Frenchman Franck Bona is in the RotorDave arcade

Franck has come to Australia and New Zealand for a bit of pinball action.

He arrived in NZ on Friday night. Yee and BJ Wilson have organised a nice weekend for him in Auckland.

Last night he was at Yees house and we played from 5pm until late. Franck smashed all the high scores on Yees machines .. Yee spent today removing the batteries LOL. Franck smashed 49 billion on Attack From Mars. Goodness.

Today he was in the RotorDave arcade for a few hours. We played some ACDC and Metallica. Franck got the 2nd highest scores on both machines (to be fair he wasn't warmed up...)

Some pics!

rd. image-121.jpg

#2 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Sacre bleu!! More pics!

Franck (7).JPG

Franck (6).JPG

Franck (4).JPG

Franck (3).JPG

Franck (2).JPG

Franck.JPG

#3 10 years ago

DRM

iceman44

Pinside+ Pro!

Boerne, TX

13y 162K 26,892 28 49

That game room is unreal! Great job on it Rotor, only thing is I wouldn't want to butt rub while playing the game opposite of Ac/dc at the same time

#4 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from iceman44:
That game room is unreal! Great job on it Rotor, only thing is I wouldn't want to butt rub while playing the game opposite of Ac/dc at the same time

You'd be loving the butt rub Ice!

Franck is jumping around all over the place when he is playing, so you might get more than a butt rub!

#5 10 years ago

DRM

iceman44

Pinside+ Pro!

Boerne, TX

13y 162K 26,892 28 49

How many pins do you have in there? I remember when you were finishing out that gigantic room. The only thing that seems to be missing is the beer fridge.

#6 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from iceman44:
How many pins do you have in there? I remember when you were finishing out that gigantic room. The only thing that seems to be missing is the beer fridge.

There are 70+ in there at present.

Still another 20 odd in the restoration queue, which will come in when I get around to it

No beer fridge! No bar! I figured out a long time ago, if you have a bar at your house you spend the rest of your life paying for everyone else's drinks

I have a big ice bucket for all the beers to go in when we have a pin party. Good times!

rd.

#7 10 years ago

CFL

centerflank

Inactive member

Unknown

11y 165K 13,962 7 206

No pics of you guys scrumming?

nzvsfrance.jpg

#8 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from centerflank:
No pics of you guys scrumming?

nzvsfrance.jpg 22 KB

Damn! Missed opportunity!

Mind you, the French are hard men on the rugby field. One time in the 90s, they rucked one of Buck Shelfords testicles right off. Of course, he kept playing ....

#9 10 years ago

CFL

centerflank

Inactive member

Unknown

11y 165K 13,962 7 206

OP
Quoted from rotordave:
the French are hard men on the rugby field

That should be considered a weapon. LOL!

#10 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

http://www.examiner.com/list/horrific-sports-injuries/wayne-buck-shelford

Owwwwwwww!! My balls!!

#11 10 years ago

DRM

iceman44

Pinside+ Pro!

Boerne, TX

13y 162K 26,892 28 49

OP
Quoted from rotordave:
Owwwwwwww!! My balls!!
http://www.examiner.com/list/horrific-sports-injuries/wayne-buck-shelford
rd

Holy crap! Guy ripped a scrotum and lost 4 teeth in the same match.

#12 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from iceman44:
Holy crap! Guy ripped a scrotum and lost 4 teeth in the same match.

Yeah man ... No "tv referees" in those days.

And after the game, all the players from both teams would have had a beer together.

That's how we roll

rd.

#13 10 years ago

MIC

RipleYYY

Pinside member

14y 87,050 4,377 2 34

always nice to see, fantastic gameroom
say "hello" to Franck, from Michel
and also to you RD !

(and dont forget to hide the beers... haaaaa shit ! too late !!! lol)

#14 10 years ago

MIL

Inactive member

Cessnock

11y 38,400 563 8 32

Haha I see he must've been trying to psych you guys out with his IFPA10 shirt .

That shot of him with Danielle he looks a little nervous knowing they'll both be competing in Denver .

We actually have a comp with Franck on Tuesday night at Pizza N Pinball in Newcastle ( you over for this Dave ) . By the sounds of it I better get some practice in .

#15 10 years ago

JLM

jlm33

Pinside member

Villejuif

11y 152K 5,892 7 169

Beware! That one a single Frenchman. Just imagine a herd of us invading your gameroom...
Good to see Franck !

#16 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from MIL:
Haha I see he must've been trying to psych you guys out with his IFPA10 shirt .
That shot of him with Danielle he looks a little nervous knowing they'll both be competing in Denver .
We actually have a comp with Franck on Tuesday night at Pizza N Pinball in Newcastle ( you over for this Dave ) . By the sounds of it I better get some practice in .

Not coming to Newcastle, but I will be in Sydney on Thursday for Coogee Diggers and the Met contest on Saturday.

rd.

#17 10 years ago

MIL

Inactive member

Cessnock

11y 38,400 563 8 32

OP
Quoted from rotordave:
Not coming to Newcastle, but I will be in Sydney on Thursday for Coogee Diggers and the Met contest on Saturday.
rd.

I won't make the Sydney comps . Guess we'll catch up in a few weeks at Pincade .

#18 10 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

Nice work Dave... Did Franck goto freely94 or Willie's place as well?? I bet he wanted to stay longer..

#19 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from MIL:
I won't make the Sydney comps . Guess we'll catch up in a few weeks at Pincade .

Bummer! See you in a few weeks then!

rd.

#20 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from RGR:
Nice work Dave... Did Franck goto freely94 or Willie's place as well?? I bet he wanted to stay longer..

Franck got a whole Mini Pincade tour! He did the lot.

Franck told me he loves Lord of the Rings so I told him about Hobbiton which is where they filmed a lot of the movie, it's about 1.5 hours from Auckland. Franck talked Yee into taking him there on Monday before he went to the airport!

Good on you Yee!

rd.

#21 10 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

Yeah l'll speak to him tonight about it at PnP. Also said that he will get a write up done on PinballNews which will be great. When you coming to Syd??

#22 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from RGR:
Yeah l'll speak to him tonight about it at PnP. Also said that he will get a write up done on PinballNews which will be great. When you coming to Syd??

Weds PM ... arrive 4pm I think.

All set for Coogee on Thursday night?

#23 10 years ago

COL

Snailman

Pinside member

Austin, TX

12y 59,400 1,709 6

Tell Franck "hello" from Colin -- and for him to keep the noise level down so the pinball police don't show up to shut the party down (unless they're attractive police like those from Hattersheim).

#24 10 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

Howdy Snailman l'll tell him you said Hi. Dave try and get to CG as early as possible. Last time I was there they made me stop playing when the band was on. Also get there early to make sure that Danielle can get in.. l'll find out if there is a band playing that night. I think last thurs for the opening they had some guy playing a piano so it might be ok.

#25 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Snailman:
Tell Franck "hello" from Colin -- and for him to keep the noise level down so the pinball police don't show up to shut the party down (unless they're attractive police like those from Hattersheim).

Hattersheim! I went there! My playing sucked!

Except in qualifying ... Joey Springer, Dirk and me had a huge game of LOTR that held up the comp ...

Franck had quite a few beers that night!

Here he is talking to BJ Wilson outside the Hattersheim house we were playing at ...

Hattersheim (1).JPG

and a pic of Dan Robar with a neat hat!

Hattersheim.JPG

#26 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from RGR:
Howdy Snailman l'll tell him you said Hi. Dave try and get to CG as early as possible. Last time I was there they made me stop playing when the band was on. Also get there early to make sure that Danielle can get in.. l'll find out if there is a band playing that night. I think last thurs for the opening they had some guy playing a piano so it might be ok.

Yean Rich, good plan. We thought we might go to Bondi for a look (never been there..) and then to Coogee mid/late afternoon.

I think Edy said he was heading out in the afternoon as well.

#27 10 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

Yeah no worries... Just tired giving them a call but no answer... Meh should be fine.

#28 10 years ago

COL

Snailman

Pinside member

Austin, TX

12y 59,400 1,709 6

OP
Quoted from rotordave:
Except in qualifying ... Joey Springer, Dirk and me had a huge game of LOTR that held up the comp ...

So that's why the flipper coils were toast by the time I played my LOTR qualifying game!
Fortunately for me, I had the chance to watch Jorgen play it before me and noted that the flippers could not make the ring shot. I adapted my strategy to exclude any mode starts, and focused on multiballs alone.

OP
Quoted from rotordave:
Franck had quite a few beers that night!

That's why the polizei showed up -- to party with Franck!
20130529_002403 (2).jpg

#29 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

When did the cops show up? After midnight?

I had to bail from there at 11.30pm to catch the last train back to Frankfurt ... Or I would have been stuck there all night!

rd.

#30 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Snailman:
So that's why the flipper coils were toast by the time I played my LOTR qualifying game!
Fortunately for me, I had the chance to watch Jorgen play it before me and noted that the flippers could not make the ring shot. I adapted my strategy to exclude any mode starts, and focused on multiballs alone.

Very clever. Nothing worse than going for Destroy the Ring and having the ball flying back SDTM.

That really roasts your nuts!

rd.

#31 10 years ago

COL

Snailman

Pinside member

Austin, TX

12y 59,400 1,709 6

OP
Quoted from rotordave:
When did the cops show up? After midnight?

Yes, it was late. Franck was too noisy and the neighbors complained.
I think Albert only got a warning.

#32 10 years ago

JLM

jlm33

Pinside member

Villejuif

11y 152K 5,892 7 169

Quoted from Snailman:
Franck was too noisy

Damn Frenchs

#33 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from Snailman:
Yes, it was late. Franck was too noisy and the neighbors complained.
I think Albert only got a warning.

That doesn't sound like Franck ..... Lol

rd.

#34 10 years ago

GPS

onetaste

Pinside member

Adelaide Hills

10y 63,650 142 23 114

Beautiful collection dave, congrats, no wonder you get high profile visitors.

1 month later

#35 10 years ago

MIC

RipleYYY

Pinside member

14y 87,050 4,377 2 34

Dave, what have you done to Franck !?

we just came back from EPC in Rimini, i didnt see him drunk 1 time in all these 5 days !!!???

#36 10 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from RipleYYY:
Dave, what have you done to Franck !?
we just came back from EPC in Rimini, i didnt see him drunk 1 time in all these 5 days !!!???

Maybe he spent all his money in NZ and Australia and he couldn't afford any beer

rd.

2 months later

#37 9 years ago

BUL

Bul

Inactive member

No, it took me money to come and I had some money left for other kind of things.

Just note that the Hattersheim picture was made possible because I has the great idea to chat with the blonde girl (nice smile !) and ask for a souvenir picture ! (there were a few guys chatting outside the house and it cause a little noise to the neighbours but nothing really loud !

Sometimes I am able to take serious pics (even in Syd a particular sunday envening !)

The report is now available on pinballnews (it took time to tell all the stuff to the PBN editor !)

I am absolutely not obliged to be drunk to play pinball, there is only one tournament I won that way and it was london pinball open last year (the organiser was very clever in organising that thing in a real english pub !!)

In Rimini I was with a girl ! Serious frankie mode !!

Really hope to see you soon RD !

#38 9 years ago

MIC

RipleYYY

Pinside member

14y 87,050 4,377 2 34

haha !!! Franck even smels the beer here on that topic, than he have to join pinside...

salut Franck

#39 9 years ago

BUL

Bul

Inactive member

No beer here I think, despite the fact that Gary Stern really thinks that beer and Pinball can mix together...
Salut Michel !

#40 9 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Welcome to Pinside Francky!!

Are you still planning to come to Kiwi Pincade in March 2015?

rd.

#41 9 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

Pincade then onto PAPA.... easy done

#42 9 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from RGR:
Pincade then onto PAPA.... easy done

Now there's a big trip ....

France ... Sydney ... Auckland ... Los Angeles ... Pittsburgh ... France ....

rd.

#43 9 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

Guess he cant go direct to Auckland?? I do not believe that there will be another "international" comp as there was this year... I was actually embarrassed by the format... Think Roy Wills and Ad Jonker might be coming to Pincade as well...

#44 9 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Quoted from RGR:
Guess he cant go direct to Auckland?? I do not believe that there will be another "international" comp as there was this year... I was actually embarrassed by the format... Think Roy Wills and Ad Jonker might be coming to Pincade as well...

When I last spoke to my old mate Norbert he said he planned to run something in Sydney the week before.

If not, Francky can come straight to Auckland, no worries. Direct flights via LA, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Dubai etc etc.

I'll speak with Norby at the Sydney Expo later in the year.

Quoted from RGR:
Think Roy Wills and Ad Jonker might be coming to Pincade as well...

That was the plan ... I'm just waiting for the exact dates and then we can firm things up.

A few from the USA keen on coming down too.

rd.

#45 9 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

Nice.... Well yeah I am all good for another AU/NZ comp... Lets hope he changes the format...

#46 9 years ago

rotordave

Pinside+ Frequent

Rich, Yee has confirmed 5-8 March so that works out good for your USA trip.

rd.

2 months later

#47 9 years ago

BUL

Bul

Inactive member

It means Wellington and Auckland, I can tell that what I saw last year makes me wanting more, it could be so different from last year... And next year, IFPA is taking place in Uk so it ll be quite close from France.
Anyway, Tokyo could be replaced by something else.

#48 9 years ago

BUL

Bul

Inactive member

http://www.pinballnews.com/learn/franck/index.html

Here is the link (just in case of...)

A very nice job from Pinball News and a very nice guy called Martin Ayub !

#49 9 years ago

RGR

Pinside member

OP
Quoted from rotordave:
Rich, Yee has confirmed 5-8 March so that works out good for your USA trip.
rd.

Hey Dave, not sure about the States next year. Most likely going to IFPA15 in UK.... I assume that Yee was going to go with March 5-8 regardless....

#50 9 years ago

BUL

Bul

Inactive member