Not many people here seem to care about hearing about the elite players of pinball nor do we talk about them. Many of us like playing pinball, but thanks for assuming that because we don't talk about the top guys of competitive pinball that we must not be players

I have had one guy tell me (without sarcasm) that 'he is a big deal' and was genuinely offended that I did not know who he is. My reaction to that "oh, you play competitive pinball, get over it." It is just pinball.

Nah. I don't find it much fun to talk about competitive pinball. It is the same 20-40 guys on the top and they just rearrange spots depending on the year.

Kind of like golf. It can be fun to play, is OK to watch, but pretty silly to discuss competitive players. IMHO of course.

I followed it as much as I could this year but ended up working over the weekend.

One of our local favorites Andrei Massenkoff made the trip to Europe to compete. Unfortunately he didn't make the cutoffs.

Next year, depending on competition results, we could have as many as five bay area players at the IFPA championships. Suck it SO Cal!!

You do know that 6 of the current top 20 ranked players in the world post here? Some regularly. Lots of good players outside the top 20 post here too. You're not talking about them, you're talking with them.

Hasn't been much bragging by good players here. Without looking, can you even guess 3 of the 6 players I mentioned above?

Congrats to Jorgen. Winning IFPA is one big ass notch to have in your belt. Nice work indeed.

lol

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You must have missed my point. I don't care who plays competitive pinball and think it is somewhat silly to take it so serious. It is just pinball. I play and host pinball events for FUN.

It is just pinball.

Just for the hell of it >>yes I know at least 3 of the top 20 that post here on pinside regularly. I have found it is typically the notch below that that tends to make a scene. They are not the elite but fell inside that they should be and everytime it seems to be them getting the short end of the stick with a flake switch, too tight of a tilt, etc...

I think the 57k that was donated to the PAPA TV project is pretty clear that people do care about competitive pinball.

We need all types of pinball players. You should care, those guys are doing some great things for the hobby.

I think the fact IFPA is kind of low budget compared to PAPA, no live feed or even twitter updates and the fact it was in Germany so the updates they did have came in @ 2am in the states made it a little off the radar this year. But it is a great event with many good people as well as players. Big congrats to Jorgen!

I think the fact IFPA is kind of low budget compared to PAPA, no live feed or even twitter updates and the fact it was in Germany so the updates they did have came in @ 2am in the states made it a little off the radar this year. But it is a great event with many good people as well as players. Big congrats to Jorgen!

Incredible stuff!

Pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/109386919141623817096/albums/5885195063013685009

worldchamp.jpg

Annnndddd its the reason why pinball is growing again.. Without competitive pinball, pinball would be almost dead...

Pinburgh???

RGR - let it go. The ones that don't get it, won't.

Competitive pinball is my number 1 interest. It's not the winning or losing, but the players, their personalities, the highs and lows and of course, the social aspect.

I'm relatively new to pinball but I have found the community to be diverse. There are some in it for the repair and mods, some just like to play, some like the art, and there are some that like to compete. I don't think there's any need to belittle either group.

I 'watched' the results of IFPA10 come through and enjoyed it for what it was. However, it's hard to get excited by some text updating on a website every 20 minutes! I'm hoping the PAPA TV thing really takes off and covers all major tournaments.

lol, 397 people got it Next year 500-600??

I found the total lack of coverage anywhere on the internet---never mind pinside, it was dead almost everywhere else too---to be baffling. Then again, the IFPA didn't do a great job of coverage and advertising before or during the event, so it's not all that surprising. I assume most people that were invested in the outcome were getting updates from their friend(s) that was there.

Watching the Aussie community get behind Edy on Aussie Arcade was good value.

The difference with Pinburgh and PAPA is that the games for the finals all stay the same, therefore the cameras do no have to move. Given that the players choose the games to play on in the finals, there would have to be a roving camera which would need to be set up constantly... Not sure if it is possible to do this at IFPA to the same quality of PAPA etc.

I like that backdrop they have there with the news crew. If it wasn't for competitive pinball. I would have never even wanted to start playing. Back when the IFPA had the championships in Milwaukee, in 91, was the first time I really took interest in pinball. Before that, it was all video games only.

I don't go to many tournaments nowadays, but I still enjoy reading about the them.

Congrats IFK.

IFPA is the true world championship to me. Partly due to the fact that it is held i Europe every other year.

The nature of the tournament is to have a new facillity each year. Locating a suitable place having some 60 top quality machines ranging the last 40 years available is an achievement by itself. Expecting this facillity to be suitable for spectators, TV production and streaming bandwidth is a little too much to ask.

In terms of what is practically possible IFPA and PAPA are worlds apart. Finansially too.

Yeh they did that last year as well, but not sure they could do live commentary like that... Pity its a great event..

They have commentary here but not live

http://pinball.org/videos/tournament/ifpa/ifpa9-the-shadow/

I want to see video of the gameplay on Farfalla, LOL!

Unfortunately last year's finals videos haven't all been put up anywhere yet: the deciding game is still awaiting posting. The other games are at http://pinball.org/videos/tournament/ifpa/.

Even non-live posting of videos promotes awareness of your brand and event, so it's worth doing.

soren: A few games are brought in every year to fill in holes in the collection. Todd MacCulloch said somewhere that he didn't have enough EMs in his collection, so they were borrowed for the tournament. He's also mentioned in a commentary somewhere that he's left all his games IFPA-hard for him to practice on

Yeah I put some up on the IFPA thread on AA..

The answer for me is that I don't care, plain & simple.

I appologize. I had no idea that anyone thought of competitive pinball as a spectator sport.

I am glad people enjoy following along from the sidelines. Maybe someday people will be able to yell at their TV when their favorite player misses a shot or chokes under the pressure of the finals. Whatever tickles your fancy.

They should get Christopher Guest to make a movie on the circuit. It would be awesome!

Any ideas for a title?

"Someday" is, um, August 8th. Papa.tv fundraised some $50k to stream pinball on the internet, and I believe plans on being set up to broadcast the (other) world championships.

Salut,

I have just spoken with the organizer in Germany, and he told me that it will be aired Weds at 12.15 local time.
I do not know, if it will be restricted, but possibly you could find the video on www.zdf.de afterwards for streaming (just search for "Drehscheibe Deutschland" from Wednesday).
Comments will be in German of course.

Cheers,
flugs

Great the Martin Ayub both qualified and participated. He is always good for comprehensive articles. Maybe not as live update, but to come afterwards.

Congrats to Jorgen! I wonder if he'll be moving around the trophy's flags to put Sweden on display in the front. hehehe

I enjoyed hearing from IFPA on its official website, but would have loved live coverage, of course. Fortunately got text messages from one of the players during the games ! We discussed the rise - and ultimate fall - of our fellow Frenchs on our national forum. Good to see 2 of them reached the Top 8.
Congrats to the new Champion !

if they can make a bunch of people sitting around playing cards, worth watching. You sure the hell can do it for pinball.

Must have been hell of a trip to reach Germany, Rotordave! Hope you enjoyed it, and spent (spend ?) a few days around.
I am still recovering from the jetlag since my trip to Australia...last January

If there was a lack of exposure here, it was not because of us. IFPA could simply have done some simple PR, started a results thread with updates, photos. It doesn't have to live stream.

Definitely I would suggest to the organizers to be more proactive and not wait for the horse to come to water.

So you apologize in one post, then quickly suggest a mockumentary on the subject. Real heartfelt apology there.

The IFPA PR machine is much bigger and badder than than PAPA's. However, as mentioned above, it helps if you live the country where the event is being held. When the event is held here in the states, it gets tons of pub. Much more than any PAPA event. You can still search google news archives to find much of it.

This event is invitational, so there is no need to advertise for players. Players are notified privately if they've made the cut. Because the event is usually held in different locations, spectator support can vary greatly.

A movie by Christopher Guest would be an awesome honor for any pinball player!!!! It would truly show that competitive pinball had made it!

Actually it already was on ESPN dude. It was tape delayed and broadcast in prime time the next day on ESPN 8 (The Ocho). They claimed it was one of their highest rated broadcasts.

If you don't get ESPN 8 you should contact your cable or satellite provider and ask that they carry it...