Following on from Craig’s @roadshow16 and David’s @David_Vi posts in the latest Pinhaus event thread https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/pinhaus-pinballs-alive-21st-october.56093/page-2 I think it’s important to just offer a few words of encouragement to anyone out there who maybe like me competitive pinball wasn’t on their radar. Apologies for the long post below….
I enjoyed pinball in my teens although was much more drawn to the 90s arcade games. Again at university I enjoyed pinball and regularly played 4 player games on T2 in our JCR. So much in fact that the following year when a bunch of us moved out of halls into a house that we clubbed together to buy a pin that lived in our lounge for a couple of years. Fast forward 15 odd years and at a different stage of life being married with kids I got back into pinball ownership. It’s been said many times but it truly is a disease with over 100 pins moving in and out of here in the past 6 years. Through buying/selling pinball deals I made some good mates in them first few years and a number of people who will be life long friends and we speak multiple times a week and generally not even about pinball! @CHRIS B PINBALLS @Gonzo to name a couple of them (sorry to the others not name dropped) Competitive pinball wasn’t my mindset and I was very content with my pinball experience.
I first met @David_Vi a few years back after he reached out on here for a sheet of glass after one of his exploded during removal. I offered him one I had spare as he wasn’t too far away so he called round. The friendship between David, Claire and myself grew over a couple of years to a point where I would lend them some of my excess pins to look after and even went with them one very cold dark night into the depths of Bedfordshire in the middle of nowhere to ensure they didn’t get murdered while picking up a Centaur eBay purchase
. David would regularly invite me to the meets at the Pinhaus but I politely declined as my general impression of the competitive side was people who took winning and losing games of pinball too seriously and it didn’t seem the friendly environment I wanted to be part of. How wrong I was. David wore me down and I attended my first competition at the end of April this year at their house. From that first day my pinball experience has been enhanced more than I could have imagined. The community they have brought together in the East Anglian region is second to none. You couldn’t meet a friendlier more supportive bunch of people who like us all just love pinball. The standard of player is also growing considerably shown by the decent number of us who have broken into the Uk top 100 in the past year. The top 20 need to watch out as @NateG119 @DanEFC and @OTRawrior just to name a few are coming for your spot 
A couple of the younger players Issac Granby and George Bennett are also top players of the future and their enthusiasm for pinball at such a young age is mind blowing. I’ve also had the pleasure at playing at events in other areas of the country and am totally addicted. I’m looking forward to my first visit to Salisbury in December and to Tilt this coming weekend. I’ll definitely do my best to get down to Tony and Mikes club in the coming year too. Hopefully PR too next month for the critical hit tournament.
The friendship, support and encouragement from other people throughout the country that I have met at many events has also been incredible. @roadshow16 @Matt Vince @robotgreg @Genotime @DanLewell @replicas @Diane B & Clive and others thank you very much for the help and advice throughout the past 6 months
Bottom line is if you’re currently on here and just casually owning and playing your own pins with friends then please take the plunge and get to one of the events. Yes it seems intimidating and yes it really will expose your lack of game knowledge for so many pins you’ve not played before. But the rewards vastly outweigh this. I guarantee you will make more good friends in the hobby. Events like pinfest become even more enjoyable the more people you know to chat to, have a beer with and a few games. On the contrary to my initial stereotype although there are players who take it very seriously the overwhelming majority are participating for the fun of it. Personally it has also opened my eyes to some eras of games that I had no experience in. I’m currently going down the rabbit hole of loving system 11 and 80s solid state pins and adding some to my own collection.
On a side note just to pick up on one of David’s comments. It may of been true that a few years ago a new East Anglican League Region might not of been feasible. I’m not sure this is still the case and maybe needs to be discussed again with the league organisers. There is now a decent foundation of 25/30 players and like I said earlier some of these are rising up the rankings quickly. I get that there will probably be pushback from other regions if they lose a qualifying place for the league finals but surely the more people participating the better or alternatively expand the number of qualifying people. Off the top of my head I can think of 3 venues with 8+ pins - mine, Pinhaus, pinball office and a couple more places that maybe could be persuaded @Spandangler @MajesticPinball
Although I’m throwing her in at the deep end (without asking) @Lecari would be the perfect person to run this region. She already does so much for the hobby from organising tournaments at home, the pinball office and even on tour for @AlanJ. Also volunteering to organise all the other helpers at the Uk Open to help Neil put the Uk on the world pinball tournament map - it doesn’t go unnoticed. I predict Claire to be in the future Uk Pinball Hall of Fame for service to the community as a whole
If you’ve got this far thanks for reading my essay and hope to bump into you at an upcoming event
I enjoyed pinball in my teens although was much more drawn to the 90s arcade games. Again at university I enjoyed pinball and regularly played 4 player games on T2 in our JCR. So much in fact that the following year when a bunch of us moved out of halls into a house that we clubbed together to buy a pin that lived in our lounge for a couple of years. Fast forward 15 odd years and at a different stage of life being married with kids I got back into pinball ownership. It’s been said many times but it truly is a disease with over 100 pins moving in and out of here in the past 6 years. Through buying/selling pinball deals I made some good mates in them first few years and a number of people who will be life long friends and we speak multiple times a week and generally not even about pinball! @CHRIS B PINBALLS @Gonzo to name a couple of them (sorry to the others not name dropped) Competitive pinball wasn’t my mindset and I was very content with my pinball experience.
I first met @David_Vi a few years back after he reached out on here for a sheet of glass after one of his exploded during removal. I offered him one I had spare as he wasn’t too far away so he called round. The friendship between David, Claire and myself grew over a couple of years to a point where I would lend them some of my excess pins to look after and even went with them one very cold dark night into the depths of Bedfordshire in the middle of nowhere to ensure they didn’t get murdered while picking up a Centaur eBay purchase
. David would regularly invite me to the meets at the Pinhaus but I politely declined as my general impression of the competitive side was people who took winning and losing games of pinball too seriously and it didn’t seem the friendly environment I wanted to be part of. How wrong I was. David wore me down and I attended my first competition at the end of April this year at their house. From that first day my pinball experience has been enhanced more than I could have imagined. The community they have brought together in the East Anglian region is second to none. You couldn’t meet a friendlier more supportive bunch of people who like us all just love pinball. The standard of player is also growing considerably shown by the decent number of us who have broken into the Uk top 100 in the past year. The top 20 need to watch out as @NateG119 @DanEFC and @OTRawrior just to name a few are coming for your spot A couple of the younger players Issac Granby and George Bennett are also top players of the future and their enthusiasm for pinball at such a young age is mind blowing. I’ve also had the pleasure at playing at events in other areas of the country and am totally addicted. I’m looking forward to my first visit to Salisbury in December and to Tilt this coming weekend. I’ll definitely do my best to get down to Tony and Mikes club in the coming year too. Hopefully PR too next month for the critical hit tournament.The friendship, support and encouragement from other people throughout the country that I have met at many events has also been incredible. @roadshow16 @Matt Vince @robotgreg @Genotime @DanLewell @replicas @Diane B & Clive and others thank you very much for the help and advice throughout the past 6 months
Bottom line is if you’re currently on here and just casually owning and playing your own pins with friends then please take the plunge and get to one of the events. Yes it seems intimidating and yes it really will expose your lack of game knowledge for so many pins you’ve not played before. But the rewards vastly outweigh this. I guarantee you will make more good friends in the hobby. Events like pinfest become even more enjoyable the more people you know to chat to, have a beer with and a few games. On the contrary to my initial stereotype although there are players who take it very seriously the overwhelming majority are participating for the fun of it. Personally it has also opened my eyes to some eras of games that I had no experience in. I’m currently going down the rabbit hole of loving system 11 and 80s solid state pins and adding some to my own collection.
On a side note just to pick up on one of David’s comments. It may of been true that a few years ago a new East Anglican League Region might not of been feasible. I’m not sure this is still the case and maybe needs to be discussed again with the league organisers. There is now a decent foundation of 25/30 players and like I said earlier some of these are rising up the rankings quickly. I get that there will probably be pushback from other regions if they lose a qualifying place for the league finals but surely the more people participating the better or alternatively expand the number of qualifying people. Off the top of my head I can think of 3 venues with 8+ pins - mine, Pinhaus, pinball office and a couple more places that maybe could be persuaded @Spandangler @MajesticPinball
Although I’m throwing her in at the deep end (without asking) @Lecari would be the perfect person to run this region. She already does so much for the hobby from organising tournaments at home, the pinball office and even on tour for @AlanJ. Also volunteering to organise all the other helpers at the Uk Open to help Neil put the Uk on the world pinball tournament map - it doesn’t go unnoticed. I predict Claire to be in the future Uk Pinball Hall of Fame for service to the community as a whole
If you’ve got this far thanks for reading my essay and hope to bump into you at an upcoming event
Last edited:
Unfortunately the flat I'm living in now just wouldn't accommodate more than 5/6 pinballers so since being here I haven't been able to host anything. And although I probably own 18+ pins I only actually have 4 setup here so sadly my place is way off the cards for future events which is a huge shame as I used to absolutely love hosting. One day maybe 
, besides occasionally with my good buddies the old South Coast Slam crew. Think last show I went to was Play Expo 2017 ? Think I went to Pinball Republic once in the early days ?
As one of the forum regulars, it’s always nice to bump into forum posters who’ve been around for longer than I have at big events like Pinfest 
). A pretty perfect mix of beer and pinball. 
)
