that is my intial thought

Yeah, and it's more than just the ransom that causes issues, it also has the lock stealing, carry-over jackpots, and is just a boring one-dimensional game in general.

I am fine with lock stealing (esp in a 2 player game) as I am a firm believer in that is pinball. Given the format, if you pick the game then position can be a detriment if you dont collect your multiball.

I dont find it to be one dimensional at all, but then again I owned it for a long time and set it up tough which made it very fun.

The Ransom carryover is more of an issue as it is not player controlled randomness (if that makes sense).

I will probably just dump it.

It's all about hurry ups. Left ramp Over and over. Right flipper gets weak to the point you can hit the ramp anymore and game stink. Most of the time the flipper is dead by end of player 1 and then player 2 can't hit any shots.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow! Here's to me channeling my inner Lehigh mountain Hawks!!

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http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/State-Pinball-contest-to-be-held-in-Madison-368680161.html?device=phone&c=y

I got my initials on tv.

Rock on. I'd be really curious if you see a bump in the coinbox from that. Maybe it could inspire others of us to go out and get some press.

I dont care about the coinbox, just pumped to get some positive press for pinball and competitive pinball!

The lady doing the interviews was really into it. She hung out for 2 hours and got tons of footage. They did a 4pm and 5pm story yesterday and are likely doing a morning piece today. I was trying to convince her to come do some footage of the collector league we have also

Very nice! That much air time and no Who as well. Nice news story for pinball.

Looking forward to the Florida results. They switched venues 240+ miles at the last minute and no one but the players themselves is allowed to attend. At least the new location is more centrally located in the state so the Jacksonville players won't have a six hour travel time each way.

Nevada bracket will be here: http://challonge.com/IFPA_NV_Pinball_2016

Bummer. Lost in the second round. But the silver lining was it was a good friend. Better luck next year!!

In the 5-8 tie breaker I got 5th! I'll take it for my first state tourney.

Anyone streaming at the Florida championship? I'd love to watch the hobbit in action.

I heard BJones was heading up there to stream it.

CA streaming at twitch.tv/iepinball

Finals should be starting soon! Semi finals game 7 on Grand Lizard on as I type this, Jim Belsito Vs. Keith Elwin.

True, a more elegant way of putting it would have been: let us know if people turn up at your place because they saw the spot on TV. I'm all about getting newbies hooked.

Indiana: Congrats to Jason for 1st, Matt for 2nd, Bob for 3rd and Steven for 4th!

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Did you guys end up using d&d today? You can steal locks in that game but actually to a disadvantage when you lay out strategy. Best thing to do on lock stealing game is just play 1 game at a time which is what they could have done on Bk2k.

D&D was used, I had no idea what I was doing though so I couldn't say how lock stealing effected things.

I think for the most part lock stealing isn't too much of an issue, depends on the particular game though.

How did OH shake out?

I haven't heard how KY finished either. Left when the final four was still going on.

Jeff Douglas won Missouri by coming back from down 3 games to 0 in the finals against John Miller. Crazy final match.

Adam McKinnie took 3rd and Steve Rolsing 4th

I crapped out at 8th, but gave McKinnie a decent match so I'm happy.

Here's the final bracket - http://challonge.com/2015ohioscs

Will Heaney 1st, Brian Hill 2nd, Tommy Bizzi 3rd, Aaron Burke 4th, myself 5th, Ryan Case 6th. Not sure how it goes after that.

Booski 1st then Trent. Not sure after that.

Wow great job by booski. He new those games well obviously haha.

Yeah, that's his home territory. Cool guy too.

District of Columbia results. I believe Pierce will be heading to Las Vegas
1- pierce mclain
2- fil baird
3- shawn hillman
4- james daley
5- mike frasca
6- steve stakem
7- jon long
8- corey long
9-ernie most
10- don kraper
11- david barber
12- jackie day
13- conner most
14- geoff dannek
15- matt myerson
16- jess klienmann

NC bracket is here: http://challonge.com/ncifpa2015. Kevin Kuntz took it down! I got #3 in my first SCS which I'm very happy with.

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Alabama results. It's a three-peat!

Official results:
1.Chris Warren
2.Brad King
3.Bill Miller
4.Duane Connell
5.Mike Gray
6.Bill Scrivener
7.Steve Baker
8.Anthony Dickson
9.Timothy Street
10.Jeff Street
11.Scott May
12.Josh Karg
13.Brendan Turner
14.Rick Pecot
15.Jennifer Miller
16.Emily Street

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That is an insane comeback, especially against Miller! Congrats to Jeff! I don't feel as bad about him knocking me out now. I am thrilled to make the top 5. Definitely wasn't expecting that.

I took home the Minnesota State Championship. I won 4-3 in the finals and had to play out of my mind to do it. Put up 10.8 billion on Game of Thrones in the finals and dropped 650+ million on South Park in the final deciding game without doing Spooky Vision or Volcano. It was a long day, but a ton of fun. I'm going to savor this one for awhile.

Minnesota Top 4...

1st - John Jundt
2nd - Luke Nahorniak
3rd - Dan Dolney
4th - Bryan Moen

Our local WCCO Channel 4 news came out and did a piece on the event.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/02/13/flippers-fly-at-minnesota-competitive-pinball-championship/

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I have a dumb question Why is it that players dont HAVE to play in their home states?? Why can they play in what ever state they want??

Glad our first direct match helped you secure a win. Nice work, will you be going to Vegas as well?

They can play in whatever state they want, as long as they qualified in it (by playing in that state).

One could have a higher seed and/or less tough competition in a state with a lower population, for instance.

Tim Enders won WI.

Whysnow put on a great SCS tournament.

Here is the KY finishing order... Congrats to everyone! We had an awesome time! Thanks To the crew at Zanzabar for hosting the event! They opened up early for us. Closed the business for the day for us. It was kinda cool to see folks come in ready to play pinball but they were all cool when told that it was The KY State Championship tourney, and a few stayed around to watch! Folks were interested in how they could get into it. Thanks especially to Antz (owner) for the tour and the Red JL! Can't wait to get it going!! Nice to go to a tourney and still be able to do some pinball trading! Hubby was actually more excited about getting that than finishing 3rd!
1 Drew Donohue (AKA Booski)
2 Trent A.
3 Larry S.
4 Bill W.
5 Erik W.
6 Derek F.
7 Phoebe S
8 Eric S.
9 Michelle M.
10 Ken M.
11 Ben P.
12 Rod W.
13 Mike W.
14 Doug H.
15 Pete L.
16 Brian S.

As a side note this was Drew's first "tourney" and he is a KY native, and played some of the best in the country to win it! He played great for not having mush experience. He is super excited to go to Vegas!
Channel 11 Louisville came out and took some video, and did some interviews...I haven't gotten a link to it but I will try.

Players have the choice of picking whichever state they have managed to qualify for! it isn't all about having the "easier" route...Some just have more choices than others based on how much they can travel. Or where they live. Some people also choose to go where they are going to have more fun! Cause (for some) that is what it is about after all...

Phoebe

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Thanks for the update Pheobe!! Congrats to LAR, I bet the tie breaker between him and Bill was a Cincy pinball Classic! Haha

Also really glad to hear that Drew is going to Vegas. I'll be rooting for him.

Thanks Tom!

Had a blast in WI. Tim dominated all day long and deserved the great win! Plays like a gentleman and a scholar. He will be going to vegas and is pumped! We will all be rooting for him.

I hosted and ran the event while managing to finish LIONMAN!

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Kevin Stone won Virginia

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I'm not sure about Vegas. I would love to go, I'll have to see if I can make it work. If I don't, Luke said he will go.

Congrats to Ryan James who won the first Alberta Provincial Championship he was the #6 seed and took out the #1 seed in the final, he was down 3-0 and roared back with some awesome playing and beat the favorite for the event and punched his ticket to Vegas...

Final Standings (In brackets was initial rank):

1. Ryan James (#6)
2. Derek Thomson (#1)
3. Gilles Touchette (#5)
4. Bill LePage (#7)
5. Jeremy Nelson (#8)
6. Dave Pidwerbeski (#15)
7. Chris Von Skopczynski (#13)
8. Rick Halisky (#14)
9. Paul Sinclair (#2)
10. Gord Jamieson (#9)
11. Jonathan Puckrin (#3)
12. Rod Ferguson (#4)
13. Lauren Wheeler (#16)
14. Winston Tuttle (#10)
15. Jason Zazula (#11)
16. Mark Stephens (#12)

Thanks to Tom for a very smooth Indiana tournament and Dan for an awesome location. After getting knocked out by Tom in the first round, I swept the losers bracket to take 9th. Was hoping for better, but I'll take it. Had the news in during finals, which was great!

http://wlfi.com/2016/02/13/pinball-wizards-go-to-head-to-head-in-state-championships/

Some photos from the final game on Elvis. DSC04405_(resized).jpgDSC04396_(resized).jpgDSC04382_(resized).jpg Thanks bcrage88 & stretch for hosting and putting this all together. So interesting to see the standings and the seeds.

Had a blast in Kentucky. Thanks again Phoebe. Hoping to get a TN SCS next year.

No one streamed the Florida event. Big thanks to Little Shop of Games for hosting the Florida championships. Hobbit was really fun and stunning to watch. It will be at the APE event next week for all to play. The finals and official results for Florida :

Florida State Finals:

Atticus Palmer 1st,
Shannon Stafford 2nd,
Sebastian Bobbio 3rd,
Jeff Palmer 4th.

Great job Atticus, I'm rooting for you in Vegas. Florida is well represented!

Congrats to the winners and all who made the top 16. This is the second State Championship for Atticus!

Congrats to Greg Poverelli taking first in New York at Modern. Wow!!

It was a hell of an after party.

There was a thread that discussed that, lemme find a link.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ifpa-scs-eligibility-should-be-changed