Date: October 4th & 5th, 2014
Location: JC Den Eglantier, Apostelstraat 13, 9100 Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.

Report by David Mainwaring

Sint-Niklaas is a commercial, industrial, and transportation centre of the Waas region, which has been transformed from a relative wasteland into an intensively cultivated area. The city is known for having the largest market square in Belgium, and at different times this square boasted both the largest Christmas tree and the largest Easter egg in Europe.

Sint-Niklaaskerk, outside the venue

The square outside the venue which was lined with bars,
many accommodating pinball machines of their own

The venue was the JC Den Eglantier, which is used as a community hall for young people and a nightclub when it is not being used for pinball tournaments.

The venue

We were warmly greeted by the front desk staff. It was here you received your player badge, and you could also buy tokens for food at the BBQ and drinks at the bar. Beer in 330ml bottles, draft beer, and bottles of soft drinks were all €1.50 each but had to be bought with tokens.

Classic entries at €3 a shot could also be bought here.

A warm welcome awaits

The bar staff – ready to take your order

Drinks were best enjoyed in the covered patio area at the back of the venue.

Enjoying a beer in the outside area before the next round -
that’s the next round of pinball, not drinks!

Soaking up the last few days of autumnal sunshine

Where have all the graffiti artists gone?

The BBQ area served a selection of burgers, hotdogs and salad. The food selection was somewhat smaller than in previous years.

The BBQ area

The relief rooms - no problem at this venue with getting the right toilet

The first practice room was situated at the far end of the outside area. All the machines here were set on free play.

The first practice room

The first practice room

The first practice room

A second practice room was located in a room off the main hall. Once again, the machines were all on free play.

The second practice room

The second practice room

This way to... well, the sign speaks for itself

Players in the main Belgian Open Pinball (BOP) tournament could choose any eight of the available machines and play a single 3-ball game on each of them. Ranking points were awarded for each score, and the total ranking points determined your position.

Main Tournament machines

Main Tournament machines

Main Tournament machines

Anytime during the main or classics tournaments you could check your scores at one of these terminals and see how you were (or were not) faring.

Repurposed Photo Play terminals showing current rankings
- these were also available on WiFi for those with smart phones

Checking how your scores were faring was important, as you also had a joker where you could either replay one of your earlier eight machines to replace the score - whether it was higher or lower - or choose a ninth machine which would replace whichever machine was giving you the least ranking points.

So choosing whether, and how, to play your joker was important.

Two more jokers - Robert Sutter and Ad Jonker enjoying themselves

Pinball family - Dina Fukson, Jim Lindsey and Kate Morris

Does higher mean more power?
We can hardly see you all the way up there in the tournament arbitration area!

To see more of the venue, the games and the atmosphere, here's a Seven Minute Tour video of the Belgian Open Pinball 2014.

The top 56 players in the main tournament's qualifying session would compete in Sunday's play-offs.

Here are the qualifying results in the main tournament:

Meanwhile the Classics were underway. Pick any three machines from the eight available and try to put up three good scores. Your first entry was included in the price of the main tournament but extra entries were €3 each. 161 Players entered the classics, but only 16 made it through qualification.

The Classics Tournament

Thomas Evrenos tries his hand at Grand Prix

All the games played are registered, unless you decide to void the complete entry. Only your best entry will count towards your final position.

After the qualification period, the 16 top qualified players moved to the final rounds which started at 2:30pm on Sunday. The final rounds were played through the quarter finals (4 groups of 4 players), semi-finals (4 pairs), followed by the 4-player final.

Classics machines

Classics machines

There was also the Winner Takes It All tournament where six machines were available to play with the top scorer on each from both days went into the play-offs.

Winner Takes It All machines -
€1 a game and a percentage of the takings went to the winner

Franck Bona – trying to take it all!

Here we have the so called youths enjoying their victories

In the Classics Tournament, the top 16 qualifiers were:

The play-offs in the Classics Tournament

Winner of the Classics: David Mainwaring (UK) with his prizes -
slutty Lucy AC/DC lighting kit and acrylic grilles, WoZ mini playfield, and trophy

In the main BOP tournament, Robert Sutter, Cayle George and Lieven Engelbeen made it through the winners bracket into the final, where they were joined by Michel Rorive who won the loser bracket.

The path to the final

In the final, the three who remained undefeated got to choose a machine to play. Points were awarded for the finishing positions in each game, with the winner receiving 4 points, second place 2 points and 1 point for third.

After all three games, the winner was Cayle George who beat Robert Sutter into second place, with Lieven Engelbeen in third and Michel Rorive in fourth.

Belgian Open Pinball winner, Cayle George with his trophy
and prizes of a ColorDMD and pinball topper
(picture: pinhead)

Second place, Robert Sutter with his trophy and prizes
(picture: pinhead)

Third place, Lieven Engelbeen
(picture: pinhead)

Fourth place, Michel Rorive
(picture: pinhead)

There was also a team tournament which was won for the third year running by the Dutch Pinball Team. This year they beat Team Sweden who took second, last year's runners-up Team KDIG were third and Team France were fourth.

After attending the BOP 2014 I was happy with both the venue and the quality of the machines.

The competitions all ran well, but one small niggle with the classics was how only six people were allowed to play at a time. Sometimes there were more staff in the small fenced off area than players. At one point we counted eight staff. The queues for the classics were long - especially on Sunday - and 30 minutes was the maximum waiting time.

I am glad to see the results screen projector was situated high on the wall above all the people. Last year it was positioned on the bar next to the main walkway, and every 3 seconds the projected scores were obscured by shadows of people walking by. I am glad they fixed this issue.

It was a very happy event and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Well done to the BOP 2014 team for making this a very successful event again, and of course for all the hard work involved. See you next year!

I leave you with a picture of some of the stars of the show, the BOP 2014 team...

Members of the BOP organising team

© Pinball News 2014