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The 2025 UK Tournament Pinball AWards

J

Jackpot

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Hi all, the last UK tournament has been held and this means like last year it is time for the 2025 UK Tournament Pinball AWards.

As normal, disclaimers are important - the commentary that follows are entirely my own opinions and just for a bit of fun; hopefully to highlight some great players and interesting facts after another great year of UK pinball tournament action.

The first award is ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

A relatively muted rookie class saw comparatively few standouts in 2025 compared to the stellar last couple of years (2024 - Emily Stokes and 2023 - Dan Pocklington). Still, a couple of players did make their mark on the UK tournament scene.

I’m pleased to announce that this year’s winner is BRAD GESSEY.

Having learned the ropes within the friendly confines of the Weekly Tilt league, drawing on the experience of Midlands legends like Gareth Arnold, Brad has brought boundless enthusiasm, usually solid play and a passion for “extreme control” to the tournament scene. While Brad has yet to have a true breakout result, he has now climbed to 86th in the UK, with his best efforts coming at the UK Open Pinball Republic comp (58th), as well as an impressive 7th at Phil Stokes’ retirement party comp where he showed flashes of what he is capable of. More to come I’m sure from this young man in 2026 if he can get to a few more big competitions.

In 2nd place – junior RHYS DUNN. Rhys has only played in a handful of tournaments but has already cracked the world top 10000, and is currently ranked UK 138. He posted an eyecatching 9th place at the PBR monster meet classics recently, unfortunately missing out on his first playoff appearance in a tiebreak at the hands of the wily Graham Swaffield. He also finished a strong 45th in the Pinfest Open this year in a promising start to his pinball career. It's been great to see Rhys and his dad Alec join in many of the PBR comps this year, and the improvement from both has been clear even in recent weeks.

Congrats to Brad and Rhys!

More AWards to come...
 
The next AWard is Most Improved player:

This year's winner is.... SIMON LOVE.

Those who know Simon know he is a true student of the game - meticulously working on his skills and with a tremendous innate ability to hoover up complex rulesets - already amongst the best in the UK in terms of game knowledge. This, coupled with his usual stoic and calm demeanour has led to a huge leap in 2025 - his second year of competitive pinball. Simon has been a fantastic addition to our UK tournament scene, travelling far and wide to support events across the country, and also delving into European competition for the first time where he had a strong Hungarian Open in particular; qualifying for the playoffs and earning 40 WPPRs for 31st place. Perhaps his best performance of the year was a 4th during Pinfest Classics, taking home his first prize money with some phenomenal play under pressure. Simon will enter the UK top 20 shortly after the Turkey Fry up points come in, and in 2026 he will likely continue his ascent. Simon also recently TD'd a very successful tournament at Retroids, and is also a significant contributor to the upcoming East Anglia Pinball Open. Congrats and well done Simon - amazing progress compared to 2024's Diary of a Beginner Tournament player... :)

In 2nd spot, GEORGE BENNETT! Bennett Junior was always a solid player, but he took another leap in 2025, posting big results at the UK Open in both the Main and PBR comps, where he was the B finals champion in the Main event. At Pinfest, he was unlucky to miss out in the playoffs by one place - finishing an excellent 25th overall. Now together with his father, who has also continued to improve, the Bennetts are both strong playoff contenders at any tournament, especially in the UK. Great job George!

And in 3rd, with many possible players deserving this spot - I have to give it to the notorious GLEN COCKELL. This season has been a real grind for the UK 59 who will leap following an excellent 7th place at the year end Turkey Fry up, but he has truly demonstrated his passion for our sport/hobby by attending 30 UK tournaments this year, slowly but surely improving his results each time. Glen has solid pinball skills, and now that he is not destroying lockbars every time up he has become a decent threat. Expect a further climb up the rankings from this gent in 2026.

Again, this was tough to call - it's been a really good year for UK pinball with the overall standard continuing to improve. More AWards to follow...
 
Thank you Yuen, really kind words, and thanks to all who have given me advice and practical help along the way. It’s been a fantastic year of pinball and I’m looking forward to what is already shaping up to be an excellent slate of tournaments in 2026. We’ll see even more great stuff out of George and Glen too, I’m absolutely certain!
 
Have to say before the award for "most improved player" was announced I was certain Simon was a shoe in for top honours. Echo everything that was said in regards to his involvement in the hobby, his passion and much improved play. Let's also recognise Simon's time given to other players when it comes to explaining rules knowledge. Taking the time out to help out others really goes a long way to show he is a top bloke and a very good friend.
 
The next accolades celebrate some of the best underdog (or relative underdog) performances of 2025, which provide some of the best moments in tournament pinball.

In no particular order:

- Daniel Vince qualifying joint 1st at the Monster Meet classics in Dec. The youngster came of age in this tournament, winning an astonishing 20 of 24 H2H classic games before lunch. Mini-machine continued his strong play during the day, eliminating the veteran Stan Simpson and narrowly falling to eventual winner Josh Iles in the last 4 2 games to 1. A tremendous day for the young man who is certainly one to watch in 2026 and beyond!

- Steve Close winning the UK National League Finals in his first season of competitive play. This was an incredible feat and sincere apologies for overlooking this before - can anyone shed more light on Steve and his pinball career?

- Paul Woollard @PAX qualifying joint 1st at the End of Year Turkey Fry up. This tournament had a whopping 64 competitors with many of the UKs best players in attendance. Paul had always been decent but unspectacular, however on this day "Wonder" Woollard won a remarkable 13 out of 22 4 player games at PBR in qualifying, finishing 4th overall after the ladder finals. This earned him a phenomenal 39.07 WPPRs for his efforts, dwarfing anything previously earned in his pinball career.

- James Aw qualifying for the Pinfest Open playoffs in 16th. With a massive 136 players participanting across the country, 12 year old James was able to book his place in the finals with an excellent card - not an easy task with only 24 spots up for grabs, and easily his best result. Beating Johannes Ostermeier in a single game of Atlantis during EPC Classics (alongside Richard Rothwell Jackson who won that game) was also a fun moment that will be remembered!

- Reece Powell qualifying 8th at the UK Open classics event - with many pinball superstars in attendance, the competent but unassuming Reece Powell @OTRawrior stood amongst the tallest, securing choice of games in the playoffs and ending with a huge 79.3 WPPRS for joint 19th. Steven Smith also should be highly commended for his 24th place in qualifying, joining the list of quality players and securing 58.1 WPPRs of his own after his joint 26th finish.

Well done to all the above - Feel free to add any highlights I have missed!
 
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