Jersey Pinball Association, I will have to give up my title to another great player, Jim Fordham. He was victorious in the League Final, 22-17, to win the league championship. He has set a goal for himself to qualify for next year’s IFPA World Championships. With his excellent finishes in Pinferno 3 and the Allentown Open, he is well on his way. I’m going to have to step up my game if I want to claim the New Jersey State Championship at July’s New Jersey Pinball Open. Congratulations to you, Jim. You are wearing the target now. Wear it with pride because we are all gunning for you.

As a side note, Jim is also starting new pinball website and forum. I will not post the link here yet because his site is still in beta. However, once it is officially live, you will know about it here.

We Have a New JPA PinGolf Leader!

funwithbonus — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:17:29 +0000

Spring 2010 JPA season ends on May 26, 2010

The PinGolf Final will be on June 2, 2010

The Jersey Pinball Association PinGolf Tournament has a new leader. Kevin Smigel has taken the lead with a score of 21 (+6). Jim Fordham goes to 2nd place with his score of 22 (+7). Ed Zeltmann has taken over 3rd place with his score of 24 (+9). There will be no PinGolf next week as I am travelling to Minnesota for IFPA Championship Week. When I return, there will only be a short time left for the last minute frenzy of entries that usually happen at the end of pinball tournaments.

Portal is FREE on Steam until May 24th!

funwithbonus — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:10:57 +0000

Via: Talking About Games | Parris Lilly

Valve, has announced that Steam is available now on the Mac and as an added bonus, gamers who download Steam between now and May 24th, 2010 will also receive a free copy of Valve’s game of the year award-winning Portal.

“The Mac is a great platform for developers,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. “And it’s also great that we now have the ability to connect with Mac gamers via Steam. This is the beginning of a groundswell of games coming out for and fully utilizing the openness and power of the Mac.”

If you have not had a chance to play Portal, I think getting it for free is as good of an incentive as any. If you are a PC or a Mac owner why are you still reading this? You should be downloading Steam and grabbing your free copy of Portal!

Via: Talking About Games | Parris Lilly