“Silver Ball Sundays” are back in State College, PA, at an exciting new location. We’ll be holding “Stern Army” monthly tournaments with swag and merch as prize giveaways to top finishers plus cash payouts taken from entry fees. We’re also planning to throw a launch party or two. I’ll be updating this thread at least once a month with details. See below for background, details, and photos. Thanks to our sponsors for their support and prize donations: Stern, Cointaker, Pinball Life, Champs Downtown, and MAD Pinball.

Date and Time for Tournament #1: Sunday, May 15, 1:00-4:00.

Pins: The Walking Dead, Iron Man, Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean (Stern), Lord of the Rings, Led Zeppelin Pro, Fish Tales, The Addams Family, Scared Stiff, Attack from Mars, Medieval Madness (remake).

Location: “Fun Society” basement of Champs Downtown (restaurant and bar), 139 South Allen Street, State College, PA 16801. Website: https://champsdowntown.com/.

Format for Tournament #1: Group Match Play, random seeding, swiss pairing, IFPA scoring, with payouts to top four finishers. The number of rounds will be based on how many we can fit in during the three-hour window. No knockouts.

IFPA-registered: Yes, indeed. https://matchplay.events/live/kdjdd.

Cost: $6 registration, with $1 going to the IFPA tournament fee and the rest going to prize payouts. Otherwise, players pay $1 per game for each round (coin drop) unless there is a credit already on the machine when your turn comes up.

Settings: Games will be on tournament settings, with no extra balls. Ball saves will be 5-8 seconds with 2-3 tilt warnings.

Age limit: All ages allowed and younger players encouraged, keeping in mind that it's a bar, minors will not be served, and young children must be supervised.

Drinking: Yes—it’s a bar.

Smoking: No.

Expected Number of Players: 10-20.

Beverages and Food on Site: Yes, aplenty. See photos below.

Other Things Available Besides Pins: Big screen TVs broadcasting sports, a variety of video games and a “raw thrills” game, and eight pool tables. See photos below.

Parking: Free street parking at metered spots on Sundays on Allen Street right in front of Champs and on nearby streets.

Questions: PM JOESCHALL.
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It does--it should open 7 days a week at 7:00, though sometimes it doesn't actually open until 7:30, depending on staffing. On Saturdays, if it's a busy Penn State weekend, the basement will sometimes open as early as 3:00, with 100-200 people down there and with the pins getting a good amount of play. For the Silver Ball Sunday tournaments, we're choosing Sundays that are not busy Penn State weekends, and the basement will be opening early for us to hold our tournaments, starting at 12:30, and will otherwise be pretty much empty. Hope you can join us!

And BTW, since I know you also visited the former location of Chronic Town/Music Underground, although the pin collection is now sold, there are still a few pins there. Metallica will be there for another week, and LOTR and Willy Wonka are there as well and may remain until the business shuts its doors for good, which is currently projected to be May 7.

Thanks so much, Tom. And you did an awesome job on the EM repair last weekend. it was so nice hearing the sound of that motor switch finally STOP! See you at Pinfest.

Chris--thanks so much. Coming from you, that means the world to me, and your dedication to the Pittsburgh pinball scene is amazing. After a two-year drought, I'm looking forward to finally visiting Helicon again on the 24th, and seeing how your gang does tournaments there has helped shape the way I want to run them in State College. You inspire me to to be a pinball ambassador in central PA. And seeing how you moved and arranged well over a dozen machines into your van this week was instructive, and it was a privilege to help you do so. More Pennsylvania pinball connections to come, Brother.

Our first Silver Ball Sunday at Champs Downtown is just two weeks away. To give you a sneek peek at some of the prize giveaways we have from MAD Pinball for our top tournament finishers, some good lookin' partyin' patrons of Champs were good enough to serve as MAD models of our MAD merch. Rob Bradley from MAD Pinball was insanely generous, donating both tees and hoodies as prizes, which are flippin' fantastic. Wanna get MAD with us?

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Thanks for the response, KLAW. With it being the Saturday before finals week at Penn State, there were about 200 people at the Champs Downtown basement that day, and it was nice that a few of them took the time to serve as merch models. Despite the poor lighting, I really like how the on-site photo turned out, which also ended up on the MAD Pinball Facebook page with Silver Ball Sunday tournament props as well.

One week until Silver Ball Sunday tournament #1. A few prize pics to whet your appetite.

Stern translites for top finishers:

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Hoodies and tees for second and third place:

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Treasure from Pinball Life for the top finisher out of the money but who owns a pin:

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Giveaways from MAD pinball for those ready to peel and stick:

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Tags and fobs from Stern for the faithful flippers:

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Picture yourself here . . .

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Thanks, Looprunner. Yes, all 11 games will be in the tournament, assuming all are 100%. I did a small temporary fix on TAF a few days back, so I have to check in on that again and perhaps replace or repair a part later this week, but I am expecting every game to be ready. If something isn't 100%, we'll drop it unless we can manage a workaround that doesn't affect tournament play. Collectively, the games get over 200 plays a week, so I have to keep a close eye on them.

Parts are ordered for TAF from Pinball Life, so they should be here by Saturday for me to install before Sunday's tournament.

Nice curban! We'd be really delighted to have you. Yes, registration is simply the day of the tourney before it starts. If you can, arrive by about noon, especially if you want to practice on any of the games beforehand, which you are welcome to do at $1 per game (they will already be on tournament settings). We'll start with instructions at 1:00 and get flipping by 1:15. Once you arrive, you head inside, bear left, and go down the steps to the basement, which is labelled "Fun Society" by way of a neon sign. Scroll to the top of this thread for more details and feel free to PM me. I'm glad to exchange cell phone numbers by way of PM.

Day-before-tournament bump.

Thanks to the Towering 10 who came out for our first Silver Ball Sunday tournament. A few photos from the event along with prize winners follow, with a short video coming soon.

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Our next Silver Ball Sunday will be on Father's Day, June 19, from 1:00 to 4:00, with those under 21 encouraged to enter as well. This one will also include a RUSH Pro launch party. Follow this thread for more details or PM me.

Here is about a five-minute video from our first Silver Ball Sunday tournament. It won't win any Oscars, especially for lighting, but it does give a sense of atmosphere and it features a nice TILT, a "SHOWTIME!" start on TAF, and a final wheel spin to award a translite winner. Enjoy!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dl_aKxiWiZl_Lz6K6Y5pROPp9Ct7Hfqq/view?usp=sharing

Thanks so much, Rob. The RUSH Pro I bought from you will be making its debut at our next tourney on Father's Day. Can't wait to share it!

Our next Silver Ball Sunday will be a special "Flippin' for Father's Day" pinball tournament this Sunday on--you guessed it--Father's Day. With 20-30 players expected, this one will have both a Beginner Division and an Advanced Division, with all ages welcome, and will include a RUSH Pro launch party. Beginner Division is not IFPA-registered; Advanced Division is IFPA-registered. Prizes for top finishers include cash (from entry fees), a RUSH translite and plaque, hoodies, and tees. Beginner Division participants will be eligible for comparable prizes as well and will receive Stern dog tags and key fobs as well as stickers from our sponsors Cointaker and MAD Pinball.

Full details about the tournament are here: https://www.statecollege.com/event/flippin-for-fathers-day-pinball-tournament/.

Some photos below. Hope to see you on Sunday! If you're a Dad, bring your kids; if you're a son or daughter, bring your Dad!!

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Yes indeed, tomdrum, if that's what you choose. As the flyer says, "ALL AGES WELCOME," so even old guys like us can enter Beginner Division if we want.

Indeed, again. Wish we had a Vintage Division . . .

Yes, hit what's lit--RIP the ruleset. You'd have to quit your job to memorize the modern rulesets anyway . . .

Things are all set for the “Flippin’ for Father’s Day” tournament, with all 12 games currently working 100% and RUSH earning nicely all week on location to bankroll the winnings for the Beginner Division. In addition to getting the games all repaired and tuned up, the good ol' cheap “ear plugs mod" was added to the hardware of all of the tilt bobs so that the bobs would settle better after each nudge, with the result being more forgiving and equalized nudging across games.

Some tournament details follow.

Advanced Division will include the games below, with the prize money determined by the entry fees, paying out the top three finishers.

RUSH (Pro)
Medieval Madness (remake)
Attack from Mars (original)
Scared Stiff
The Addams Family
Led Zeppelin (Pro)
The Walking Dead (Pro)

Beginner Division will include the games below, also paying out the top three finishers.

Fish Tales
Lord of the Rings
Pirates of the Caribbean (Stern)
Spider-man
Iron Man

The prize money for the Beginner Division will be drawn from the coin drop on RUSH this week plus coin drop during the tournament itself. Third place will get $10 in quarters, second place will get $20 in quarters, and first place will get the remainder from the machine in quarters (estimated to be about $40).

The top finisher in Advanced Division wins a RUSH translite, and there will be a random drawing among the Beginner Division entries for a Godzilla translite. Other prizes include hoodies, tees, and stickers. Advanced Division includes IFPA points; Beginner Division does not.

Hope to see plenty of you at the tourney!

Any questions? Feel free to post or PM me.

Night-before-tournament bump.

Superb!

Thanks, tomdrum. So glad you participated, and I agree that it's really great to see young people kicking butt at pinball! Update to this thread and photos from the tournament coming soon.

Awesome turnout for the "Flippin' for Father's Day" tournament, with 23 players--16 in the Beginner Division and 7 in the Advanced Division--and five sets of fathers with their sons or daughters entering the tournament. Thanks to all who participated and to our sponsors: Stern, MAD Pinball, Pinball Life, and Cointaker. And a special thanks to MAD Pinball for getting us a RUSH Pro for a launch party and to Stern for a RUSH translite, plaque, and banner. A few photos below of the prize giveaways, groups of players, and winners in the Beginner Division and Advanced Division.

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Photos would be much appreciated. I played at Playland and Campus Casino for years and dropped many quarters there, and I also attended the auction when Playland closed, where I was outbid for an AFM, which I think went for close to $3,000. If you haven't seen it, there's a nice little documentary about Playland from 2006 (an early effort made by one of our current local tournament players Tyler Walk, ironically, who has since gone on to be a documentary filmmaker), and I only recently realized that I am in the documentary absorbed with playing an RFM at the 1:24 mark. Link to the documentary below. Those were the days . . .

Yes, Gene Steele.