Exactly!?! I'm buzzing at the prospect, had to go an smash a few games of Flash Gordon to channel my inner @roadshow16
Obviously played sh1t but the lack of updates on the stream is stressing me out
European Pinball Championships/IFPA Pinball Olympics/IFPA World Championships in Germany!
- Thread starter roadshow16
- Start date
Obviously played sh1t but the lack of updates on the stream is stressing me out
IFPA18 WC Finals Bracket - Google Drive
Craig out. 5/3 in the sudden death against Laser Los.Brilliant achievement to get so far though. One day we'll have our day
Today's live feed from bulls and balls...
www.youtube.com
The IFPA18.5 Pinball Championships - side tournament - June 2023
Head to head qualifying.
www.youtube.com
The flipper rubbers look like classic red flipper rubbers but they're infact a specific rubber from a company called suzohapp, they were used at the UK open and are much much tighter than traditional rubbers and bounce less? Or bounce more? I don't know
I believe they're ifpa standard now so that is probably why they're on every game.
I knew you'd knowThe flipper rubbers look like classic red flipper rubbers but they're infact a specific rubber from a company called suzohapp, they were used at the UK open and are much much tighter than traditional rubbers and bounce less? Or bounce more? I don't know
I believe they're ifpa standard now so that is probably why they're on every game.
Only because I helped out some on during the UK open set up and two of my games came home with themI knew you'd know
OP
OP
Just boarding the plane watching the finals going to overtime between Johannes and Markus, just epic stuff. It's been the best pinball trip ive ever had, thanks so much for all the support everyone. Will write a proper post when I'm home 
GZ next - looking fwd to this......
Amazing final, well played to both. Johannes with a superb first ball on Corvette of 4.3bil.
That was something else, insane control and accuracy
OP
OP
What an incredible 9 days.
It got off to an awful start, my flight was 2 hours delayed which meant that when I eventually got to Frankfurt, the car hire company had left which meant that I had to get a train into the centre of Frankfurt and then a train to Fulda, which meant i got to my accomodation close to 2am
. Not the ideal start with the EPC qualifying the next day, but I guess it could have been worse!
EPC Classics was first up and went pretty awful, it was the most brutal format and some of the machines were pretty horrendous in terms of setup/tilts etc. Still, I played poorly and didn't make the cut by a long way. But it was absolutely amazing to see @Kate Rothwell-Jackson @Jem and @PUP do so well, playing some incredible pinball to make the finals and do so well.
EPC Main qualifying went much better for me. I managed to win 11/15 H2H games which meant that I finished 2nd in my 16 person group which meant that I earned a bye in the next round which was awesome. Unfortunately I lost 4-2 to Colin Macalpine in an awesome match, I played well on the whole and was pleased that I showed up in some high pressure moments, but didn't have quite enough to get the win. So finished joint 40th in the EPC out of 264, not too bad with the incredible field of players who were present.
Next up was the huge certified Matchplay tournament that kicked off the IFPA Olympics. 20 rounds of 4 player matchplay with the best in the world in attendance. Nothing can prepare you for the gruelling nature of this unless you have played in a similar tournament like Pinburgh or IFPA Worlds. I started badly, but was super pleased with how I finished, finishing one spot outside of qualification in 25th. I actually wasn't disappointed because I played really well in the crunch points against extremely tough competition, so again, not too bad a finish. I felt really bad for @Moonraker in this one, he played lights out throughout the 2 days of qualifying, right at the top of the table with all of the best in the world for so many rounds, but just came up short in the end, he played so so well and should be very proud.
Then it was the pingolf. 20 holes, on 20 games. I went round with Escher Lefkoff, the greatest player in the world and winner of the EPC. It was an absolute pleasure to hear his thought process, how to approach games and his strategy. I did just enough to qualify in the top 4 of my group, which I was really pleased about (Escher obviously top qualified) but then bombed out in the finals. A bit dissapointing, but again with this level of competition and how hard the games were setup, I was fine with joint 20th.
And then the final tourney before myself and Andy made our way to Echzell for the World Championship was the target matchplay. I started poorly again, but then got into a groove and finished very strong against some incredible players. Zmac smashed this one, making it to 70 points in 12 rounds. I finished joint 10th, which I was very pleased with, I would have loved one more round as I was playing well, but overall a strong finish.
Then to the World Champs. It really is a tournament like no other. IFPA Worlds is the best tournament in the world, its so so hard. The psychological gruelling nature of the tournament is so incredibly intense, you have to play so consistently well to qualify. Every round you are matched up with the best players on the planet and you have to perform. I started badly (a running theme!) but brought it back and then performed with consistency which I was really really pleased about. I actually enjoyed it. I didn't fear any opponent, I backed myself and enjoyed every round of qualifying, including the decisive 8th round where we played for all the marbles. Cayle and Escher thought the cut line would be 102 points this year because of the expanded field of 80 players, so going into the last round I knew I needed 17 points to qualify clean and 15 to probably be in a tie breaker. After a super tense few games on ACDC and Paragon I managed to scrape together 15 points, finishing on 100 points, thinking I would be in a playoff to make it through. Luckily this turned out to be the cut and I made it clean through to the top 32, probably my biggest goal in competitive pinball outside of winning a major. Just to represent how hard it was to make the cut, people like Peter Anderson, Julio Vicario Soriano, Neil Graf, Jim Belsito, didn't make the cut. I was elated. Everyone was saying it was the hardest cut of all time to make.
Then to the final rounds. I was matched up with Brian Shepherd, an excellent player, but to be honest out of anyone I could have got in this round, I was pleased. He's top 50 in the world, but he's not a world beater like so many of the other players. I knew I needed to take this oppurtunity. And I did. I played really well and ended up winning 4-1. Delighted.
Next up in the top 24 was Carlos Delaserda. An amazing player, number 14 in the world, but again, he's not one of the untouchables, I knew I could do it. First up was Jokerz (his pick), he only managed 1.1m on his game and I had actually put up the Grand Champion score on this machine in qualifying of nearly 7m, so I felt great. First ball, I got into mulitball, shot 2 more up the ramp, one more shot and it was a walk off win. I bottled it. Lost the game by less than 100k, absolutely gutted. But still, it was my pick next, Godzilla. I killed it, making it to Monster Zero and 1B points. He fought hard back to 500m but came up short, 1-1. Next up, AIQ. A terrible game, we both played so badly, it played very hard, but I had the oppurtunity to take him many times, but couldn't do it. 2-1 to Carlos. Next up was Grand Lizard, I had been destroying that game all weekend, I was just able to grind it out better than pretty much anyone in the building, I managed to do it again. 2-2. Carlos then chose Alien Poker, he rolled it, I couldn't, he played really well. 3-2. My final pick was Skateball, I had picked Paragon as my old game in the round against Brian because I had experience on it and it played well, but I love Skateball and i'm good at it, so I thought lets go for it. I killed it. 1.6m to his 200k. 3-3. What a match, going to sudden death best of 3. He had first pick as the higher seed. He chose Maiden, this Maiden was destroying people, it destroyed me. I couldn't get anything going, he played really well. 4-3. My pick, my last pick of the match, Paragon, one of my all time favourite games. It played really nicely with a juicy spinner. I didn't do much on my first 2 balls, but my 3rd ball I got 5x bonus which meant that I was 100k ahead going into his last ball. He played really well under the pressure and caught me. Well played, incredible match. Keith Elwin was the player waiting for the winner between myself and Carlos in the next round. He actually came and watched the last 3 games of the match, sussing up his competition and more likely working out what games it was that he would be playing. An amazing experience and one I will never forget. So joint 20th in the world. Not bad at all, my only real regret was that Jokerz game, but overall I played so well at the right times that I shouldn't regret anything. Easier said than done of course.
The whole trip was incredible. The people and players were a pleasure to be around. Spending lots of time with Andy, the weather was sublime, the venue's fantastic. The buzz about the UK Open amongst the players was infectious, its what everyone wanted to talk to me about. Escher is coming, Cayle is coming, lots and lots of the best players in the world are coming. A wonderful time to be involved in competitive pinball.
Thanks again everyone for the overwhelming support, its was truly heart warming.
Craig
(My brother sent me the below pic
, thanks everyone)
It got off to an awful start, my flight was 2 hours delayed which meant that when I eventually got to Frankfurt, the car hire company had left which meant that I had to get a train into the centre of Frankfurt and then a train to Fulda, which meant i got to my accomodation close to 2am
. Not the ideal start with the EPC qualifying the next day, but I guess it could have been worse!EPC Classics was first up and went pretty awful, it was the most brutal format and some of the machines were pretty horrendous in terms of setup/tilts etc. Still, I played poorly and didn't make the cut by a long way. But it was absolutely amazing to see @Kate Rothwell-Jackson @Jem and @PUP do so well, playing some incredible pinball to make the finals and do so well.
EPC Main qualifying went much better for me. I managed to win 11/15 H2H games which meant that I finished 2nd in my 16 person group which meant that I earned a bye in the next round which was awesome. Unfortunately I lost 4-2 to Colin Macalpine in an awesome match, I played well on the whole and was pleased that I showed up in some high pressure moments, but didn't have quite enough to get the win. So finished joint 40th in the EPC out of 264, not too bad with the incredible field of players who were present.
Next up was the huge certified Matchplay tournament that kicked off the IFPA Olympics. 20 rounds of 4 player matchplay with the best in the world in attendance. Nothing can prepare you for the gruelling nature of this unless you have played in a similar tournament like Pinburgh or IFPA Worlds. I started badly, but was super pleased with how I finished, finishing one spot outside of qualification in 25th. I actually wasn't disappointed because I played really well in the crunch points against extremely tough competition, so again, not too bad a finish. I felt really bad for @Moonraker in this one, he played lights out throughout the 2 days of qualifying, right at the top of the table with all of the best in the world for so many rounds, but just came up short in the end, he played so so well and should be very proud.
Then it was the pingolf. 20 holes, on 20 games. I went round with Escher Lefkoff, the greatest player in the world and winner of the EPC. It was an absolute pleasure to hear his thought process, how to approach games and his strategy. I did just enough to qualify in the top 4 of my group, which I was really pleased about (Escher obviously top qualified) but then bombed out in the finals. A bit dissapointing, but again with this level of competition and how hard the games were setup, I was fine with joint 20th.
And then the final tourney before myself and Andy made our way to Echzell for the World Championship was the target matchplay. I started poorly again, but then got into a groove and finished very strong against some incredible players. Zmac smashed this one, making it to 70 points in 12 rounds. I finished joint 10th, which I was very pleased with, I would have loved one more round as I was playing well, but overall a strong finish.
Then to the World Champs. It really is a tournament like no other. IFPA Worlds is the best tournament in the world, its so so hard. The psychological gruelling nature of the tournament is so incredibly intense, you have to play so consistently well to qualify. Every round you are matched up with the best players on the planet and you have to perform. I started badly (a running theme!) but brought it back and then performed with consistency which I was really really pleased about. I actually enjoyed it. I didn't fear any opponent, I backed myself and enjoyed every round of qualifying, including the decisive 8th round where we played for all the marbles. Cayle and Escher thought the cut line would be 102 points this year because of the expanded field of 80 players, so going into the last round I knew I needed 17 points to qualify clean and 15 to probably be in a tie breaker. After a super tense few games on ACDC and Paragon I managed to scrape together 15 points, finishing on 100 points, thinking I would be in a playoff to make it through. Luckily this turned out to be the cut and I made it clean through to the top 32, probably my biggest goal in competitive pinball outside of winning a major. Just to represent how hard it was to make the cut, people like Peter Anderson, Julio Vicario Soriano, Neil Graf, Jim Belsito, didn't make the cut. I was elated. Everyone was saying it was the hardest cut of all time to make.
Then to the final rounds. I was matched up with Brian Shepherd, an excellent player, but to be honest out of anyone I could have got in this round, I was pleased. He's top 50 in the world, but he's not a world beater like so many of the other players. I knew I needed to take this oppurtunity. And I did. I played really well and ended up winning 4-1. Delighted.
Next up in the top 24 was Carlos Delaserda. An amazing player, number 14 in the world, but again, he's not one of the untouchables, I knew I could do it. First up was Jokerz (his pick), he only managed 1.1m on his game and I had actually put up the Grand Champion score on this machine in qualifying of nearly 7m, so I felt great. First ball, I got into mulitball, shot 2 more up the ramp, one more shot and it was a walk off win. I bottled it. Lost the game by less than 100k, absolutely gutted. But still, it was my pick next, Godzilla. I killed it, making it to Monster Zero and 1B points. He fought hard back to 500m but came up short, 1-1. Next up, AIQ. A terrible game, we both played so badly, it played very hard, but I had the oppurtunity to take him many times, but couldn't do it. 2-1 to Carlos. Next up was Grand Lizard, I had been destroying that game all weekend, I was just able to grind it out better than pretty much anyone in the building, I managed to do it again. 2-2. Carlos then chose Alien Poker, he rolled it, I couldn't, he played really well. 3-2. My final pick was Skateball, I had picked Paragon as my old game in the round against Brian because I had experience on it and it played well, but I love Skateball and i'm good at it, so I thought lets go for it. I killed it. 1.6m to his 200k. 3-3. What a match, going to sudden death best of 3. He had first pick as the higher seed. He chose Maiden, this Maiden was destroying people, it destroyed me. I couldn't get anything going, he played really well. 4-3. My pick, my last pick of the match, Paragon, one of my all time favourite games. It played really nicely with a juicy spinner. I didn't do much on my first 2 balls, but my 3rd ball I got 5x bonus which meant that I was 100k ahead going into his last ball. He played really well under the pressure and caught me. Well played, incredible match. Keith Elwin was the player waiting for the winner between myself and Carlos in the next round. He actually came and watched the last 3 games of the match, sussing up his competition and more likely working out what games it was that he would be playing. An amazing experience and one I will never forget. So joint 20th in the world. Not bad at all, my only real regret was that Jokerz game, but overall I played so well at the right times that I shouldn't regret anything. Easier said than done of course.
The whole trip was incredible. The people and players were a pleasure to be around. Spending lots of time with Andy, the weather was sublime, the venue's fantastic. The buzz about the UK Open amongst the players was infectious, its what everyone wanted to talk to me about. Escher is coming, Cayle is coming, lots and lots of the best players in the world are coming. A wonderful time to be involved in competitive pinball.
Thanks again everyone for the overwhelming support, its was truly heart warming.
Craig
(My brother sent me the below pic
, thanks everyone)Attachments
Well done Craig, you had a blast and everyone enjoyed playing pinball, what's not to like about that, we're all super proud of you and the gang who travelled and we are blessed to have so many top UK players!
Catchya soon!
Catchya soon!
Fantastic report Craig. Was great fun tuning into the stream to see the skills on display!
For the most part the stream chat was full of us UK folk cheering you and the guys on
Those clutch games like AFM were tense to watch!
So glad you had a great time, how on earth did you maintain your energy and focus for all those days ?!
For the most part the stream chat was full of us UK folk cheering you and the guys on
Those clutch games like AFM were tense to watch!
So glad you had a great time, how on earth did you maintain your energy and focus for all those days ?!
Well done Craig and great write up.
It was a great event to watch and a lot of the UK guys (and gals) were on the chat whilst watching which was good. Watched the finals again this morning and Johannes is unbelievable. Double rolling tap passes on i500, just amazing.
As you say, great time to be in pinball.
It was a great event to watch and a lot of the UK guys (and gals) were on the chat whilst watching which was good. Watched the finals again this morning and Johannes is unbelievable. Double rolling tap passes on i500, just amazing.
As you say, great time to be in pinball.
Fantastic write up, loved hearing your thoughts. You and the other UK players (Andy specifically in the worlds) were living what I and perhaps a few others can only fantasise about, so it was great to see so many in the stream chat cheering you guys on.
You give us all hope with performances like that. Spectacular entertainment all round. Much appreciated
You give us all hope with performances like that. Spectacular entertainment all round. Much appreciated
We clearly have very different tastes!
