Date: March 30th, 2012
Location: Joy Village, Via Salvatore Rebecchini, 5 Parco de Medici, Magliana, Rome, Italy.

Report by Alessio Crisantemi of IFPA Italia

The first European Stern launch party in Rome sees a huge successful AC/DC celebration and another win for Daniele Acciari.

On Friday March 30th, the first European Stern Launch Party took place in Rome to introduce and celebrate the new AC/DC pinball machine. The event was organized by IFPA Italia and Tecnoplay in the Joy Village arcade in the Italian capital.

Joy Village - location of the AC/DC Launch Party

The location was absolutely outstanding; a big, famous arcade with a lot of customers, with a great setup for both the party and the tournaments.

A promotion poster at the venue

The new born Stern was surrounded by The Rolling Stones pinball, Shrek, Iron Man and Avatar.

Shrek, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Avatar and Iron Man

The main tournament was played on the AC/DC and it was valid for the International Pinball Player Ranking points, while on the other four machines the side tournament took place - a tournament which awarded a free registration to the upcoming Italian Pinball Championship in Rovigo at the end of April.

Trophies for the winners

The launch party started at 9pm when players started to play the new pinball. The tournament format consisted of single player games until midnight, when the top four finishers battled for the win on a four player game on the AC/DC.

Top qualifier was the well know Daniele Acciari, followed by Alessio Crisantemi, Aldo Pancaldi and Marco Cerigioni. In the final after two balls Acciari was dead last but, as usual, he never gives up, passing the other three players and taking his third win in a row in the last three Italian tournaments.

Daniele Acciari plays in the final on AC/DC

Loud applause and congratulations were given to him by all players, organizers and a lot of curious people. The event certainly raised a lot of interest from many of the customers, together with the presence of Acciari, the former world champion.

To be honest, many of them did not feel to participate, perhaps intimidated by the formality of the event. But it was a good cocktail that created a nice atmosphere and made a very enjoyable and interesting night.

Official Stern trophies were awarded to the top three, and IFPA Italia trophies to the top four.

The top four in the Launch Party tournament

The side tournament was played on Rolling Stones and Iron Man, with the final won on Rolling Stones by Marco Cerigioni who will have the free entry to the Italian Pinball Championship. The top four of each tournament also took home the AC/DC translites kindly offered by Stern, while all participants received an AC/DC key chain.

AC/DC translites for the top four

Everybody has been very excited in anticipation of this party, an ideal way to introduce competitive pinball to many new players who discovered a new and unknown world. Tecnoplay and the Joy Village arcade were very satisfied, and they are already planning to repeat the experience for next Stern pinball release.

The AC/DC machine was also well received by both expert and casual players, who found it a very well designed and fun pinball. At the end of the tournament a long line of people was waiting to play it until late in the night.

Playing, and waiting to play, the new AC/DC

Closing the tournament too early was for sure a mistake in the schedule, disappointing many players who really wanted to participate but came after the end of the qualifying section.

In conclusion, a big thanks again to Stern Pinball and Tecnoplay for their support and commitment, giving to IFPA Italia the opportunity to organize such an event, the first of its kind in Europe. We really hope it can be the example to follow in the near future in many other European countries.

© Pinball News 2012