The London Pinball Championships!!
- Thread starter Matt Vince
- Start date
The next shows after this, I think, are the last weekend in June (one in the North East and one in Swavesey, near Cambridge). Then the big one in mid August in Daventry ('Party'). And then the Manchester Northern Lights one in Sept/October sometime.
In between these there's also league meetings and extras. We're pretty spoilt for choice these days
Matt looked pretty tired when I saw him this afternoon, said he was out all last night til 5am collecting and working on LPC stuff. Top bloke. Also a top 5 player in the UK. And operates some machines, and sells loads, at very good prices. And runs the Surrey Pinball League from his home in Caterham. And a great dad to two lovely little girls.
I think there is a UK pinball hall of fame, so I'm gonna recommend Matt Vince for it. I dunno who organises it, but I'll talk to Martin Ayub about it when he gets back from the US.
Anyway, see some of you fellas tomorrow
In between these there's also league meetings and extras. We're pretty spoilt for choice these days
Matt looked pretty tired when I saw him this afternoon, said he was out all last night til 5am collecting and working on LPC stuff. Top bloke. Also a top 5 player in the UK. And operates some machines, and sells loads, at very good prices. And runs the Surrey Pinball League from his home in Caterham. And a great dad to two lovely little girls.
I think there is a UK pinball hall of fame, so I'm gonna recommend Matt Vince for it. I dunno who organises it, but I'll talk to Martin Ayub about it when he gets back from the US.
Anyway, see some of you fellas tomorrow
[video=youtube;9lNqD1UvHbM]
fantastic stuff. Thursday night Matt said he got to sleep after 5am. Last night he didn't get to bed at all, he and 3 others (Justin and ? not sure who else) worked through the night setting up while it snowed outside, so he looked pretty beat today. But he pulled it off, it was immense!
lots of familiar faces and everyone having a good time. i qualified for the finals so i was pretty happy with that. no competition problems to speak of, and a great atmosphere, so i think Matt will finally be able to relax and enjoy tomorrow after a well earned kip.
WOZ was there but unfortunately it kept tilting and having a problem with some switches and ball hangups on the right upper pf, but still got plenty of admiring looks. Avengers also went down well with most. Most popular non-comp game though, by a mile, was ACDC - it was constantly in use. Other noteworthy games were a gorgeous TOTAN, a well set-up JY, a lovely TAXI (that unfortunately tilted me when i was monstering it) and a lightning-fast JM. i expect that after the comp finishes, those 12 competition games (STTNG, ID4, FG, AFM, SM, TAF, SS, PM, HS2, MB, CV, WH2O) will all be descended upon like a field of corn to a plague of locusts.
i hope people took lots of pics cos i forgot to.
fantastic stuff. Thursday night Matt said he got to sleep after 5am. Last night he didn't get to bed at all, he and 3 others (Justin and ? not sure who else) worked through the night setting up while it snowed outside, so he looked pretty beat today. But he pulled it off, it was immense!
lots of familiar faces and everyone having a good time. i qualified for the finals so i was pretty happy with that. no competition problems to speak of, and a great atmosphere, so i think Matt will finally be able to relax and enjoy tomorrow after a well earned kip.
WOZ was there but unfortunately it kept tilting and having a problem with some switches and ball hangups on the right upper pf, but still got plenty of admiring looks. Avengers also went down well with most. Most popular non-comp game though, by a mile, was ACDC - it was constantly in use. Other noteworthy games were a gorgeous TOTAN, a well set-up JY, a lovely TAXI (that unfortunately tilted me when i was monstering it) and a lightning-fast JM. i expect that after the comp finishes, those 12 competition games (STTNG, ID4, FG, AFM, SM, TAF, SS, PM, HS2, MB, CV, WH2O) will all be descended upon like a field of corn to a plague of locusts.
i hope people took lots of pics cos i forgot to.
Well, it's all over then. Big thanks to Matt, Justin and everyone else involved for making it so enjoyable. Given that I'm knacked just from being there for two days God only knows what they must be thinking.
Some random thoughts.
1) Great Venue. Good range of beer and importantly for an old bugger like me - seats!
2) Woz. Interesting to see on the first day the machine was constantly packed but by the 2nd day almost deserted. Guess it didn't help with the unfinished code. Build quality wasn't all it's been hyped up to be either. Lots of stuck balls, especially on the raight ramp and the ball lock (software issue?) and by the start of the 2nd day the plunger spring was way to weak to actually fire the ball (luckily there is an autofire after a while). I know it's still "in production" but this was a little disappointing for such a new machine. Some nice features (well, to be honest, **** loads of features) so hopefully they will get the issues ironed out, just a little surprised that they allowed it out with the issues it has. By the time I left on Sunday it had been turned off for a few hours. Video/backglass was better than I thought it would be. Didn't notice the house doing anything but maybe this is software or I just wasn't looking hard enough.
3) AC/DC by contrast seemed to have a constant stream of people waiting for it - although to be fair it was in the contest the 2nd day, so people couldn't have used it, but generally got the impression it was one of the more popular machines.
4) Xmen (or was it Avengers - it had a hulk on it). Shinny, but seemed a bit soulless. Also had issues with balls sticking which again in a brand new game worries me. This time it looked like the ramp was slightly too narrow near the ball lock, so balls jammed there. Not sure which version it was. Constantly had people on it though.
5) Still loving the colour DMDs on TAF and AFM. Would have loved to have seen the STTNG one.
6) Classics - god I suck on those machines.
Anyway, thanks again to all involved had a great time
Some random thoughts.
1) Great Venue. Good range of beer and importantly for an old bugger like me - seats!
2) Woz. Interesting to see on the first day the machine was constantly packed but by the 2nd day almost deserted. Guess it didn't help with the unfinished code. Build quality wasn't all it's been hyped up to be either. Lots of stuck balls, especially on the raight ramp and the ball lock (software issue?) and by the start of the 2nd day the plunger spring was way to weak to actually fire the ball (luckily there is an autofire after a while). I know it's still "in production" but this was a little disappointing for such a new machine. Some nice features (well, to be honest, **** loads of features) so hopefully they will get the issues ironed out, just a little surprised that they allowed it out with the issues it has. By the time I left on Sunday it had been turned off for a few hours. Video/backglass was better than I thought it would be. Didn't notice the house doing anything but maybe this is software or I just wasn't looking hard enough.
3) AC/DC by contrast seemed to have a constant stream of people waiting for it - although to be fair it was in the contest the 2nd day, so people couldn't have used it, but generally got the impression it was one of the more popular machines.
4) Xmen (or was it Avengers - it had a hulk on it). Shinny, but seemed a bit soulless. Also had issues with balls sticking which again in a brand new game worries me. This time it looked like the ramp was slightly too narrow near the ball lock, so balls jammed there. Not sure which version it was. Constantly had people on it though.
5) Still loving the colour DMDs on TAF and AFM. Would have loved to have seen the STTNG one.
6) Classics - god I suck on those machines.
Anyway, thanks again to all involved had a great time
I
IvanM
My lad and I had a fantastic time. Great games and a wonderful buzzing atmosphere.
Many, many, many thanks to Matt and the others involved for organising a terrific event.
Hmmm...that flipper feet WCS didn't half make my legs ache though!
Many, many, many thanks to Matt and the others involved for organising a terrific event.
Hmmm...that flipper feet WCS didn't half make my legs ache though!
are you not gonna tell people how you did?
Massive thanks to Matt, Justin, Matt's mum and dad, Stan and everybody else who helped out, contributed machines and attended.....it was an awesome event :rockon: Matt and others put in an unbelievable shift to get this event to happen. When we were in the Chinese next door with him at midnight on Saturday he'd been awake for almost 2 days.....good work my friend :thumb:
Great to see everyone, catch up and play some pinball. I just missed out on qualifying for the finals and then had a shocker in the Classics on Sunday......Dan, your Rollergames hates me Congratulations to Franck and Craig and well done to Greg for representing the UK in the final, the atmosphere was like no other pinball final I've ever seen....amazing (hopefully a video will surface).
A great selection of games including some I'd never played before like Pinball Magic (didn't have a clue what I was doing), Junkyard (not a fan) and ID4 (pretty good and managed to fluke a decent score in qualifying). Of the 2 news games I agree with John, the build quality and attention to detail on WOZ is incredible. It's an amazing looking game and the light show is fantastic. The software is crap at the moment with most of the stuff on it not really doing much and it had a lot of switch issues (we played our first game on it at 10am on the Saturday morning and had to have the glass off) but these can be forgiven as it's pre-prod (although it doesn't create a good impression). The thing that put me off the most though is the speed of the game......it's slow and thats just not my cup of tea. Coupled with the poor software it makes these pre-prod games very dull.
Avengers was meh :noidea: Build quality wasn't great and things got worse over the course of the weekend as things worked loose. It's pretty quick and bouncy with lots of tight shots and the Black Widow ramp is very cool. Reminded me of Transformers (unsurprisingly) but is a better game than that IMO. However it's nowhere near as good as AC/DC or X-Men.
My favourite games of the weekend were AC/DC, Monster Bash (Dan, that is one nice game you've got there) and the Addams Family that was in the tournament (managed to put 149M on it in qualifying). Duncan P - if you frequent this forum and ever want to sell that TAF....give me a shout
Great to see everyone, catch up and play some pinball. I just missed out on qualifying for the finals and then had a shocker in the Classics on Sunday......Dan, your Rollergames hates me
Congratulations to Franck and Craig and well done to Greg for representing the UK in the final, the atmosphere was like no other pinball final I've ever seen....amazing (hopefully a video will surface).A great selection of games including some I'd never played before like Pinball Magic (didn't have a clue what I was doing), Junkyard (not a fan) and ID4 (pretty good and managed to fluke a decent score in qualifying). Of the 2 news games I agree with John, the build quality and attention to detail on WOZ is incredible. It's an amazing looking game and the light show is fantastic. The software is crap at the moment with most of the stuff on it not really doing much and it had a lot of switch issues (we played our first game on it at 10am on the Saturday morning and had to have the glass off) but these can be forgiven as it's pre-prod (although it doesn't create a good impression). The thing that put me off the most though is the speed of the game......it's slow and thats just not my cup of tea. Coupled with the poor software it makes these pre-prod games very dull.
Avengers was meh :noidea: Build quality wasn't great and things got worse over the course of the weekend as things worked loose. It's pretty quick and bouncy with lots of tight shots and the Black Widow ramp is very cool. Reminded me of Transformers (unsurprisingly) but is a better game than that IMO. However it's nowhere near as good as AC/DC or X-Men.
My favourite games of the weekend were AC/DC, Monster Bash (Dan, that is one nice game you've got there) and the Addams Family that was in the tournament (managed to put 149M on it in qualifying). Duncan P - if you frequent this forum and ever want to sell that TAF....give me a shout
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2011
- Messages
- 11,336
- Alias
- Ive
My feelings exactly from playing at the trade show in Jan. Way too slow and ponderous. Really hoping the code lives up to the billing, or this could be the shiniest , sparkliest yawnfest ever.
Sounds like the event was a tremendous success !
I can't say enough good things about the LPC. Matt and Justin really got it right, everything was thought about, everything was covered, they went that extra mile and it really really paid off. I'd put it right up there with the Slam as the best event that I have attended in the UK since playing pinball.
A massive thank you to Matt, Justin and the whole team of support that they had to make this such a memorable event.
The final really was like nothing else I have experienced anywhere else, must have been so cool to be part of, well done to Greg on flying the British flag in the final, I too really hope a video surfaces.
Cheers, Craig
A massive thank you to Matt, Justin and the whole team of support that they had to make this such a memorable event.
The final really was like nothing else I have experienced anywhere else, must have been so cool to be part of, well done to Greg on flying the British flag in the final, I too really hope a video surfaces.
Cheers, Craig
Good times were had by all it seems. I'm glad the weekend was such a success.
Roll on next year, kudos to everyone who helped put the show together and bust their ass to keep it running.
:rockon:
Roll on next year, kudos to everyone who helped put the show together and bust their ass to keep it running.
:rockon:
Glad all who went enjoyed themselves
3ft snow here in Buckley over the weekend and pins under attack of about a 4ft drift so there was no way I could have got there.Only managed to get out the estate yesterday for a funeral,and it is still only one car wide.
I was shovelling snow when overs we having far more fun - ya gits
3ft snow here in Buckley over the weekend and pins under attack of about a 4ft drift so there was no way I could have got there.Only managed to get out the estate yesterday for a funeral,and it is still only one car wide.
I was shovelling snow when overs we having far more fun - ya gits
OP
OP
The results of the main and classics comps are now available on the website (www.londonpinball.co.uk)
Congratulations to all the winners!
Main Comp:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Franck Bona
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Greg Mott
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Andreas Thorsen
Classics Comp:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Craig Pullen
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Franck Bona
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Jeremy Raynaud
Ladies:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Kate Morris
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Jasmin de Jong
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Emily Abbey
Junior’s:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Elliott Miles
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] James Baker
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Matthew Whitfield
High Score comp ‘Flipper Feet’: Wayne Johns
I would like to thank Justin for all his hard work and support in putting this all together, he has been the silent partner in getting this off the ground but without him it never would have happened!
Thomas at The Pipeline for his help and support, the use of his bar and getting our sponsors on board.
Luke at Pistonhead beer and Briska Cider for the support they provided through drinks promotions and help getting those great shirts on everyone’s backs.
Budweiser, for providing us with discounted drinks as well
Pinball Heaven for providing Jersey Jack’s WOZ and Stern’s Avenger’s (via Electrocoin) as well as flyers and prizes. Electrocoin for the generous prizes they donated for the raffle.
Pinball Mania for providing five games for our classics competition, without whom it would not have been possible to do so.
John Whitfield, Martin Ayub, Dan Bradford, Ben Pike, Gary Flower, Mike Kindler, Stan Simpson, Duncan Pettitt, Rob Campbell-White, Thomas Evrenos, David Merryweather, Tom Dewing and David Mainwaring for providing machines from their own collections to be used at the comp.
Pinball LED for running the ‘donation’ high score comp on his beautiful TOTAN and providing a great first prize as well as the raffle prize. We managed to raise just shy of £200 for the Rolfe family and will hopefully have more to follow.
Pinball Daze for running the ‘flipper feet’ high score comp as well as providing prizes for the raffle and also delivering items both to and from the show.
Pinball News for providing raffle prizes and also the loan of equipment used to run the competitions.
Heighway Pinball for donating a ‘Full Throttle’ apron for the raffle and also sending us some new flyers.
Jonathan Joosten for providing copies of Pinball magazine as prizes and sending booklets for the player packs.
Richard Wade for running the Classic’s competition in his ever cool way and being a total gent throughout.
With the best will in the world, an event like this is made by the people that attend! Many of whom were more than happy to help out with scoring, fixing machines, set-up, break down or popping to the shops for emergency supplies! So thank you to Spencer Franks, Gary Hanks, Stan Simpson, Dave Shelton, CJ Brown, Vin Jauhal, Robin Kemp, Emily Abbey, Dan Williams, Mike Kindler, Craig Pullen, Ryan Pullen, Richard Rothwell-Jackson, John Whitfield, John Oliver, Owen Richards, Andrew Vince, Mum and Dad, Shaun Walker and the staff at the bar and everyone else (sorry if I have forgotten anyone, I’m sure I have but my brain is still a mess!) it was a real team effort and I thank you all!!
A full report will be on Pinball News shortly!
Matt
Congratulations to all the winners!
Main Comp:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Franck Bona
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Greg Mott
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Andreas Thorsen
Classics Comp:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Craig Pullen
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Franck Bona
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Jeremy Raynaud
Ladies:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Kate Morris
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Jasmin de Jong
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Emily Abbey
Junior’s:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Elliott Miles
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] James Baker
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Matthew Whitfield
High Score comp ‘Flipper Feet’: Wayne Johns
I would like to thank Justin for all his hard work and support in putting this all together, he has been the silent partner in getting this off the ground but without him it never would have happened!
Thomas at The Pipeline for his help and support, the use of his bar and getting our sponsors on board.
Luke at Pistonhead beer and Briska Cider for the support they provided through drinks promotions and help getting those great shirts on everyone’s backs.
Budweiser, for providing us with discounted drinks as well
Pinball Heaven for providing Jersey Jack’s WOZ and Stern’s Avenger’s (via Electrocoin) as well as flyers and prizes. Electrocoin for the generous prizes they donated for the raffle.
Pinball Mania for providing five games for our classics competition, without whom it would not have been possible to do so.
John Whitfield, Martin Ayub, Dan Bradford, Ben Pike, Gary Flower, Mike Kindler, Stan Simpson, Duncan Pettitt, Rob Campbell-White, Thomas Evrenos, David Merryweather, Tom Dewing and David Mainwaring for providing machines from their own collections to be used at the comp.
Pinball LED for running the ‘donation’ high score comp on his beautiful TOTAN and providing a great first prize as well as the raffle prize. We managed to raise just shy of £200 for the Rolfe family and will hopefully have more to follow.
Pinball Daze for running the ‘flipper feet’ high score comp as well as providing prizes for the raffle and also delivering items both to and from the show.
Pinball News for providing raffle prizes and also the loan of equipment used to run the competitions.
Heighway Pinball for donating a ‘Full Throttle’ apron for the raffle and also sending us some new flyers.
Jonathan Joosten for providing copies of Pinball magazine as prizes and sending booklets for the player packs.
Richard Wade for running the Classic’s competition in his ever cool way and being a total gent throughout.
With the best will in the world, an event like this is made by the people that attend! Many of whom were more than happy to help out with scoring, fixing machines, set-up, break down or popping to the shops for emergency supplies! So thank you to Spencer Franks, Gary Hanks, Stan Simpson, Dave Shelton, CJ Brown, Vin Jauhal, Robin Kemp, Emily Abbey, Dan Williams, Mike Kindler, Craig Pullen, Ryan Pullen, Richard Rothwell-Jackson, John Whitfield, John Oliver, Owen Richards, Andrew Vince, Mum and Dad, Shaun Walker and the staff at the bar and everyone else (sorry if I have forgotten anyone, I’m sure I have but my brain is still a mess!) it was a real team effort and I thank you all!!
A full report will be on Pinball News shortly!
Matt
OP
OP
If anyone has any pics from the weekend, please can you forward them to me by email? Thanks
OP
OP
Thanks for the sentiment, but there are those that have been doing these things for years and aren't in there! Mind you, i'm not sure who is?
OP
OP
There are some photos up on the facebook group, I would put them on here, but i'm clearly too stupid to work it out!!!
I'll start a new thread with the answer..
OP
OP
The results are in, check out www.pinballrankings.com!
OP
OP
And a great report it is too! cheers Craig!!
