“PINBALL AT WATERFALLS” Giuseppe Violante wins the pinball tournament in Marmore

The two-day with pinball competition hosted by the Pinball Museum “Dino Merluzzi” in Marmore ended once again with great success: a double tournament sponsored by Ifpa took place, with the support of the Umbria Region, the Municipality of Terni and the Chamber of Commerce of Umbria.

Giuseppe Violante won the most important prize at the end of the two-day sports pinball tournament in Marmore, in Terni – where the 2024 edition of the “Pinball at Waterfalls/Torneo flipper Marmore – Dino Merluzzi Memorial” tournament just ended. Carmelo Vitale from Lazio won the “Side tournament”, which took place on Sunday with an even larger number of players.

Therefore, it was a double competition that, like the Museum that hosted it, was entirely dedicated in memory of the collector of vintage games from Terni, who represented a point of reference for the sector at an international level. The competition, valid for the international ranking of the World Pinball Player Rankings (Wppr), had already stopped in Marmore in the past (in 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2023), thanks to the cooperation with Ifpa. But for the second time it developed inside the Italian Pinball Museum (www.museoflipper.it/en), which appeared for the first time in Terni last February, creating a one-of-a-kind location in Italy.

In this way, in addition to the (high-level) sports competition, that attracted some of the strongest pinball players in Italy and Europe to Marmore, the result was also a highly prestigious event, which also captured the attention of many visitors, tourists and simple curious. From a sporting point of view, as mentioned, Giuseppe Violante won: number three in Italy and among the strongest players in Europe and not only in our country, who left behind him other top-level players, such as Vitale himself (who then won the next tournament), who finished in second place, and Renato Agresti, who had already won the title in the 2024 edition of the tournament. All this after defeating some of the other big favorites for the title: such as Gabriele Tedeschi, who instead only finished in third place, and Lorenzo Gagliardi, who did not go beyond the qualifications.

While in the Side Tournament, which took place on Sunday, involving also some players who approached the pinball competition for the first time, Gabriele Tedeschi (second place) and Renato Agresti (third place), finished behind Vitale.

But Violante’s success is worth double, considering that the competition, in addition to being valid for the World Pinball Player Rankings (Wppr), was also the sixth of the seven stages scheduled for the current year of the Ics national circuit (Italian Shampionship Series).

But above all, fun won in Marmore once again: with an event of great aggregation and socialization that was able to involve the entire local citizenry, as well as attracting many curious people and visitors from outside, thanks also to the driving force of the Museum, with many people who simply wanted to take advantage of the competition to visit the building and see the players dealing with an official challenge.