AREA 52 INTERNATIONALES
FLIPPERTURNIER 2011


Date: November 26th, 2011
Location: Flipperclub Area 52, Brückenstrasse. 3, Murgenthal CH-4853, Switzerland

Report and pictures by Phillip Eaton

Logos from the Area 52 website advertising the event
Logos from the Area 52 website advertising the event

It was a couple of years since I'd last been to Area 52, but I remembered that the train station had free parking and that the venue was only a stones throw away.

Murgenthal Bahnhof, 100 metres from the venue
Murgenthal Bahnhof, 100 metres from the venue

Arriving at the venue, I found that the layout had been altered a little; the bar was where the videos once were, the videos were where the lounge seats were, and the seating area seemed to have shrunk somewhat.

The building in which the venue is housed must have been some sort of light-engineering shop, as the ceiling is loaded with lifting beams and equipment, all painted in bright yellow paint.

The view from the entrance
The view from the entrance

However, there also seemed to be a lot more pinball machines there now, from EMs through to modern Sterns, and including several Italian machines which is a nice change, and all of them are in very good condition. The machines on offer for casual and tournament play were:

A-Go-Go  Pinball Champ '82 
Black Knight Playboy (Data East)
Black Rose Revenge from Mars
Bugs Bunny’s Birthday Ball Robot 
Congo Soccer Kings
Demolition Man (x2) Space Invaders
Dr Dude Space Shuttle
Farfalla Speakeasy
Fire Stargate
Firepower Star Wars (Data East)
Harlem Globetrotters Star Wars Episode One
High Speed Stardust
High Speed 2: The Getaway Terminator 2
Hurricane Terminator 3
Junk Yard The Flintstones
Laser Cue The Machine: Bride of Pinbot
Last Action Hero Time Machine (Zaccaria)
Lord of the Rings Time Warp
NBA Fastbreak TX Sector
Pinbot Why Playit?
Pinball Champ World Cup Soccer

The lounge and non-pinball area, with video games, hockey, shuffle ball and more
The lounge and non-pinball area, with video games, hockey, shuffle ball and more

This Area 52 tournament hadn't been widely advertised outside of Switzerland (as far as I know) and so had mostly Swiss competitors, plus a handful of Germans, Poles, a Frenchman and me, the token Brit.

Turniermeister, Röbi Sutter watches the warm-up play
Turniermeister, Röbi Sutter watches the warm-up play

So, arriving early for once at about 1pm, I had a little time for a practice and a little socialising with some of the familiar Swiss pinball faces. The place soon filled up with the 60 pre-entered competitors (minus a few drop-outs), each paying 20CHF (€16) for entry or 35CHF (€29) with evening raclette buffet.

The bar menu, with prices in CHF
The bar menu, with prices in CHF  
(1CHF=$1.09, €0.81, £0.70)

Alternative food was available in the local village if you didn't fancy that, and other bar snacks were also available from the well-stocked bar.

Plenty of cocktail choice
Plenty of cocktail choice

So, after registration was complete, the regular Swiss "turnier meister" Robi Sutter gave everyone a rundown of the format and rules, and play commenced.

As is often the case for Swiss tournaments, we were using the "Swiss System", which works well when you have a lot of machines and players in the same place for a long period. There was also a piece of paper under each machine for you to write and certify your scores, which would appear to have been used later on to calculate a Classics side-tournament result.

Tournament positions and matches displayed on the wall by a projector
Tournament positions and matches displayed on the wall by a projector

It's not always the case in Swiss tournaments, but the Area 52 venue was non-smoking, and so many of the players were popping outside between rounds for a crafty smoke.

No-smoking in the games room
No smoking in the games room

An alternative to popping outside for a break was to play on some of the video games, of which there was a good selection, and there was also a table football, shuffle ball, air hockey and, of course, an electric piano (which later on turned out to be the table upon which some record mixing decks were placed).

Video games area
Video games area

Throughout the event there was music from the house sound system, supplying a good selection for everyone's taste, and I was particularly happy with the classic rock mix.

The bar area
The bar area

From 5pm onwards, the all-you-can-eat raclette buffet was available with potatoes and some pickles.

Raclette, melted and hand-scraped onto your plastic plate
Raclette - melted and hand-scraped onto your plastic plate

As the day turned into evening and then into night, we hit the predefined 15 round qualifying mark sometime after 8pm.  The tournament then moved into the finals, and everyone not lucky enough to still be involved was able to clear off home, or play the machines casually.

The venue looks much prettier after dark
The venue looks much prettier after dark

At that point, due to my disastrous qualifying play for the past 6 hours (even by my regular poor standard) , I kind of lost interest in the tournament and decided that playing with my eyes closed, drinking Dr Pepper and polishing off some more raclette for the remainder of the evening was the appropriate path to follow. If only I’d come by train, instead of the car.

Beat Baur announces the top 10 finishers, from the bar area
Beat Baur announces the top 10 finishers, from the bar area

Nonetheless, in the interest of credible reporting, here are the results of the main tournament, after the finals were completed:

Pos

Player 
1 Levente Tregova 
2 Robert Sutter 
3 Martin Wyss 
4 Frank Goeltl 
5 Klaus Erhard 
6 Rolf Geissberger 
7 Adriano Da Silva 
8 Andreas Borer 
9 Martin Janczyk 
10 Michel Salathé 
11 Jürgen Letzel 
12 Serge Darbellay 
13 Reto Fornara 
14 Michael Trepp 
15 Damien Haldi 
16 Thomas Stalder 
17 Pascal Zerzuben 
18 Marc Jost 
19 Daniel Harzenmoser 
20 Michel Dailly 
21 Robert Von Keller 
22 Andreas Salathé 
23 Marco Knaur 
24 Amelia Müller 
25 Adrian Egloff 
26 Olivier Metzler 
27 Thomas Kull 
28 Mathias Bergundthal 
29 Simon Leibundgut 
30 Raphael Grazioli 
31 Martin Glutz 
32 Marcel Sägesser 
33 Lilli Zerzuben 
34 Giuseppe Brandalise 
35 Niklaus Stirnimann 
36 Roy Broger 
37 André Schaffner 
38 Andreas Müller 
39 Christoph Korrodi 
40 Martin Jost 
41 Christian Klingebiel 
42 Alain Müller 
43 Jürgen Ostermeier 
44 Isabelle Kolb 
45 Roman Weber 
46 Daniel Küffer 
47 Pawel Hejak 
48 Pamela Correia 
49 Marcel Vauthey 
50 Sabine Breu 
51 Pierre Riesen 
52 Jean-Marc Faibella 
53 Phillip Eaton 
54 Ludovic Cipolla 
55 Daniel Peyer 
56 Andreia Correia 

Levente Tregova takes the win and the big wooden trophy
Levente Tregova takes the win and the big wooden trophy

The top 10 finishers all received an Area 52 t-shirt - here are 9 of them
The top 10 finishers all received an Area 52 T-shirt - here are 9 of them

The results of the Classics secondary tournament held on the same days were as follows:

Pos

Player 
1 Robert Sutter 
2 Michael Trepp 
3 Michel Dailly 
4 Levente Tregova 
5 Andreas Borer 
6 Serge Darbellay 
7 Michel Salathé 
8 Roy Broger 
9 Klaus Erhard 
10 Reto Fornara 
10 Marc Jost 
12 Damien Haldi 
13 Martin Janczyk 
13 Pierre Riesen 
15 Thomas Stalder 
16 Frank Goeltl 
17 Jürgen Ostermeier 
18 Robert Von Keller 
18 Thomas Kull 
20 Ludovic Cipolla 
20 Martin Wyss 
22 André Schaffner 
23 Pascal Zerzuben 
23 Jürgen Letzel 
26 Mathias Bergundthal 
26 Pamela Correia 
26 Raphael Grazioli 
28 Alain Müller 
29 Giuseppe Brandalise 
30 Adriano Da Silva 
31 Rolf Geissberger 
32 Niklaus Stirnimann 
33 Olivier Metzler 
33 Adrian Egloff 
35 Marco Knaur 
35 Phillip Eaton 
37 Christoph Korrodi 
38 Simon Leibundgut 
38 Daniel Harzenmoser 
40 Daniel Küffer 
41 Christian Klingebiel 
42 Amelia Müller 
43 Andreas Salathé 
44 Martin Glutz 
45 Pawel Hejak 
46 Roman Weber 
47 Daniel Peyer 
48 Isabelle Kolb 
49 Andreas Müller 
50 Lilli Zerzuben 
51 Marcel Vauthey 
51 Sabine Breu 
53 Andreia Correia 
54 Jean-Marc Faibella 
55 Martin Jost 
56 Marcel Sägesser 

So, to sum up, Area 52 is a cracking venue for an evening out for any budding pinball player, and has plenty for your friends to do if they're not so addicted to the silverball.

The 8-strong team keep the place very clean and tidy, the machine selection is varied and it has probably the most flexible opening hours of all the Swiss flipperclubs I know, opening to the public on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

It would seem that most of the team speak excellent English and several other languages as well. It's not even as far from Zurich as I remembered either, so I must find time for some more visits!

Area 52 is located in Murgenthal, Aargau, which is a very easy 40-60 minute drive from central Zurich, Basel or Bern. Be sure to check their opening times at their extensive website.

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