To my knowledge-there was just one strictly pinball tournament. I think there was a tourney that used pinball as part of the arcade challenge.
I know for a fact my friend Frank won 1st place in the pinball tourney
(JOY!)
I have no idea where I placed-it was lower than 4th
I will offer some comments; hopefully it will not offend too many readers and will be viewed as constructive, not harmful. My writing style tends to bother some folks. I apologize in advance.
If you have any questions on what I meant by what I wrote, don't sit there and be angry while typing your reply post, PM me or just ask. If you have talked to me in person, you know it is not my intent to anger people and I am trying to promote pinball, not alienate folks
I am also not a keyboard commando, I'd be happy to talk about this with you in person
1. First off, it was free, which is cool. Thank you.
2. The tourney format and games should really not be a "secret" unveiled at the last moment. The games were Goldeneye and Class of 1812.
3. I didn't think limiting the number of participants was a good move. Maybe shut off the sign-up time but don't tell people you only want 24 people. The tourney format was so short, saying only 24 people was not required IMO.
4. It was very non-traditional for a solo tournament. Format was one ball on 2 games and a player's "score" was a composite score. A composite score is a good idea
4 2 1 0 scoring etc. However there is a risk of lots of ties-not sure how that was handled or if they got lucky on how it played out.
(I know it was meant to be fun-and it was, but if the goal is to attract serious or even semi-serious pinball players to compete, the one ball, one and done format is not optimal as the only pinball tourney. As a side tourney-sure, go for it.)
5. Order of play was order of signup and players only get one shot. In most pinball competitions order is a key issue. With only one shot to play (even if chosen randomly) later players get the benefit of seeing what works, and what does not work. The "element of surprise" is gone after just a few players watch how the game scores/feeds etc. So again not telling people what the games are is moot. Maybe since it was not "serious" then so what.
I can't say I totally capitalized on playing later in the list, but seeing what to do gave me ideas and I had never played it before. As soon as the game got back into the hall, I played one full game on Goldeneye and figured a lot out
6. If players get multiple chances to try (even 2), it feels more like a competition, even if keeping the one ball format. All pinball players know about the concept of house balls etc. One and done always feels too luck-based. That is fine as a casual tourney, maybe that was the whole point, but it did not really feel like a pinball tournament per se.
7. The turning of the games on/off and/or cycling balls was a bit odd. Just set the games to one ball in the menu. Most modern games have that feature. It will not affect anything.
8. Players/spectators should not be allowed to congregate around the sides of a pin in a tourney. All spectators should be behind where the player stands and out of peripheral vision. People will naturally want to be as close as possible since it is hard to see, but no pinball tournaments of any competitive nature really permit that. Besides it is not nice to stand right next to a player.
9. Competitors should know what their target scores are. Again, later people have a huge advantage if it is one and done. Consider an easel and board, even if just handwritten, showing where competitors are ranked relative to others. Also, because of the one and done, once you see someone do better than you, you already feel like there is no point. With just one more chance, you can come back so to speak. The format was so fast, it really did not need to be one and done.
Again, I cannot stress enough-this is not a gripe fest. I had a good time-really
I just feel that the goal is probably to generate more pinball competition interest, and figure out ways to get more players involved.
And yes, I have been told many times, I take pinball too seriously
I prefer to think I just really like pinball-and as written on Gottlieb's backglases: It is more fun to compete
