SYDNEY IS GEARING UP FOR MAJOR PINBALL EVENTS THIS MONTH

blog post courtesy of the Australian Pinball League

THURSDAY, 13 FEBRUARY, 2014,  6 PM
OFFICIAL OPENING PARTY OF PINBALL H.Q. AT COOGEE DIGGERS (FACEBOOK)
Cnr Carr and Byron Sts, Coogee, NSW 2034
The biggest pinball venue in Sydney is about to open next Thursday, February 13 at Coogee Diggers. The timing is not coincidental.  Sydney will have the highest concentration of pinball wizard masters coming from all around Australia and New Zealand and from as far as France. They’ll be sharpening their skills for the Grand Final of the Australian & New Zealand Pinball Open at Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour on Saturday, February 22.

Come along to Pinball HQ opening party and have a game with Richard Rhodes, the highest ranked player in Australia and  Franck Bona from France, one of the world’s best pinball players. Enjoy a fantastic line up of ten pinball machines including the latest Star Trek,  Metallica Road Case, Avengers Premium, 24  but also some older classics of the nineties such as Revenge From Mars, Dirty Harry, Get Away, Tommy, Whodunnit and Fun House. It is not only the pinball to be revived, this special event will feature live Honky Tonk and Boogie Woogie Piano, popular music genres of the past and still exciting as ever.

SATURDAY, 22 FEBRUARY, 2014
AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND PINBALL OPEN – GRAND FINAL (WEBSITE, FACEBOOK)
Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour, Sydney
The iconic Hard Rock Cafe in Darling Harbour will be hosting the Grand Final of the Australia’s first international pinball championship. Launched in June last year at PAX Expo in Melbourne, where thousands of predominantly young people could witness and participate in wildcard entry tournaments. The qualifying tournaments continued throughout the year in various locations around the country culminating in State Finals in November. The winners, the Australian State Champions will be flown to the Grand Final Sydney and their accommodation and airfare is paid for. Similar qualifying tournaments were also held in New Zealand. The Australians will compete with their New Zealand counterparts and with one of the world’s best pinball players, Franck Bona from France in undoubtedly the fiercest pinball competition ever held in this country. The stakes are high as the winner takes home a brand new Metallica pinball machine, one of the best musical pinballs ever made.

This major championship marks the resurgence of pinballs which is evident in Australia and around the world. This is our third national pinball championship in the last two years. The number of Australian players registered by the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA), grew rapidly from 4, about two years ago to 568 now,  placing Australia among the top seven countries in the world. We are bound to surpass United Kingdom and Canada within next few months and it is well within our reach to get in second place with only the USA ahead of us. Come along to support our players at the Hard Rock Cafe, on February 22. The Runners up competition starts at 9:30 a.m., the Grand Final starts at 11:30 a.m. All proceeds from the $5 entry fee will be donated  to Mission Australia Charity.

Major sponsors:  Australian Pinball League, Amusement Machine Distributors and Timezone Australia in partnership  with Timezone N.Z., Time Out N.Z., Coin Cascade N.Z., Hard Rock Cafe Sydney and PAX Australia.

SUNDAY, 23 FEBRUARY, 2014, 9:30 AM TO 2 PM
SYDNEY PINBALL SYMPOSIUM AND LUNCH (WEBSITE)
Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Learn interesting facts about the history and also about the presence and future of pinball at this ultimate pinball forum.  Get to meet with the Australian and New Zealand champions, pinball enthusiasts, collectors and the industry people. Among the guest speakers are Gary Stern, the President of Stern Pinball from Chicago, USA, pinball historians and authors of several books Marco Rossignoli and Michael Shalhoub and others. Despite the fact that both authors are well known overseas and celebrities in pinball circles around the world they are little known here. They are locals. Michael is from Sydney and Marco is from Newcastle.