The fact that Steve Ritchie’s next game would be Star Wars had been pretty well-known
for several months, but an official announcement wasn’t expected until June 4th, 2017.
Today though (May 31st), The Star Wars Show let the cat out of the bag with details and pictures of the new game.
As expected, there are the usual three variants – Pro, Premium and Limited Edition, with different art packages for all three. The Pro shows all the characters, while the Premium focuses on the Empire’s forces, and the LE features the rebels.
The Pro edition
The Premium edition
The Limited Edition
Onto the playfield, and the Pro is lacking a number of features found on the higher models. Here’s the full-featured Premium/LE playfield.
The Premium/LE playfield
Balls are locked in the Death Star which breaks open to release them for multiball. A wireform loops around in front of the flippers to provide some additional entertainment when balls are locked or released, while the ball is initially plunged across the playfield at the F-O-R-C-E targets.
There appear to be four sets of three modes, each set represented by a colour and a playfield shot – Hoth (blue, centre lane), Death Star (purple, left lane), Tatooine (red, right scoop) and Endor (green, left ramp).
The Pro playfield
The Death Star here appears to be a static toy, with plastic instead of metal ramps, no upper level to the right ramp, no loop-around wireform and no Millennium Falcon toy. The playfield art is very similar though, and all models feature a miniature LCD screen above the Tie-Fighter target bank and back panel artwork.
Stern Pinball will no doubt produce an official press release over the next day or so to bring us full details and prices, and Pinball News will bring you all that information just as soon as it’s available.
We haven’t visit Madrid for a pinball tournament since Spain held the European Pinball Championship there back in 2012. This time we were attending the Torneo Madrileño de Pinballs, better known as TMAP.
The venue for the two-day event was a nondescript building in an industrial area on the southern side of the city which is the permanent home to the private Millonaria pinball club.
For those not familiar with the Millonaria location there was no signage to indicate any pinball presence resides here, let alone the fact that it is the home of a major Spanish tournament.
The unexceptional building on Camino de Hormigueras
However, if you enter the building through the unlocked third door, take the lift up five floors and follow the sounds of flippers flipping, you come across the tournament registration desk.
The tournament registration desk
Playing in the two tournaments – modern and classics – cost €60 per person. Players could also opt to take an organised lunch held in another part of the building for an additional €20. Those who took the lunch received green wristbands, while those who made their own arrangements wore an orange wristband. As you can see, with no catering facilities nearby, the vast majority decided to have lunch at the venue.
The list of players with their lunch choices
Upon registration, players received an orange shoulder bag, two score sheets (one for the modern tournament and one for the classics), a pen and a wipe cloth.
The two score sheets and pen
Alongside the registration desk, the lobby also provided a seating area and there was a vendor with a selection of pinball LEDs and other generic parts.
Pinball parts for sale
From the lobby, a short corridor led past a group of upright video games into the games room, where the eighty-nine machines were arranged in four long rows of around twenty-two machines each.
Video games on the way to the pinballs
More classic videos
The first two rows of machines
The second two rows
The classics machines were arranged back-to-back down the centre of the room, while the modern pinballs backed against the walls. The rear of the room was open to a multi-storey car park which provided access for loading or unloading machines and gave a small seating area for relaxation between games.
The back of the room
To help with the relaxation, there was a bar selling soft and alcoholic drinks along with some snacks. Beers were only €1 and gin & tonics €3, both of which were very well received.
The bar menu
The classics machines were largely composed of Spanish games, making an unusual selection of rarely-seen titles for the non-Spanish players attending.
Black & Reed, Big Horse and Poker Plus
Mr Evil, Centaur and Full
Here’s a full list of the machines.
300
30’s, The
Addams Family, The
Aerosmith Pro
Avengers Pro
Back to the Future
Big Horse
Black & Reed
Bumper
Cabaret
Canasta ’86
Canasta ’86
Centaur (Bally)
Centaur (Inder)
Chamonix
Champion Pub, The
Cherokis
Class of 1812
Corvette
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Criterium 75
Dardos
Demolition Man
Dracula, Bram Stoker’s
Dragon
Elvis
Fairy
Family Guy
Fans
Fantastic World
Fiery 30’s, The
Flintstones, The
Full
Funhouse
Getaway, The: High Speed 2
Ghostbusters LE
Grand Prix
Guns N’ Roses
Incredible Hulk, The
Indiana Jones (WMS)
Indianapolis 500
Jacks Open
Jake Mate
Jalisco
Johnny Mnemonic
Judge Dredd
Jurassic Park
Kiss
Kiss Premium
Luck Smile
Master Stroke
Metallica Pro
Mississippi
Mr Evil
NBA Fastbreak
NBA Fastbreak
Nemesis
No Good Gofers,
Pirates of the Caribbean
Poker Plus
Popeye
Pro Football
Revenge from Mars
Roadshow
Rolling Stones, The
Running Horse
Scared Stiff
Sea Scare
Seven Winner
Shamrock
Skyjump
Spider-Man VE
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Wars Episode 1
Stargate
Striker Xtreme
Stripping Funny
Super Bowl
Tales from the Crypt
Terminator 3
Theatre of Magic
Twilight Zone
Underwater
Up Away
Whitewater
World Cup Soccer
World Cup Soccer
X-Men Magneto LE
At the front of the room was the tournament desk where results were entered into the computer system, while a large poster showed the player groups, machines to be played and the results.
The matches in the modern and classics tournaments
Both tournaments worked in the same way; only the machines used and how they were played changed between the two.
Trophies for the classics tournament
Modern tournament trophies
Players were divided into three groups – A, B & C. In each group, everyone played three- or four-player games across nine rounds, so everyone got to play everyone else in their group. Machines were allocated in a semi-random way – keeping each group to a fixed selection of machines – which meant players would often get to play the same machine twice (or more).
In each match, points were awarded depending on finishing position, with 3 points for first, 2 points for second, 1 point for third and 0 points for last place. That meant a maximum of 27 points were available if all games were won.
The classics tournament was played first.
The classics tournament begins
Because many of these machines were single player only, each player in a match played their game in isolation, recording their score on paper and working out the points after the last player in the match finished their game.
Play in the classics tournament
The points were then recorded on the poster.
Recording points in the classics tournament
When all the matches in a round were over, a call went out on the PA to start the next round while the previous round’s results were entered into the computer. The current standings were shown on a monitor.
Current standings
The eight players with the most points in each group qualified for the play-offs on Sunday morning. The first four received a bye through the first round (12 players), while the next four would have to battle it out in four three-player games with only the winner moving on (4 players).
Players check their position
The classics tournament qualification ended around 12:30pm, with the first rounds of the modern tournament starting immediately.
Lunch was scheduled for 2pm, so there was just time for a couple of rounds of qualifying before the break.
Unlike the classics, all modern tournament matches were played as regular four-player games.
Lunch is a big deal in Spanish pinball tournaments and two hours are usually allocated to enjoy it. Those who had signed up for the organised meal went down to the entrance and across to the unit next door for the catered meal, complete with drinks.
We opted to enjoy the hot sunny weather and headed to the nearby town of Vallecas for a leaisurely lunch at a cafe with street-side tables. A nice iced Estrella beer rounded off the meal of bocadillos filled with anchovies and tortilla, alongside other assorted nibbles.
Play didn’t resume until 4:45, when the remaining seven rounds of the modern tournament qualifying took place. Each round took approximately 30 minutes, so everything wrapped up around 8pm.
Players relaxing after completing their games
We were staying at a nearby Ibis Budget hotel which while cheap (€37 a night), modern and a few minutes’ walk to the venue, was basic and not in a great area. So, we made a quick trip back to freshen up before setting off for the centre of Madrid courtesy of Alejandro Yepes Piedra, who had invited us to take part in the tournament and took care of us all weekend.
Central Madrid on a Saturday night is amazingly packed with people. The bars and restaurants are crowded. The streets are crowded. The subway is crowded. It’s like rush hour, every hour.
But it’s also vibrant, exciting and enjoyable. We grabbed a big dish of paella, a couple of jugs of sangria, and headed for Plaza Mayor to explore the city.
Sunday’s action began at 9am for those who finished in positions 5th-8th in their group. The top four skipped this round and so could turn up later, making sure they didn’t arrive too late.
The Pinball News crew were back bright and early on Sunday morning
The modern tournament
Both classics and modern tournaments again followed the same format. Four groups were made, and three three-player games played with points awarded. Only the player with the most points joined the next stage, so it was a tough round to survive.
As well as the modern and classics tournament, there were several side competitions set up on machines at the back of the room.
Play in the side competitions
The pairs competition held on Guns N’ Roses had each player play one ball and then play the third ball in split-flipper mode.
Players in the pairs competition
The blind pinball competition has a paper shield over the flippers of an Indiana Jones machine. The player with the highest score won. Meanwhile there was a one-ball competition run on Avengers.
The remaining play-offs all consisted of four-player groups playing three games per round, with 9-6-3-1 scoring – a system which seemed inherently likely to produce ties. The top two players in each group progressed to the next round, reducing the initial sixteen players to eight and then to a final four who would compete for the top four places.
The classics final took place first and it was a sudden-death single five-ball game played on Master Stroke. The four finalists were Rafitas, Alexxx, Inderman and Cisco120 (everyone uses nicknames in Spain).
The four classics tournament finalists: Inderman, Rafitas, Cisco120 & Alexxx
Alexxx played first on this single-player game.
Alexxx starts the final in the classics tournament
Hi score of 600.600 set the target for the rest to attack.
Rafitas played next but fell short with 518,100. Inderman was third to play and his total just beat Alexxx, scoring 633,300 to lead the field.
Cisco120 was the last to play.
Cisco120 plays the last game in the four-player final
He sailed past Inderman’s score on his third ball, ending his game when his score reached 657,900.
So, Cisco120 won, Inderman was second, ALexxx third and Rafitas fourth.
Winner of the classics tournament, Cisco120
Second place, Inderman
Third place, Alexxx with his fiancee
Fourth place, Rafitas
The top four in the classics tournament
The full results of the classics tournament are:
Classics Tournament Results
Pos
Name
1
Cisco120
2
Inderman
3
Álexxx
4
rafitas
5
BonelessChicken
5
Santy
7
Ángel
7
DINO
9
Quercus
9
PinballBCN
9
Cga pozuelo
9
Mainwaring
13
Baptur
13
ROMEO
13
Rayo
13
Julio
17
Pochoguerrero
17
Rafa
17
shaolins
17
DAN
21
IKE1
21
Mirloblan
21
NBSJOSE
21
KURSH
25
Fhk
25
Fede
25
LUCIUS
28
Richart
28
Druida
28
Pipo
31
BURN RUBBER
31
Carro
31
KROM
34
Luigivampa
34
Roskalion
36
Javi
36
Capitán
36
Alucinoff
36
Multiball
36
Pulgarin
41
Lieven
41
Juaney
43
Lucky Luke
43
hassanchop
43
Federo
46
Glen
46
Troshinsky
48
ajal
48
Danidrummer
48
Pimiento
48
Drator
48
Jmfl1977
53
Leberry
53
KRISMA
55
Sarten
55
Ayub
55
Tropoglar
58
Shh-ware
58
APE
58
Jetlager
61
Gabrielo
61
Neo-Jesus
61
IronBall
64
metroider
64
Fari
64
dMode
67
DarkZeroIce
67
VIC
67
Rubensaos
70
marchales
70
Igmabor
70
DJ HULK
73
Ronko
73
Gregorio
73
iliciman
76
Steiner
76
tinkui
Then came the final of the modern tournament. This was also a single game, played on the club’s newest acquisition, an Aerosmith Pro. The four finalists were Rafitas (again), Martin Ayub, Julio and Leberry
The four modern tournament finalists: Rafitas, Martin Ayub, Julio and Leberry
Leberry began the final.
The final of the modern tournament begins
Leberry made a solid if unexceptional start, scoring around 2M. Martin then played next.
Martin is player two in the final
A quick bounce down the left outlane didn’t give Martin much of a start, although he did light a couple of locks.
Julio did a little better, scoring just over a million, while Rafitas had the quickest first ball of the four, not putting up much of a score yet.
Julio picks his song as player three
Leberry started a three-ball multiball to take a solid lead, but Martin and Julio both held out to lock all six balls and maximise their scoring potential. Although it was a risk, it paid off for them both. Leberry ended on 55M, but Martin overtook that with his 61M total. Julio had the much better multiball, however, ending his game on 121M. Despite putting up a valiant fight, Rafitas’s game never really got going and he ended up in fourth.
So, Julio was the winner, Martin was second, Leberry third and Rafitas fourth. Trophies were awarded by the event organisers.
Winner of the TMAP 2017 modern tournament, Julio
Second place, Martin
Third place, Leberry
Fourth place, Rafitas
The top four in the modern tournament
Here are the full results:
Modern Tournament Results
Pos
Name
1
Julio
2
Ayub
3
Leberry
4
rafitas
5
Rayo
5
Ángel
7
Mainwaring
7
Quercus
9
Gabrielo
9
Lieven
9
Troshinsky
9
PinballBCN
13
Cisco120
13
Richart
13
VIC
13
Juaney
17
dMode
17
APE
17
Tropoglar
20
ROMEO
20
Lucky Luke
20
Pipo
20
ajal
20
BonelessChicken
25
Shh-ware
25
shaolins
25
IronBall
28
Ronko
28
Mirloblan
28
NBSJOSE
31
Fhk
31
Fari
31
tinkui
34
Rafa
34
Igmabor
34
KURSH
37
Carro
37
KROM
39
Baptur
39
marchales
39
metroider
39
Fede
39
DJ HULK
44
Druida
44
Álexxx
46
Pimiento
46
Santy
46
Alucinoff
49
Inderman
49
Cga pozuelo
49
Multiball
52
BURN RUBBER
52
Neo-Jesus
52
DINO
55
Luigivampa
55
hassanchop
55
Rubensaos
58
Pochoguerrero
58
Roskalion
58
LUCIUS
61
DAN
61
Glen
61
Jmfl1977
64
Sarten
64
Drator
64
Pulgarin
67
DarkZeroIce
67
Gregorio
67
Jetlager
70
Javi
70
IKE1
70
Federo
73
Steiner
73
Capitán
73
KRISMA
76
Danidrummer
76
iliciman
Awards were also given to the winners of the side competitons.
Winners of the pairs competition, Druida and Ronko
High score competition winner, Pipo
Blind pinball competition winner, Ironball
There was also an award for the Interstellar Championship of Monza, although we’re not quite sure how this was decided.
Winner of the Interstellar Championship of Monza, Jetlaguer
With all the awards presented, the event closed at the very civilised time of 4pm. That meant we still had the rest of the day free to return to central Madrid for plates of tapas and some nice cold drinks.
Like most Spanish tournaments, TMAP 2017 was run in a relaxed though professional way. With the vast majority being local players, everyone seemed to know how it ran and what was expected of them. Those unfamiliar with the venue might have had trouble finding it – we knew the address but still couldn’t work it out until someone showed us – but once inside the format and rules were immediately understandable.
The relaxed timescale also worked well for us. Having a two-hour lunch break split up the day nicely, and the sensible finish times on both days allowed us to enjoy the city – something not always possible with other tournaments.
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to TMAP 2017. Thanks to all the organisers.
While the area around the venue is not the most attractive (and we would probably choose to stay closer to the centre of the city next time), we welcomed the format, the collection of machines, the weather and the hospitality, and would love to spend some additional time exploring Madrid on our next trip.
“One of the best bars in the U.S.” – Esquire Magazine
Manuel’s reminds me of how neighborhood bars used to be in the heartland of America; a visitor can find, at any given time, a broad cross-section of American culture rubbing elbows, discussing the news item of the day, arguing the merits of a particular sports team, or supporting the idea of the century.
The exterior of Manuel’s Tavern
I found the waitstaff to be friendly and attentive as needed, but not overly so. The selection of beers and other refreshments should satisfy anyone’s needs and I felt that the menu is outstanding.
Inside Manuel’s Tavern
Manuel’s has been in the same location in Atlanta Midtown since 1956 – the owner modeled it on the taverns he had visited while stationed in England during the second World War. He filled the Tavern with salvaged furnishings – mismatched chairs and tables, booths, lighting fixtures, wall paneling – from grand old homes and stores scheduled for demolition.
Manuel’s recently completed a complete renovation and interior re-construction that kept the most recognizable parts of the classic decor while cleaning up and modernizing the rest.
Just before the six-month renovation, a project was completed to digitize all of the photos, paintings, pennants, etc. on the walls of Manuel’s Tavern. The project brought together Georgia State University, Emory University, Savannah College of Art and Design and the Atlanta Studies Network who worked to preserve the ‘organic archive’ that these items represent.
The bar
Many items were discovered including an unmarked container above the bar housing the ashes of original owner Manuel Maloof, dusty beer cans, moldering sports pennants, law enforcement uniform patches, snapshots of well-known politicians (including former President Jimmy Carter) and anonymous tipplers, risqué oil paintings traded as payment for ancient tabs and a stuffed rodent, the subject of an inside joke (“Darrel Caudill Memorial Door,” a plaque beneath it reads) that the owners will not spoil.
Historical paraphernalia behind the bar
I visited Manuel’s during a weekday lunch hour and ordered their ‘Stadium Dog’ with a side order of fried onion rings. I was asked what I wanted on my hot dog and I said, “everything”, without fully understanding what that meant. ‘Everything’ at Manuel’s means ‘Loaded’ and includes chili, sauerkraut, cheese sauce, coleslaw, chopped onion, pickle spear, relish, and other things that I couldn’t identify. There were so many toppings on the Loaded ‘dog that it couldn’t easily be eaten like a sandwich – it had to be eaten with a knife and fork.
The fully-loaded Stadium Dog, with onion rings
Although I did not have the courage to order it, Manuel’s most popular hot dog is called the Dogzilla. It is a ½lb grilled tube steak on a bakery style roll served with french fried potatoes.
The Dogzilla can be ordered ‘Loaded’ the same as the stadium dog mentioned above. I was told by the bartender that on the typical day Manuel’s serves two miles of hot dogs.
I felt that my lunch with two Pabst Blue Ribbon draft beers (don’t judge) was very reasonably-priced and left lots of change for a generous tip and quarters for the game room. The featured beer when I visited was Prairie Artisan Ales’ Prairie Bomb, which is a 13% ABV decadent descent into coffee, chocolate, and vanilla bean taste sensations. I had a small sample but felt since I was driving it was a bit too potent.
Although I didn’t have a chance to try breakfast at Manuel’s this trip, I was told that their eggs are provided by the free-range chickens that roost on the roof of the tavern.
Manuel’s game room is located to the left of the main entrance near the newly reconstructed washrooms. In the game room is the Golden Tee video game seemingly found in the majority of bars in America, Big Buck Hunter, darts, and two nearly-new and well-maintained pinball games:
• Ghostbusters LE (Stern, 2016)
• Batman 66 Premium (Stern, 2016)
The two pinballs in Manuel’s Tavern game room
Both are priced at 50 cents per 3-ball game – quarters only. While I was at Manuel’s the Ghostbusters game was in constant use so I played Batman 66; my first time playing this game.
Ghostbusters Limited Edition
Batman 66 Premium
As someone mentioned on the Pinball Map website, the left flipper return spring for the Batman 66 at Manuel’s is either broken or dislodged so that was a bummer. The game is still very playable and I was able to win a game on points my first try. I found the game to be addictive and played quite a few games until the time for my visit had expired.
Playing the Batman 66
There is no change machine in the game room but the bartenders are happy to change dollars to quarters with a smile if needed.
On weekend nights, certain rooms of Manuel’s Tavern are reserved for board-gamers; including one of the largest Dungeons and Dragons gaming groups in the USA.
Manuel’s Tavern has been a family-run treasure of a working class bar and restaurant with friendly staff and a huge history in the Atlanta community if not the whole of Georgia. Even today Manuel’s is a gathering place for local politicians, blue-collar workers, the press, writers, actors, policemen, and just about anyone else you can imagine. In Manuel’s parking lot there is a prominent sign marking a prime parking space as ‘Clergy Parking Only (Seriously)’.
President Obama visited Manuel’s on March 10th, 2015 (picture: Atlanta Journal Constitution)
I would encourage you if you are in the Atlanta area to give Manuel’s Tavern a visit- hopefully they will have the left flipper on Batman 66 fixed by then so you can take a shot at the high score.
For a place that’s bordered on three sides by states with lots of locations, it used to be relatively hard to find a good game of pinball in Indiana. That all changed in January of 2012 when Dan St. John opened Main Street Amusements in the small city of Lafayette, about an hour’s drive north of Indianapolis and two hours south of pinball’s Mecca, Chicago.
Main Street Amusements is part of the recent trend in retro arcades that have been opening up in the last few years. Located in an old but nicely-maintained downtown store front, it is surrounded by funky stores and restaurants.
The pins are clearly visible through the large front windows, inviting the player inside.
The classically styled store front
It is open from 7pm to 11pm Tuesday through Saturday, and closed most holidays. When I arrived at 9:30pm on a Saturday night, the streets were almost empty but the neighborhood appeared relatively safe.
Inside, the arcade is clean and bright, with ample room and a high ceiling. There is a vintage pop machine that dispenses decidedly non-vintage 20oz sodas, and a tiny two-person dining area where you can relax with your drink. Most of the decor is inspired by the owner’s affection for White Castle and Bob’s Big Boy restaurants.
Games at Main Street Amusements
A full-size fiberglass Big Boy statue – just looking at it makes me hungry for a signature double-decker cheeseburger
There are a total of twenty-seven pins and two video games. Overall, it’s a good, solid collection of games: A few A-listers, some player-favorites, new Sterns, some classics, and just enough rarely-seen titles to keep things interesting.
The Medieval Madness has been outfitted with a ColorDMD and looks great.
Medieval Madness with ColorDMD
The four newest Stern games are all LEs, though I would argue that Avatar’s and The Rolling Stones’ LE versions don’t add much over the standard Pro versions; Transformers LE at least has the two mini-playfields and TRON LE has lots of eye candy. There are even two 1940s games from the early years of the flipper.
Rocket and Morocco, for when you feel like some post-war gaming
Pricing is pretty reasonable. Games run on 25 cent tokens. All the newer games are three tokens per credit, older DMD games and solid-state classics at two tokens, and the E-M games are one token. All the games I saw gave a price break for multiple credits.
The two ’40s games are cash-only and cost a nickel per play, just like the old days. Tokens are dispensed from a change machine in the back which takes credit cards as well as bills — a nice convenience in our increasingly cash-free society. I was briefly confused by the $2 minimum on the change machine until Dan explained what was going on.
Generally, the games were well maintained and very playable. When I was there, only Viper Night Drivin’ was out of order. A few games had minor issues — Medieval Madness had a flipper that was out of adjustment, which made the lock and catapult shots easy but everything else tough — but otherwise these games are clean and in great shape.
Toys that are chronically broken at most locations (Stewie Pinball on Family Guy, the motor on Corvette) were in good working condition. I did not play Demolition Man to see if the claw was functional, but based on the condition of the other games I’ll bet it is. Even the ’40s E-M games had good strong flippers and bumper action.
The back of the arcade was devoted to a clean and well-organized repair shop (I was extremely jealous), guarded by fierce attack dog and Rin Tin Tin look alike Wham-o.
You’re OK as long as you stay on this side of the barrier
Dan does pinball repair, and in the back were a Tri-Zone, a Space Shuttle, and a third game being refurbed while I was there (I thought the third game was a Flash, but looking at the pictures now I don’t know). I’m not sure if these were games for the arcade or for customers. Dan is very personable and I chatted with him a few times about the history of pinball and fast food.
I think this is everyone’s dream repair shop… plus, stealth Big Boy!
Game list:
Avatar LE
Bally Rocket
Big Shot
Black Knight
Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Chicago Cubs Triple Play
Corvette
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Demolition Man
Eight Ball Deluxe
Family Guy
Gorgar
Harley Davidson (Stern, 3rd Edition)
Mario Andretti
Medieval Madness
Monopoly
Morocco
Bobby Orr Power Play
Revenge From Mars
South Park
Spanish Eyes
Star Wars Episode One
The Rolling Stones LE
Transformers LE
Tron:Legacy LE
Twilight Zone
Viper Night Drivin’
Main Street Amusements is a great place to play pinball and I highly recommend it… the world needs more locations like this. If you are trapped in Indiana and want to get your game on, this is the place to do it.
UPDATE – May 2017
Report by M.G. Brown
Main Street Amusements, located in the college-y town of Lafayette Indiana, boldly claims that they are “Indiana’s Largest Pinball Arcade‘. I can’t confirm that claim but they certainly have a great line-up of pinball games.
Main Street Amusements’ postcard
At the time of my visit the following thirty-four pinballs were available for play:
Avatar LE (Stern, 2010)
Batman 66 Premium (Stern, 2017)
Big Indian (Gottlieb, 1974)
Big Lebowski, The (Dutch Pinball, 2016)
Black Knight (Williams,1980)
Bobby Orr’s Power Play (1977)
Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Bally,1976)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (Midway, 1992)
Cybernaut (Bally, 1985)
Fire! (Williams,1987)
Firepower (Williams, 1980)
Funhouse (Williams,1990)
Game of Thrones Premium (Stern, 2016)
Ghostbusters Premium (Stern, 2016)
Harlem Globetrotters On Tour (Bally, 1979)
Hollywood (Chicago Coin 1976)
King of Diamonds (5-ball, Gottlieb, 1967)
Laser Cue (Williams, 1984)
Little Chief (Williams, 1975)
Medieval Madness (Williams,1997)
Metallica Premium (Stern, 2013)
Monopoly (Stern, 2001)
Olympic Hockey (Williams, 1972)
Rapid Fire (Bally, 1982)
South Park (Sega, 1999)
Spanish Eyes (Williams,1972)
Spider-Man (Stern, 2007)
Star Trek Premium (Stern, 2013)
Strikes and Spares (Bally, 1978)
Theatre of Magic (Midway,1995)
Tri Zone (Williams,1979)
Tron:Legacy LE (Stern, 2011)
Twilight Zone (Midway,1993)
Walking Dead Premium, The (Stern 2014)
Chicago Gaming Company’s Attack From Mars Re-make and Spooky Pinball’s Total Nuclear Annihilation are on order but are not yet in-house.
I had been told prior to the visit that Main Street Amusements had a few post-war Gottlieb wood- rail games to play for a nickel/credit, but I wasn’t able to find them.
As if this wasn’t enough, add to this already impressive list a number of classic video and novelty games (such as Skycurser, Funland, Stargate, Burgertime, Bull’s Eye Drop Ball, Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and the new 8 foot screen World’s Largest Pac-Man) that I didn’t have the time to write down (sorry!).
World’s Largest Pac-Man
Taking all of this into consideration, I feel that they are making a very legitimate claim to the largest arcade in Indiana, if not one of the largest in North America.
All of the games at Main Street Amusements (MSA) accept only their custom brass-colored tokens, while the token dispenser takes credit cards as well as cash. Buying tokens in ‘quantity’ gets you bonus tokens. You can also pay for game credits from your phone – download the app, load the money from your bank account, and play.
If you’ve spent all your money on playing games, you can at least request the 1950s-vintage Ask Swami machine to read your fortune for a penny. When Ask Swami isn’t foretelling the future, it doubles as a napkin holder.
MSA publishes their ‘Top 20’ most played games weekly on their Facebook page. OK, they OCCASIONALY publish the Top 20 games… The May 30th Top 20 list was:
World’s Largest Pac-Man
Bulls-Eye Drop Ball
Galaga
Ms. Pac-Man
The Big Lebowski
Capt. Fantastic
Space Invaders
BurgerTime
Firepower
Rapid Fire
Skycurser
Little Chief
Bobby Orr’s Power Play
Batman 66
Fun Land
Harlem Globetrotters On Tour
Donkey Kong Junior
Game of Thrones
Theatre of Magic
Ghostbusters.
It is worth noting that many of MSA’s older games are one credit per play (25 cents or less) – an insane entertainment value!
Next door to MSA is DT Kirby’s bar and grill which is a converted movie theatre complete with marquee.
DT Kirby’s
This somewhat upscale dive bar is popular with the University-esque folks and claims to serve the best burgers in the area.
The sign at DT Kirby’s
One of DT Kirby’s best selling burgers is the Stacked Slaw Burger which is a Kaiser bun toasted with two 1/4-pound patties with bacon in middle topped with slaw and fresh onions. They have a mind-boggling half menu page of specialty hot dogs called “Indiana Dogs”.
One of the burger optionat at DT Kirby’s
The Mac-n-Nap burger
DT Kirby’s Last Call Dog
DT Kirby’s also has small-batch beverages from Sun King Brewery which is located in nearby Fishers, Indiana. Lack of time didn’t allow me to visit DT Kirby’s beyond a walk in-walk out. Next trip I will check DT Kirby’s out in-depth and let you know what they are all about.
Main Street Amusements’ web site has a pinball-cam (web-cam) – you can see two views of what’s going on there during the hours they are open. It doesn’t say so explicitly, but it’s implied on MSA’s website that MSA is available for private parties by appointment. Check with them if you are interested.
MSA hosts the Lafayette Pinball League as well as tournament pinball play on Tuesday nights. The 3rd Tuesday of every month is tournament night, most other Tuesdays are league nights. Play starts at 7:30pm. Contact them for more details.
MSA will be hosting ‘Main Street Mayhem II: More Mayhem’ which is a two-day match-play format tournament held on September 16th & 17th, 2017. The entry fee is $75 per person and that includes a custom designed T-shirt and sticker available only to tournament players. Check the event page on Facebook for more information and to register. The tournament is limited to 48 players, with 16 spots on the waitlist, so don’t delay.
Main Street Amusements does repair and servicing of nearly all coin-operated games from their surgically clean and well-equipped on-site repair shop. MSA is well lit, clean, and attracts a primarily adult clientele. The prices on the games are very reasonable (you can play for hours on $20 worth of tokens), the majority of the games are working 100%, and are well maintained. I saw that MSA has a checklist where they go around daily and assure that each game is fully functional.
Although Lafayette, Indiana is quite a road trip from where I live, it is one that I plan to make again soon when I have more time to relax and enjoy playing all of their games (probably more than once).
MSA is a fantastic place to put on your personal pinball site bucket list.
After last year’s inaugural Mihiderka Pinball & Food Festival – the world’s only combined pinball and vegan food event – we are back at Printimus Pinball in the southern Polish town of Bytom to enjoy the burgers and the flippers for a second time.
The home of Printimus Pinball in Bytom, Poland
Printimus is a full-service printing company based on a light industrial park on the outskirts of Bytom in the Silesia region of the country. While printing is the main business, the building also houses a nice collection of pinballs ranging from 1977 Gottlieb four-players such as Bronco and Jungle Queen, through to Jersey Jack Pinball’s The Hobbit Smaug Edition.
The Printimus Pinball collection
Printimus is owned by Marcin Krysiński while the Printimus Pinball section is run by joint Polish IFPA Director, Łukasz Dziatkiewicz who is also president of Polish Pinball Association (PSF). Together they would host a main pinball tournament, a classic tournament, a JJP tournament, a magic-themed tournament and a Dig-Dug video game tournament.
Łukasz shows off his pinball socks
Mihiderka is a Marcin’s family-run vegan restaurant which began as a single operation in Gliwice near Bytom but has since expanded to three locations with a fourth opening soon and further expansion on the cards.
So, the three-day event gives a unique opportunity to combine competitive pinball with the best in plant-based cuisine.
But before we get to any of that, we left the Printimus building for a ride to another unique business based in the nearby city of Katowice. On the way there we drove through the city of Chorzów. The city was a sponsor of the Mihiderka Pinball and Food Festival, providing prizes to the winners, and even included pinball in its promotional video (something which is very unusual in Poland) to businesses looking to invest in the region.
The pinball-themed promotional video for Chorzów
So it was that our car dropped us off down a narrow alleyway.
What’s down this unexceptional-looking passage?
Our destination was a pinball-themed hotel offering an immersive pinball experience for those staying in one of the dedicated pinball rooms.
Welcome to the Pinball Rooms
As soon as you enter the building you come face-to-face with a familiar character at reception.
Welcome to the Funhouse
Rudy’s all grown up and now greets guests and offers them brochures
Every corridor and room in the hotel features pinball games, pinball artwork, pinball photographs.
Rudy is also inside the coffee table in the lobby area
Funhouse cabinet artwork adorns the walls
Leaving reception to visit the bedrooms we pass a Mustang machine and various backglasses.
This way to the rooms
The rooms are split up by theme. Some are music-themed, others circus-themed.
Guns ‘N Roses join with AC/DC in one room, while Williams titles occupy another
What lies behind this door?
Can you sleep in a Cyclone?
Perhaps you’d prefer spending the night with Indiana Jones?
No monkey brains for breakfast though
The pinball hotel is the brainchild of Eugeniusz Wiecha who is a legendary figure in the Polish amusement business, establishing the Rabkoland amusement park, being one of the founders of Interplay magazine and also a prolific operator of amusement machines.
Eugeniusz Wiecha
The Mihiderka Pinball & Food Festival tour group with Eugeniusz
Then it was back to Printimus Pinball for practice, lunch, and the start of the tournaments.
Heading back to Bytom
Back to the pinballs
Entrance to the Mihiderka Pinball & Food Festival cost €40 per person if paid before February 14th, increasing by €5 for entries up until March 7th and rising to €50 thereafter.
Apart from entry to the tournaments, players had use of the kitchen facilities, soft drinks, tea, coffee as well as breakfast and a late lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Beer could be purchased at 5PLN ($1.25/€1.18/£1.01) per 500ml bottle, although in contrast to previous tournaments there was no fully-stocked snacks machine.
The kitchen facilities
The two most popular machines all weekend
Some of the vegan food available for breakfast
One criticism of last year’s festival was that although the vegan food was tasty and plentiful, some players objected to the lack of any meaty dishes. This year there were several meat dishes (cold meats and sausages) available for breakfast both days.
Breakfast food items remained available throughout the morning while qualifying for all the tournaments continued.
The main tournament used an unusual qualifying format. There were 24 pinballs used in qualifying and players could play any of them as many times as they wanted before qualifying closed around 9pm on Saturday evening.
Whenever a player achieved a score they deemed good enough, they would get it recorded on their score sheet and that score would then be ‘locked-in’ for that machine and couldn’t be changed. They could then move on to their next machine and play until they decided to record a score on that one.
The machines used were:
Main Tournament Qualifying Machines
1 – Cirqus Voltaire
2 – Theatre of Magic
3 – Pinball Magic
4 – World Cup Soccer
5 – Star Trek: The Next Generation
6 – Twilight Zone
7 – No Good Gofers
8 – Attack from Mars
9 – The Addams Family
10 – The Machine: Bride of Pinbot
11 – The Shadow
12 – The Flintstones
13 – Revenge from Mars
14 – Spider-Man
15 – Whitewater
16 – Demolition Man
17 – Evel Knievel
18 – Cactus Canyon
19 – Monster Bash
20 – High Speed 2: The Getaway
21 – Monster Bash
22 – Tales of the Arabian Nights
23 – Funhouse
24 – Indiana Jones (Williams)
Players were free to move around between machines as they wished, so if they found they couldn’t get into a particular title they could come back to it later. However, with 24 machines on which to record scores, time could be tight if players were too picky about getting a great score to record.
All scores on the twenty-four machines were ranked and ranking points awarded. When qualification ended, the twelve players with the highest total ranking points would continue to A division play-offs the next day. The remainder would move into the B division for their own set of play-offs for places thirteenth and up.
In addition to the main tournament there was the classic tournament held on six electromechanical or solid state machines.
The six classic tournament machines
Main Tournament Qualifying Machines
1 – Haunted House
2 – Sinbad
3 – Mata Hari
4 – Jungle Queen
5 – Bronco
6 – Spirit of 76
Qualifying in this tournament was more like classic PAPA style, in that a player could choose three of the six machines and play one game on each for their entry. The skill was in putting together a run of three good scores and not having a bad game which ruined your entry.
You could decide at any time to void your entry, or if you thought it was better than any previous attempts, submit it. One entry was included with MPFF registration, but more could be bought for 5PLN each.
The same pricing scheme applied to the remaining two tournaments.
One entry to the Magic of Pinball competition allowed one game on each of the three magic-themed games – Pinball Magic, Theatre of Magic and Cirqus Voltaire. OK, so Cirqus Voltaire is more a circus-themed game but what circus doesn’t have a magical feel to any youngster lucky enough to be in the audience?
David plays in the Magic of Pinball tournament
As the classic tournament, the key to success lay in putting together a string of good games so that all three games in your entry held respectable scores.
The final tournament was played out on the two Jersey Jack Pinball title The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit: Smaug Edition.
The two JJP tournament machines
Around 3pm on Saturday lunch was served. Guests could choose from the two types of Mihiderka vegan burgers, or they could order from a delivery service menu if they preferred a meat or non-vegan meal.
Mihiderka’s signature dish is their burgers, which were freshly prepared
As tasty as they look
In addition to the made-to-order burgers, a rice stew with bread was served on Saturday.
A different hot dish was available each day too
Those who didn’t want the vegan food could order from a delivery menu
Once lunch was finished, the serious business of qualifying continued.
Players try to record a good score on every machine
Rafał inputs the scores
The standings were projected on the wall
Medals would be awarded rather than trophies
Later in the day, vegan mushroom pizza was served along with the remaining stew from lunch time.
Vegan pizza was both tasty and filling
When qualifying closed, all the players were ranked according to their total ranking points across all twenty-four machines, with the top half going into the A division and the remainder into the B division for the play-offs on Sunday.
Main Tournament Qualifying
Pos
Name
Score
A Division
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Greg Mott
Martin Ayub
Jonas Johansson
Daniel Maczurek
Mariusz Tkacz
Piotr Kochański
David Mainwaring
Cezary Głowala
Jakub Tkacz
Rafał Bytomski
Daniel Kaczmarek
Szymon Marciniszyn
Joel Woźniak
Jakub Józefczyk
Hubert Krysiński
Jerzy Węglarz
Ovidiu Cacina
Marek Kotkiewicz
Arkadiusz Marciniszyn
Tomasz Świerkot
Marcin Krysiński
Andrzej Olszewski
Ida Edwartz
Łukasz Dziatkiewicz
Marek Janusz
Cristina Staines
Qualifying in the classic, Magic of Pinball and JJP tournaments would continue on Sunday meaning everyone still had a chance of making to the play-offs of those tournaments.
Before the main tournament play-offs could begin, the format had to be decided based on the number of players and the time available. It was agreed that everyone in each division would play a single game against each of the other players in their division with the number of wins deciding the rankings. The top four in each division would then go into their respective finals.
Marcin explains the play-off format
As a slight twist, the number of wins for the four finalists would be carried forward and be added to the 4-2-1-0 points earned in each game of the final.
The four A division finalists were Cezary Głowala, Daniel Maczurek, David Mainwaring and Martin Ayub. Martin achieved three more wins in the play-offs than either Cezary or Daniel in the play-offs, so he took those three points into the final. Similarly, David had one more win so took one point into the final.
The final four in the main tournament: Cezary Głowala, Daniel Maczurek, David Mainwaring & Martin Ayub
The format of the final allowed each player to choose a machine upon which a four-player game would be played. Points would be awarded for positions on each game, with four points going to the winner, two points to the second-placed player, one point for third place and no points for coming last. When the fourth game was over, the total of the game points and the points carried over would decide the places.
The first game was chosen by Daniel and was Twilight Zone. As with all four games, the player picking the game went first with the remaining players rotating play order from game to game.
Daniel starts the final on his choice of Twilight Zone
Despite picking the game, Twilight Zone was not kind to Daniel and he ultimately ended up coming last on the machine.
Cezary is player two
Cezary in the player two position fared a little better but still never really got into the game, finishing third.
David plays third
After another poor start, David pulled his game back with a strong finish on his third ball.
Martin plays last
However, Martin had made a strong start on his first ball, racking up over 600M. His second ball pushed that to 1.1BN which was easily enough to win the game without needing his third ball.
Play then moved on to Cezary’s choice of Cactus Canyon, and after taking second in the previous game, David Mainwaring went one better and won this game. Martin was second, Daniel third, and the curse of playing your chosen game continued with Cezary coming fourth.
Cactus Canyon is chosen by Cezary as the second game of the final
The curse was broken on game three though as, after a shaky start, David won on his pick of The Flintstones with a total score just shy of 1BN.
David chose The Flintstones for his game
Martin was second again, with Cezary third and Daniel fourth.
David won on The Flintstones
Going into the last game off the final, David and Martin were tied on 11 points each (including the carried forward points), while Cezary had 2 points and Daniel 1. Whoever between David and Martin finished highest in the last game would be the overall winner.
The game was Martin’s choice of Funhouse, and he started as player one.
Martin chose Funhouse as the last game of the final
He had a good start too, getting multiball and a jackpot on his first ball and setting himself up for a reasonable 10M overall total
Daniel had a solid if unexceptional first ball, but soon got his game together and overtook Martin’s total.
Daniel played second
Cezary wasn’t finding too much fun in the house, but still put up a reasonable score to sit in third place with just David left to play.
Cezary played third
David needed a big last ball to overtake Martin’s score and win the final, and although it looked as though he could possibly do it, an outlane drain ended the final and left David in fourth on Funhouse.
David played last
So, the results of the A division final were:
Main Tournament A Division Results
Pos
Name
Score
1
2
3
4
Martin Ayub
David Mainwaring
Daniel Maczurek
Cezary Głowala
13
11
5
3
Winner of the Mihiderka Pinball & Food Festival main tournament, Martin Ayub
Second place, David Mainwaring
Third place in the main tournament, Daniel Maczurek
In addition to the medals, cash prizes were also awarded with €150 for first place in the main tournament, €75 for second, €50 for third and €25 for fourth.
The winners of each tournament also took home a goodie bag from the city of Chorzów which included a mug and a quality sketchbook.
Goodie bags for the winners from Chorzów
The final of the B division was running alongside the A division and it was a battle between Joël Wozniak, Jakub Jozefczyk, Hubert Krysinski and Jerzy Weglarz.
In that division, it was Jakub who triumphed, with Joël second, Hubert third and Jerzy fourth. They ended up in thirteenth to sixteen places respectively.
Martin Ayub
David Mainwaring
Daniel Maczurek
Cezary Głowala
Jonas Johansson
Jakub Tkacz
Szymon Marciniszyn
Piotr Kochanski
Mariusz Tkacz
Greg Mott
Daniel Kaczmarek
Rafal Bytomski
Jakub Jozefczyk
Joël Wozniak
Hubert Krysinski
Jerzy Weglarz
Marcin Krysinski
Lukasz Dziatkiewicz
Andrzej Olszewski
Ovidiu Cacina
Tomasz Swierkot
Marek Janusz
Marek Kotkiewicz
Arkadiusz Marciniszyn
Ida Edwartz
Attention then turned to the remaining four tournaments. After the main tournament’s play-offs here was another period of qualifying for these, but as soon as the main final was over, the play-offs for the classic tournament began.
The Classic tournament along with the side tournaments allowed unlimited entries during the qualifying period. One entry was included with MPFF registration, but others could be bought for 5PLN each.
In the Classics, the top eight were split into two groups of four with each group playing a single four-player game on Sinbad, Bronco and Jungle Queen. It was original intended to play all six machines, but the lateness of the hour and the time it would take to play all six meant it was cut-down to the three fastest-playing games.
The first semi-final grouping in the classic tournament
The second classic semi-final
After the play-offs there was a tie for second place in one group. Initially it was decided to give the place in the final to the highest qualifier, but after much discussion that decision was reversed and a single game on Mata Hari was used to decide who should go into the final.
The play-off for the last place in the final
The four classic tournament finalist were David Mainwaring, Martin Ayub, Joël Wozniak and Greg Mott.
With the clock ticking, it was decided against playing all the same games again but to play the as-yet-unused Evel Knievel. A single game was deemed too random, so the final would consist of two games on the machine with the scores from each game added together to give an overall score.
Greg started the final of the classic tournament
Greg began and got off to a very nice start
Martin plays second
Martin played second but had a fairly tortuous first ball.
David in the classic final
David had a similarly disappointing start, while Joël did a little better.
Joël is player four in the first game of the classic tournament
On the third ball, Martin drained after only adding 8K to his total, but the player two light then lit. It turned out he had played an extra ball earned by Greg. This happened because the player one light didn’t work and nobody noticed the ‘same player shoots again’ light briefly illuminate during the game, so there was no indication it was still player one’s turn.
Marcin points out what he thinks happened
There was much discussion about what had happened and the best way to resolve it.
A discussion takes place on the best way forward
In the end, Greg received an extra ball at the end of the game, the score from which would be added to his five-ball game total. Martin ‘s ball would be drained and the 8,000 points he scored with Greg’s extra ball transferred to Martin’s total.
Greg plays his extra ball
After all the excitement had died down, Greg won the first game with his 222K total, Joël was second on 102K, Martin third on 91K and David fourth on 47K.
Ovidiu and Łukasz look back on a long weekend
In the second game David began, needing a good game to catch up with Greg’s first game total. His first ball of 55K was a good start and the 80K which followed looked promising, but these turned out to be his best balls of the game and he ended on 150K.
Greg was looking to cement his lead with a reasonable second game, but his 103K total left the door partially open.
Joel had a nice final ball, nearly doubling his 79K score to end on 150K.
Martin needed around 220K to win, but could only manage 178K before a drain ended his game and the final.
The final scores were:
Classic Tournament A Division Results
Pos
Name
Score
1
2
3
4
Greg Mott
Martin Ayub
Joël Wozniak
David Mainwaring
Greg Mott
Martin Ayub
Joël Wozniak
David Mainwaring
Andrzej Olszewski
Jakub Tkacz
Mariusz Tkacz
Rafal Bytomski
Cezary Glowala
Daniel Maczurek
Szymon Marciniszyn
Piotr Kochanski
Marek Kotkiewicz
Jonas Johansson
Tomasz Swierkot
Hubert Krysinski
Daniel Kaczmarek
Marek Janusz
Ovidiu Cacina
Winner of the classic tournament, Greg Mott
Second place, Martin Ayub
Fourth place in the classic tournament, David Mainwaring
Cash prizes of €50/€25/€15/€5 were also awarded for first to fourth places.
All cash prizes had to be signed for
The next tournament was Magic of Pinball and again, the late hour meant the final was played on a single game of Cirqus Voltaire rather than across all three tournament machines. The four finalists were Piotr Kochanski, Greg Mott, Jakub Tkacz and Rafal Bytomski competing for the champion title.
The final of the Magic of Pinball tournament
This time it was Rafel who triumphed over the others, with Piotr in second place, Jakub third and Greg fourth.
Rafał Bytomski
Piotr Kochanski
Jakub Tkacz
Greg Mott
Daniel Maczurek
Mariusz Tkacz
Jerzy Weglarz
Jakub Jozefczyk
Martin Ayub
Joël Wozniak
Daniel Kaczmarek
Cezary Glowala
Andrzej Olszewski
Jonas Johansson
Tomasz Swierkot
Marek Kotkiewicz
Arkadiusz Marciniszyn
Szymon Marciniszyn
Hubert Krysinski
Marcin Krysinski
Ovidiu Cacina
Marek Janusz
David Mainwaring
Winner of the Magic of Pinball tournament, Rafał Bytomski
Second place, Piotr Kochański
Third in the Magic of Pinball tournament, Jakub Tkacz
Fourth in the Magic of Pinball tournament, Greg Mott
The penultimate final was the JJP tournament. This was played on The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit, with the familiar 4-2-1-0 points system used in each game. The four finalists were Mariusz Tkacz, Greg Mott, Piotr Kochanski and Rafał Bytomski.
Greg began well, taking first place and four points from The Wizard of Oz. Mariusz earned two points from his second place, Rafal got one point for third place, while Piotr failed to score with his fourth-place finish.
Rafel playing the first game of the JJP tournament
There had been a failure of the main processor fan on The Hobbit, so The Wizard of Oz was played first and then the fan was swapped to The Hobbit so that game could be played.
Mariusz plays in the final
Mariusz began on game two but was unable to improve on his previous second place and actually ended up third with one more point for a total of three.
Rafal played second and had a much better game on The Hobbit than The Wizard of Oz, winning the game and ending up on five points.
The final wasn’t going well for Piotr. After failing to score any points in the first game, he had a similarly tough time in the second.
After winning game one, Greg needed second place or higher to avoid either a tie-break or coming second.
Greg plays the second game of the JJP tournament final
As it was, he took second place and the two points for a winning total of six.
So, the final totals were:
JJP Tournament Final Results
Pos
Name
Score
1
2
3
4
Greg Mott
Rafał Bytomski
Mariusz Tkacz
Piotr Kochanski
Greg Mott
Rafal Bytomski
Mariusz Tkacz
Piotr Kochanski
Jonas Johansson
Andrzej Olszewski
Hubert Krysinski
Ovidiu Cacina
Martin Ayub
Daniel Kaczmarek
Daniel Maczurek
Jakub Jozefczyk
Joël Wozniak
Jerzy Weglarz
Jakub Tkacz
Marek Janusz
Christina Staines
Tomasz Swierkot
Marcin Krysinski
Cezary Glowala
Marek Kotkiewicz
Winner of the JJP tournament, Greg Mott
Second place, Rafał Bytomski
Third place, Mariusz Tkacz, collected by his son Jakub
Fourth place in the JJP tournament, Piotr Kochanski
The very last tournament to conclude was the Dig Dug video game competition which took place last thing on Sunday evening.
The Dig Dug tournament is last to end
We rushed out before the Dig Dug final was completed to try to get some dinner before everywhere in Bytom closed for the night (we failed), but the tournament was won by Łukasz Dziatkiewicz who not only won a medal but a suitable prize for his first place.
Łukasz Dziatkiewicz is the winner of the Dig Dug medal and a special prize
There was one further award for the Most Stylish Player which was awarded by the organisers to Christina Staines, with Łukasz making the presentation.
Winner of the most stylish player award, Christina Staines
By the end of the competitions, only a few players remained as the Mihiderka Pinball & Food Festival 2017 drew to a close.
The last players standing
The pinball and food festival is over for the weekend
Marcin and Łukasz were kind enough to collect those guests who flew in to nearby Katowice Airport and bring them to the event, as well as take them back on Monday morning for their flights home. There was also the opportunity for a final few games on the Printimus Pinball machines as well as a farewell chance to savour the tasty Mihiderka vegan pizza for lunch.
In addition, a prize package arrived on Monday from Jersey Jack Pinball containing flyers, T-shirts and hats. Greg Mott, as winner of the JJP tournament, was able to choose some prizes from the gifts, with the remainder used for future tournaments.
The Mihiderka Pinball and Food Festival is certainly a unique event in the pinball world and one which in our opinion is well worth supporting.
The first MPFF in 2016 proved rather restrictive in the way almost the entire weekend was spent in the Printimus building, with only vegan food served and little opportunity to venture outside for alternatives. Thankfully the organisers listened to the suggestions and made the MPFF more relaxed in 2017, with more time to play games, earlier finishes and non-vegan meals available.
Thanks to Marcin, Łukasz and the Mihiderka team for organising another MPFF, and to resident technician Mirek for making sure the ball kept rolling smoothly all weekend.
The Dutch Pinball Masters is one of the major European tournaments and can generally expect a healthy turnout from many of the continent’s top players.
This year there was a slight diminution due to a clash of dates with the German Pinball Association’s convention in Potsdam, but competition was still fierce at the Dutch Pinball Association’s (NFV’s) clubhouse in Veenendaal in the centre of the Netherlands.
The NFV’s clubhouse in Veenendaal
The location was the same as it had been for the past few years, a light-industrial unit on a commercial park on the outskirts of the town. There’s are no catering or hotel facilities close-by, so a car or taxi was a must to get here. Vacant spaces outside the unit, on the street and in front of adjacent buildings meant there was no problem parking.
Once inside the door, there was an arrangement of plants, flowers and copies of the NFV’s Spinner magazine, as well as a wall showing supporters’ logos.
The table in the lobby
Supporters of the NFV
Once fully inside the building, the first section is the cafe and seating area.
The cafe area
The cafe had a full kitchen and prepared a range of hot food items, including fries, burgers, chicken sate, sausages, mini-snack selections and salads. The prices for all these were very reasonable, with a burger costing €2 ($2.17/£1.68) and a chicken meal with fries and salad at €6.50 ($7.07 /£5.56).
Part of the menu
Part of a meal
Soup was also available, while soft drinks, beer and wine could also be purchased.
Soup in front, beers and sodas behind
Although there was a demand for quality craft or abbey ales, only Heineken or Bavaria beers were available for €2 a bottle. Those looking for something a little better had to either go elsewhere or bring their own.
Seating was available for those enjoying their meals or drinks, as well as those resting from the pinball. Alternatively, the weather outside was good enough to enjoy your purchases alfresco.
Indoor seating
At the very front of the building were several small rooms either containing games to play or used for game repair.
A selection of EMs
When it’s too much pinball, enjoy darts, video games or table football/foosball/babyfoot
The main selection of pinballs was located in the back two-thirds of the hall. The two rows on the left were the main tournament machines, bolstered by a group on the back wall which were used as back-up machines in case of failure by any of those in the main tournament.
Machines and players in the main tournament
Those tournament machines were:
Main Dutch Pinball Masters Machines
1
Tommy
2
Junkyard
3
Fish Tales
4
Avatar
5
Spider-Man
6
Scared Stiff
7
Dirty Harry
8
Indianapolis 500
9
Roadshow
10
Star Trek: The Next Generation
11
Jackbot
12
Pirates of the Caribbean
13
World Cup Soccer
14
Demolition Man
15
Funhouse
16
Goldeneye
17
Doctor Who
18
Attack from Mars
19
Monopoly
20
Medieval Madness
21
The Lord of the Rings
22
Whirlwind
23
Congo
24
Creature from the Black Lagoon
25
Whitewater
26
Hoops
The back-up machines were: The Sopranos, High Speed 2: The Getaway, Terminator 2 and Corvette.
On the right side of the hall were the free-play machines, while on the back wall was a row of eight machines used for the classics tournament.
Free-play machines
Free-play machines
There were nicely-decorated table on which to put your drinks
Free-play machines
Ad Jonker’s Captain Nemo machine was also here to play
The eight classics tournament machines were:
Main Dutch Pinball Masters Machines
1
Capt. Fantastic
2
Bobby Orr Power Play
3
Gorgar
4
Charlie’s Angels
5
Dealer’s Choice
6
Paragon
7
Harlem Globetrotters
8
Viking
The back-up machine was Mata Hari.
The classics tournament
In addition to these tournaments, there was also a team competition held on Friday night.
Trophies for the tournaments
The team tournament saw eight teams of four split into two groups. The teams and groups were:
Team Tournament Groups
Group A
Dutch Pinball Team
Team Slovenia
Oslo Tiltboys
Team Delta
Group B
Pinball DNA
Archiball Team
Team Ro-Me
Oslo Pinball Casuals
Each team played a match against each of the other three teams in their group. A match consisted of each player playing a member of the opposing team on a machine to win 1 point per game, and a pair of split-flipper games for two points each.
The two teams with the most points in each group went into the semi-finals. Here the winner of Group A played second place in Group B and vice-versa in the same style of match as in the first round.
The winners from the first round were Dutch Pinball Team and Pinball DNA, while second place qualifiers were Team Delta and Team Ro-Me.
Dutch Pinball Team and Pinball DNA won the semi-final matches, setting them up for a final match held in the same format.
In the final, the Dutch Pinball Team won three of the four individual matches to lead 3-1, meaning Pinball DNA needed to win both split-flipper games. They won one of them, but that was not enough, meaning the Dutch Pinball Team of Albert Nomden, Paul Jongma, Mark van der Gugten and Joska Keunekamp won 5-3.
The victorious Dutch Pinball Team: Paul Jongma, Albert Nomden and Mark van der Gugten (absent: Joska Keunekamp)
In the play-off, Team Ro-Me beat Team Delta for third place.
Third place, Team Ro-Me
The main Dutch Pinball Masters tournament began on Saturday with a qualifying round for all 141 players. Tournament entry cost €15 in addition to the daily €7.50 fee for entry to the clubhouse, meaning a €30 total price for entry if you played on both days. As a bonus, all competitors received a 10% discount off products from playfield-protectors.com.
There were three qualifying periods starting at 09:30, 13:15 and 17:00, each one lasting around three-and-a-half hours.
In each period, players were split into four groups (A-D, E-H and J-M) with around twelve players in each group. Every competitor played a single three-ball game against each other player in their group, in a predetermined order and on preselected machines. A win in a game earned one point, a loss scored a zero.
Players in the qualifying round
When a game was over, the winner would come to a terminal and register their win.
Tournament systems head Ad Jonker at the results terminal
The current matches on the results terminal
As each result was recorded, the overall picture emerged on a large screen.
The overall group standings
The group scores
For all groups, a score of eight wins or more would guarantee you a place in Sunday’s second round. If you got seven wins it was a toss-up whether that would be enough, or if you would end up in a tie-breaker. With six wins you would be lucky to progress. It wasn’t impossible, but unlikely, and a tie-breaker was an almost certainty.
It wasn’t how you won, but how many you won
Head-to-head games were the order of the day
Every win was a step closer to qualification
Those who did progress needed to be back at the venue at 9:40 on Sunday morning for the start of the second round. For everyone else, their Dutch Pinball Masters was over, and just the classic tournament remained.
Just a few points could be the difference between progressing and going home
The classic tournament cost an additional €10 to enter and was held on the eight machines we listed above, with competitors given ten games spread across the eight machines in order to qualify. No machine could be played more than twice and all ten scores were ranked, with the top 24 players progressing to the play-offs and the top players receiving a bye through the first round.
Classic tournament score cards
Players were issued with a score card for the classic tournament, but in truth all scores were recorded electronically on tablets or phones. with the current standings shown on a terminal.
Checking the current classic tournament standings
Current standings and games in progress
Qualifying continued until 8:30pm on Saturday, with the play-offs beginning at 9pm once the main DPM rounds had finished and all players were free to take part.
Matches in the play-offs were head-to-head best-of-five games on machines drawn at random.
The play-offs schedule
The classic tournament play-offs
The classic tournament play-offs
The classic tournament play-offs
DPM tournament directors Albert Nomden and Paul Jongma
The final came down to a battle between Gabriele Tedeschi from Italy and Rich Mallett from the UK.
Gabriel on Mata Hari in the final
After some exciting games, Mata Hari was the decider, and with Gabriel going first but failing to score much Rich just had to hold his nerve, which he did very successfully to win the game and the final.
Rich prepares to plunge his winning final ball
So, Rich was the winner, Gabriel second, while in the play-off it was Jochen Krieger Germany who took third place ahead of Frenchman Sebastien Puertas in fourth.
Here are all the placings in the DPM classic tournament:
DPM Classic Tournamenti 2017
Pos
Name
1
Rich Mallett
2
Gabriele Tedeschi
3
Jochen Krieger
4
Sebastien Puertas
6
Marco Suvanto
6
Jan Anders Nilsson
6
David Deturck
6
Lieven Engelbeen
12
Joël Wozniak
12
Arjan Neet
12
Philippe Bocquet
12
David Mainwaring
12
Mathias Leurs
12
Fredrik Mellberg
12
Perttu Pesä
12
Eko Elens
20
Evert Brochez
20
Andreas Hedström
20
Ad Jonker
20
Kirsten Adam
20
Ivan Geentjens
20
Jonas Valström
20
Ollivier Francq
20
Anders Carlsson
25
Cayle George
26
Martijn Van Amsterdam
27
Martin Ayub
28
Heinz Berges
29
Helen de Haan-Verbeek
29
Albert Nomden
31
Robert Lau
32
Juha Viitanen
32
Fabrizio Amiconi
34
Alysa Parks
35
Florian Thomas
36
Rob Fransen
37
Rob Overdijk
38
John van der Wulp
39
Željko Vasic
40
Paul Jongma
41
Artur Natorski
42
Vin Jauhal
43
Peter Franck
44
Bart Volman
45
Vincent Chardome
46
Kevin Roelants
47
Mattias Jeppsson
48
Frank Wolthers
49
Wolfgang Haid
49
Benjamin Gräbeldinger
51
Pittchen Müller
52
Erno Lahdenperä
53
Thomas Van Clapdorp
54
Andrej Rižner
54
Carlo Vijn
56
Matt Vince
56
Tormod Pettersen
58
Mario Schröder
59
Didier Dujardin
59
Ramon Richard
61
Laurence Boulieu
62
Simo Rimmi
63
Jani Saari
63
Ales Rebec
65
Michel Lanters
66
Jules Reivers
67
Daniel Bertilsson
67
Tom-Andre Andersen
69
Stan Simpson
70
Dominique De Cock
70
Archibald Lefevre
72
Norman Heikamp
73
Pontus Qvarfordh
73
Evelyne Desot
75
Glenn Verhoosele
76
Mark van der Gugten
77
Alain Boulieu
78
Laurent Mahe
79
Thomas Reichenstein
79
Norbert Broman
81
Sven Kirmes
81
Michel Rorive
83
Adam Lundquist
84
Stéphane Swaenepoel
85
Jürgen Schmitz
86
Olav Hjelmstadstuen
87
Erol Saydam
88
Vid Kuklec
89
Gerard Vos
90
Emma Berlin
91
Fredrik Lekander
92
Tom Geneyn
92
Thomas Doepelheuer
94
Mirko Bogic
95
Andreas Thorsén
95
Kelly Lembrechts
97
Olivier Renders
98
Oyvind Winther
99
Svein Tjeldflåt
100
Neil Fellender
100
Nils de Kleine
102
Fred Van Den Bosch
103
Eric Andries
104
Bjørn Erlend Hellem
105
Daniela Oymann
106
Gerard Poelwijk
107
Daniel Bradford
108
Ralf Wittwer
109
Morten Søbyskogen
110
Rob Breyne
111
Kevin Sultana
112
Manuela Krieger
113
Bjorn Brand
114
Andrej Demsar
115
Johan Bernhardtson
116
Elin Wilhelmsen
117
Torstein Bjørnstad
118
Babs Negelen
119
Jasmijn de Jong
120
Stanislas Chabior
121
Joeri Stroobants
122
Kyoo Barbaix
123
Karin Eisenstecken
124
ralf de kleine
125
Sandra Søbyskogen
Sunday morning rolled around with the main DPM tournament left to decide.
Only the DPM trophies remain
The top four from each of the four groups in each of the three qualifying sessions meant (4 x 4) x 3 = 48 players progressed to the second round which began at 10am on Sunday.
Sunday’s second round
The format was the same as Saturday – four groups of twelve players, with everyone playing one head-to-head game against everyone else in their group (11 games). The four players with the most wins in each group would move on to the quarter finals.
The second round of the Dutch Pinball Masters
The sixteen who made it into the quarter-finals were:
Tormod Pettersen
Roger Wijnands
Kirsten Adam
Taco Wouters
David Deturck
Jules Reivers
Philippe Bocquet
Sébastien Puertas
Benjamin Gräbeldinger
Cayle George
Ivan Geentjens
Bart Volman
Fredrik Lekander
John van der Wulp
Jan Anders Nilsson
Bjorn Brand
The quarter-finals paired up players in a best-of-five match on randomly-drawn machines. The first to win three games moved on to the semi-finals.
Kirsten Adam had three straight wins to progress, as did Ivan Geentjens, Sébastien Puertas and Cayle George. David Deturck took four games to win, the same as Jan Anders Nilsson and John van der Wulp, while Roger Wijnands took all five games to win and move on to the semis.
The semi-final was the same as the quarters – best-of-five on random machines.
This time David Deturck beat Kirsten Adam 3-2, Jan Anders Nilsson did the same against Ivan Geentjens, as did Roger Wijnands against Sébastien Puertas. Only Cayle George had an easier 3-0 win against John van der Wulp.
In the four-player four-game final, each competitor got to choose a machine to play with 9-5-2-0 scoring used for first to fourth places.
Jan Anders Nilsson began by choosing Congo, but the game didn’t co-operate with him this time. His first ball scored 100M to put him in third place, while balls two and three only lifted that to 380M which was last place.
Cayle George had the best first ball with 215M, boosted to 800M on his second and 1.067B on his third to win. David Deturck recovered from a bad 79M start to end on 932M for second, while Roger Wijnands’s 744M total was only good enough for third.
David chose Star Trek: The Next Generation for game two but once again the curse of machine choice struck as his 1.2B was the lowest of the four scores. Jan had a great last ball, scoring 2.3B to end up on 3.1B, taking first place. Cayle’s 2.6B might normally be enough to win but only gave him second here, with Roger’s 1.8B good for third.
Cayle’s choice of Scared Stiff broke the chooser’s curse with his ball one score of 16M being enough to win the game. In the end, he totalled 79M – way ahead of David in second on 9.8M, Jan on 2.7M and Roger who never got started and ended on just 0.8M.
With game four still to play, Cayle’s 23 points was already enough to win the final, with Jan closest behind on 11 points, David in third on 10, and Roger on 4. But Roger could still get into a tie-breaker for second place if the other places worked out for him, while Jan and David were battling it out.
Roger chose Whirlwind, but was blown away by three quick drains to end up on just 309K. The battle for second was thus between Jan and David, and it was David who stormed his way to the win with 9.5M, ahead of Cayle’s 7M and Jan’s 4.5M.
So the result was, Cayle in first place, David second, Jan third and Roger fourth.
Dutch Pinball Masters 2017 winner, Cayle George (picture: Ad Jonker)
Second place, David Deturck (picture: Ad Jonker)
Third place, Jan Anders Nilsson (picture: Ad Jonker)
Fourth place, Roger Wijnands (picture: Ad Jonker)
Here are the full results:
Dutch Pinball Masters 2017
Pos
Name
1
Cayle George
2
David Deturck
3
Jan Anders Nilsson
4
Roger Wijnands
6
Kirsten Adam
6
Ivan Geentjens
6
Sebastien Puertas
6
John van der Wulp
12
Tormod Pettersen
12
Philippe Bocquet
12
Benjamin Gräbeldinger
12
Fredrik Lekander
12
Taco Wouters
12
Jules Reivers
12
Bart Volman
12
Bjorn Brand
17
Jonas Johansson
17
Albert Nomden
21
Evert Brochez
21
Sylvain Grevin
21
Michel Rorive
21
Martin Ayub
21
Olivier Renders
28
Thomas van Clapdorp
28
Anthony Rorive
28
Jani Saari
28
Evelyne Desot
28
Stéphane Swaenepoel
28
Ramon Richard
28
Marco Suvanto
28
Johan Bernhardtson
28
Jonas Valström
37
Archibald Lefevre
37
Juha Viitanen
37
Mattias Jeppsson
37
Andreas Thorsén
37
Florian Thomas
37
Martijn van Amsterdam
37
Andrej Demsar
37
Laurence Boulieu
37
Norbert Broman
43
Sébastien Muller
43
Paul Jongma
43
Erno Lahdenperä
43
Andrej Rižner
46
Didier Dujardin
46
Eko Elens
48
Joël Wozniak
49
Mark van der Gugten
49
Anders Carlsson
61
Dominique de Cock
61
Ralf Wittwer
61
Thomas Reichenstein
61
Stanislas Chabior
61
Rich Mallett
61
Matt Vince
61
Martijn van Aken
61
Sven Kirmes
61
Mathias Leurs
61
Peter Franck
61
Norman Heikamp
61
Pontus Qvarfordh
61
Bjørn Erlend Hellem
61
Helen de Haan-Verbeek
61
Neil Fellender
61
Lieven Engelbeen
61
Heinz Berges
61
Jeroen Wieringa
61
Fabrizio Amiconi
61
Vincent Chardome
61
Ralf de Kleine
61
Andreas Hedström
84
Eric Andries
84
Jochen Krieger
84
Olav Hjelmstadstuen
84
Gerard Poelwijk
84
Michel Lanters
84
Svein Tjeldflåt
84
Mirko Bogic
84
Daniel Bertilsson
84
Laurent Mahe
84
Morten Søbyskogen
84
Jasper van Embden
84
Vid Kuklec
84
Ollivier Francq
84
Robert Lau
84
Tom Geneyn
84
Gabriele Tedeschi
84
Arjan Neet
84
David Mainwaring
84
Joeri Stroobants
84
Kevin Roelants
84
Perttu Pesä
84
Rob Fransen
84
Alysa Parks
107
Adam Lundquist
107
Fred van den Bosch
107
Simo Rimmi
107
Frank Wolthers
107
Rob Overdijk
107
Oyvind Winther
107
Bas van Embden
107
Daniel Bradford
107
Nils de Kleine
107
Alain Boulieu
107
Jeremy Dorling
107
Erol Saydam
107
Babs Negelen
107
Fredrik Mellberg
107
Artur Natorski
107
Jürgen Schmitz
107
Jeroen Boiten
107
Elin Wilhelmsen
107
Tom Loomans
107
Ronald Klappe
107
Pittchen Müller
107
Gerard Vos
107
Ales Rebec
127
Steven van der Staaij
127
Karin Eisenstecken
127
Vin Jauhal
127
Rob Breyne
127
Jasmijn de Jong
127
Torstein Bjørnstad
127
Mario Schröder
127
Kyoo Barbaix
127
Ronald Oenema
127
Thomas Doepelheuer
127
Olivier Calimet
127
Kelly Lembrechts
127
Wolfgang Haid
127
Justin van Schooneveld
127
Carlo Vijn
127
Glenn Verhoosele
127
Tom-Andre Andersen
127
Alicia Juniet
140
Daniela Oymann
140
Manuela Krieger
140
Machteld Decloedt
140
Željko Vasic
140
Emma Berlin
140
Kevin Sultana
140
Arno Punt
140
Sandra Søbyskogen
And so we come to the end of this report from the Dutch Pinball Masters 2017.
The top four in the Dutch Pinball Masters 2017
(picture: Ad Jonker)
The DPM is a well-established and well-supported international tournament, one which guarantees all players at least eleven games even if they don’t progress beyond the qualification round.
There were clear improvements to the match result reporting system, allowing players to record their own results and providing instant standings which made life easier for competitors and organisers. The timings all went to plan and any technical issues were resolved quickly and amicably.
The only real negative was the quality of the free-play machines, although even there the addition of Ad Jonker’s The Matrix and Capt. Nemo games helped made up for any shortcomings or unavailabilties.
Hopefully next year the dates for the DPM won’t clash with another major European tournament and players can get to enjoy two top-flight Spring tournaments.