Thanks, Levi! Nice job in classics!

Thanks for putting this event together - even though I didn’t qualify I had a fun time. You guys were also well organized for a first time event so thank you for that as well.

Also hoping you get a chance to jump on the mic, Levi. Always enjoy your commentary.

About what time will streaming begin for the finals?

On now papapinball

removed by Joeraptor.

Wow, first the “drink in the face” and now this. The drama is getting compelling. And it took like 12 hours to get from one story to the other.

Let’s hear it folks. Clearly the most interesting parts of the NY pinball championships wasn't the pinball.

Hmmm, was thinking about attending this next year. Wonder what happened?

Holy shit Bowen is the MAN! What he did on Aerosmith was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen.

Details available on the current Twipy podcast of the year

How accurate is his side of the story? Seems like we are missing some details?

Very impressive alright!

He seemed to be dehydrated or something at the beginning of the finals as well. So even more impressive.

rd

I was there the entire weekend, and I never saw any "drama". I left early this morning and never saw anything strange or out of the ordinary.

It was definitely interesting interacting with the top players in the world. All were very pleasant in every interaction I had. (I didn't go out of my way to seek anyone out, but while waiting in ques it was pretty cool shooting the breeze with the likes of ke, rd, bk, ls, sb, etc.)

I thoight the tournament was done well, just wish there was more room so people didn't have to crowd the machines, and the ques shorter/faster/the ability to que multiple machines at one time. Small gripes really, ESPECIALLY considering it was the first one. I've been to many other established tournaments, and this one felt like it had been around for a while.

Great job Tim, Levi, and everyone else who helped out. I would definitely go again.

I don't see a new podcast...?

looks like the newest one has been taken down

Looks like he took it down, probably someone giving him legal advice. I could see allegedly throwing a drink in someone’s face having the potential to turn into an assault charge if the victim decided to go that route.

I really enjoyed watching the stream. The announcers did a good job and it was fun hearing the crowd cheer at all the key moments.

Great work Bowen!

I really enjoyed this tournament. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

So what was the drama, why not just say what happened instead of dance around it? K threw a drink in someone's face or what?

I wasn’t there but from I gather (from the podcast) Chris (Kaneda) was drinking and cheering for penny (Lyman’s gf) and was probably getting a bit out of control perhaps being confrontational on purpose since tournaments aren’t his thing. This is my guess but I think he wanted to just cheer on a friend but either wasn’t familiar with the tournament etiquette or just didn’t care enough to respect it. Tim Sexton tried to remind him of the proper etiquette (probably in a condescending way) and that set Chris off when he was given a red card and asked to leave etc. Again this is just what I gather from the hearing the podcast and knowing that Chris is a bit cocky and Tim was probably fed up with him even prior to kanedas arrival. Again I wasn’t there this is all speculation but probably could have been handled better by both parties.

I don’t think you’ll ever see this as an option.

chuckwurt

No doubt, but it would be nice!

If you aren't at the machine when the your turn is starting, you lose your ticket. I would think it would actually speed some things up, especially when trying for main and classics at the same time.

I know it would never happen, and understand why, but an unexceptional player can dream!

I definitely hear ya there as I’ve been burned by the virtual queue too. Unfortunately if they allowed multiple games it would create tons of issues including players purposefully clogging them up to block others from playing.

Tournament players colluding to maximize their chances of winning? That would never happen.....

So poor little rich boy threw a beer in Tims face. What a silver spoon fed brat. Hope his parents take away his allowance.

I was in the area this happened up until a moment before Tim started talking to him. He (I'm pretty sure, though it might have been someone else; this was my first time seeing the guy. I'm assuming there weren't two dudes causing scenes within thirty seconds, though) had been leaning on a machine a few feet to the left of someone who was playing in finals, & was nowhere near the tape on the ground a few feet back that everyone else not actively playing was behind. That's not the worst on its own, though it's annoying. Same with being loud and drunk and cheering for a friend or whatever -- that's, at heart, a nice gesture, but volume was a problem. It's the combination of those things (physical placement + loud-drunkenness) that's especially an issue. None of this would have been worth remembering, however, if he had just said "oh, okay, I'll stand with everyone else and be quieter" instead of deciding to make a big todo of it.

My point being: it's not a "he was maybe a bit drunk and cheering, so what?" thing -- it was a "he was being so distracting that it was preventing people from playing" one.

It was sort of annoying to have a dude cause a scene like that during the women's finals, of all times.

So is he poor or rich by your estimation? Gonna have to yellow card your post.

Kinda what I figured but since I wasn’t there I didn’t want to assume. I feel for Brenda. She was probably mortified by his behavior. Shit happens but when you’re drunk and act a fool nobody wins. Rather than ranting on his podcast he should have apologized to everyone there, especially Tim, instead of making a spectacle of the ordeal. If kaneda wants to be taken seriously he should have behaved accordingly.

It's kind of like that Arnold Palmer ice tea, and you belong on a soccer field.

Total bitch move. He must think he’s a real housewife of New Jersey. If you’re already perceived as a cancer in the hobby, this certainly isn’t the way to show you actually care and respect it.

What did they do to piss off the pingraffix people?

Red card!

How embarrassing for Brenda.

Seriously...K man admits to acting out of control when he gets drunk...yet...he continues to drink.

I don't ever get drunk and I have fun everyday.

It was a vodka soda. So yellow card to beer talk!!

Who the freak throws a drink. I've only ever seen it on TV or movies and it's always been a women.

Yeah I got to listen to the show he is clearly gonna make a fine dude to divorce. Rich and stupid. You go girl!

Dodge Demon forum kicked out as well but it's not him, everyone else just can't handle that superior mind.

Remember most do listen , to laugh at K, not with him. Always very entertaining.
I wonder if he realizes its better to know your enemies? Some shows you can feel his veins getting ready to pop!! It's like watching Evel Knievel most watching/waiting to see if there is a crash. Yeah pretty close today.

And Dodge deamon forum kicked him as well but remember everyone else is at fault.

I was busy watching and rooting my local Buffalo league playoffs.

To bad this event may have not been perfect but a round of applause for the hard work everyone is doing and has done.

is this why the Women's Finals stream vanished from youtube?

What happened with pingraffix??

Special-K reminds me of my aunt. She's bi-polar and isn't allowed back into Brazil.

K-Man drank to much and used poor judgement. We shouldn't clog up this thread bullying him and focus back on the event.

I am guessing his behavior was made worse because Stern have totally blacklisted his podcast it seems, and Tim is now part of Stern.

As for the pinball, it was great watching so many top players competing.

Guessing this event is going to increase in popularity.

Love this format, as it gives anyone a chance to compete with the very best, if they can post decent scores.

Going to try and make the trip in 2019 or 2020

OVERVIEW
G FUEL presents New York City Pinball Championships is a world class pinball tournament. The event is open to players of all skill levels and ages. It is a multi-day qualifying tournament followed by a day of finals. During qualifying on Friday and Saturday players purchase tickets to play individual games on the tournament machines. Players may purchase as many tickets as they like.

The Main division, Classic division, and Womens division use the single best game format. Each player's best score on each machine in their division of play is tracked and those scores are ranked against all of the other competitor's scores on that machine. Players then receive an aggregate of their machine rankings to determine their overall qualifying position in their division.

At the end of qualifying, a set number of people will be eligible for the finals. Main division will have 24 qualifiers, plus an additional 24 qualifiers in B division on Sunday. Classics division will have 24 qualifiers with finals played on Saturday. Womens division will have 8 qualifiers with finals played on Saturday.

just bumping this back into conversation... i'm curious too

Yeah, I think these may be two separate things...?

I missed the drama but my experience was that everyone was well behaved, courteous and profressional.

sounds like it, can anybody elaborate?

It’s so strange to me to see a few people who aren’t affected and likely have no interest in tournament pinball are sniffing around for insignificant dirt and missing the big picture:

140 registered players, every single one of whom had a great time. It’s not hyperbole to say it’s the best pinball tournament I’ve ever been involved with, and I’ve been a steady participant on the circuit for 4 years now.

An amazing experience, not without hiccups, and many lessons learned. Not for the feint of heart or lazy, but I’d recommend that anybody who thinks they can contribute to the tournament circuit seriously consider getting some friends together and launching an event of your own.

You can create the event you’ve always wanted to attend, and you can do it the way you want, with the people you want, and with the character you want.

The work can’t be understated, and your resolve and even your personal relationships may be tested. But you can achieve a true sense of boom that you’d never otherwise even be able to understand.

After a couple days of sleep we’ll have more to say and more to show. Until then thanks again to everyone who was involved, without exception, but none more than Paul Caras, Tim Sexton, and Austin Smith for helping create an experience I’ll truly never forget.

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“Demon”

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Joe: wtf happened?

Would be remiss to not second this, particularly the "an amazing experience" part.

It tells you a lot that I had an overall great time despite some of the shenanigans affecting women's finals. Didn't see any snafus with the actual mechanics of the tournament (no site outages I was aware of, no unresolvable scorekeeping problems). I would have been surprised if an event this size hadn't had *some* social issues go down. It was a really fun weekend, and if I hadn't known this was the first time this tournament happened I could have easily been convinced it had already been going on for years.

You all did a great job, Levi et al.

The tournament was really great and everyone did a fantastic job. It was my first experience at a big multi-day event and found it rewarding and illuminating- learned a lot, hung out and chatted with good people, did a score keeping shift, played some machines for the first time, and got to watch the big dogs in finals. And G-fuel, well, if it's there, people are gonna drink it!