Story dated 30th April, 2001

The annual Dutch Pinball Association Open Championship took place on the weekend on the 28th and 29th April in the town of Leusden near Amersfoort.

The Hotel Leusden was the venue for the show and while it was a very pleasant hotel, if you wanted to visit the main town of Amersfoort it was a £9 ($13) taxi ride each way and there wasn't anything near the hotel. Hotel rooms cost about £50 ($70) and were modern and spacious. It was great to have the show actually in the hotel and made it a lot easier if you wanted to take a break from all the fun.

The show was due to open at 1pm on Saturday. This is a good idea as it gives people a reasonable chance to travel to the event on the day rather than having to stay at the hotel the previous night.

In fact anyone trying to get into the show from 1:20pm onwards (when the doors finally did open) were met with a very long, slow moving queue. Frustration levels were rising and it took about an hour to reach the front and register for the show and the competition. Pre-registering on the internet seemed to make no difference to the speed of processing and there really needed to be more people on the registration desk to speed things up.

Part of the problem was the number of members who needed to renew their subscription before getting in to the show and the organisers were surprised by the sheer number of visitors.

Once inside, players were treated to a selection of more than 75 games - mostly modern dot-matrix William's/Bally and a few older and more esoteric machines.

The two NBA Fastbreaks above were linked together so that two players could compete directly against each other.

The complete list of games reads as follows:

Tommy, Terminator 2, NBA Fastbreak (4), Space Jam, Demolition Man(2), Congo(4), Independence Day, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Shadow, Goldeneye, No Fear, Jackbot(4), Dirty Harry(4), Flintstones(2), Starship Troopers, Airborne, Fireball, Orbitor 1, Gigi, Happy Clown, Junkyard(2), Tales From The Crypt, Scared Stiff, Frankenstein(2), Wizard, Indiana Jones, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Theatre of Magic(2), Twilight Zone, Addams Family(3), Apollo 13, Viper Night Driving(2), Circus Voltaire(3), Star Wars Episode 1, Revenge From Mars(2), No Good Gofers, Champion Pub(2), Corvette, Star Trek-TNG, World Cup Soccer(2), X-Files, Twister, Roadshow(2), Cactus Canyon, Baywatch, Lost In Space, Medieval Madness(2)

If you've ever wondered where all the Congos, Dirty Harrys and Jackbot games went to, the answer is right here at the show.

There were also 4 games in the lobby opposite (not set up): Funhouse, NBA Fastbreak (2) and a Junkyard. In addition to these more modern games, there were two wooden bagatelle games, one called Cavalcade and the other one had no name.

Most of the games were supplied by a company called Fun4You while others were supplied by Foelies Flipperhal and other private owners. At the opening, all the games looked to be in excellent condition but after a few hours of heavy play, several games had to be shut off, while quite a few competition games had to be replaced or shuffled around.

The competition format was the same as in previous years. Sixteen games were used to play four rounds of 4-player games with 9 points for the winner, 5 points for second place and 2 points for third place. The top 32 scores after all four rounds then qualified for the next round on Sunday where they joined another 32 who had qualified in previous competitions. The top nine of these then competed in the finals for a top prize of a Theatre of Magic.

The full results are shown below but the main competition winner was Wilbert der Kinderen who narrowly beat Albert Nomden in the finals.

The competition organisers worked hard to keep the scores and settle disputes. There were some long waits between rounds as some games went on much longer than others, plus some games had to be replaced and competitors turned up very late for their games, holding all the other players up.

The final round on Saturday took place at 9pm. The previous round ended around 7pm, so a 2-hour break was just enough to order a taxi into Amersfoort quickly eat a meal and get a taxi back to the show. It would probably be better to play the last round at 7pm when the town's facilities are so far away, to avoid such a rush to be back at 9pm. In the event, the competition didn't restart until after 9:30pm, but you wouldn't know that if you went out to eat. Similarly, the second round was supposed to start at 9:30am Sunday morning, but didn't start until at least 10:15 - annoying if you've got up early and checked out of your room for 9:30, only to be kept hanging around until the doors open at 10am.

One game that always provides plenty of entertainment is Stern's Orbiter-1, a game with a mountainous moulded playfield where the ball rolls wildly around and even runs behind the flippers and through them from the back. There isn't much to aim at, but it's so difficult to aim for anything that this doesn't matter. It was also nice to see a Capcom Airborne - a game that doesn't turn up very often - and a few older games. All the games had signs stuck on them specifying a minimum of 2 players per game - even the single-player game Gigi.

In summary, the Dutch Pinball Association must be congratulated for organising another highly successful convention. The selection of games was excellent, though there are some criticisms. The hall really needed to be bigger for the large number of games. Lots of people were only just squeezing past players, or knocking into them making game playing very tricky. Also, the delays and queues really need to be reduced.

Also on the plus side, the bar within the convention room was very welcome and on Sunday a good selection of spares and flyers were on sale, although again in a crowded corridor.

By combining great games and a valuable competition, the biggest problem seems to be: If the DPO continues to be so popular and have so many games it will need a larger exhibition hall in future years.

 

Competition results

Many thanks to Ad Jonker and Guus Arens for this information.

DPO Finalists: (position/name/points/final score)

1 / Wilbert der Kinderen / 27 / 1851
2 / Albert Nomden / 25 / 1828
3 / Jos Dijkhuizen / 25 / 1541
4 / Joep Mertens / 27 / 857
5 / Menno van Zaanen / 32 / 783
6 / Joska Keunekamp / 28 / 681
7 / Robert Sutter (CH) / 29 / 550
8 / Joris Dekker / 27 / 547
9 / Michael Münch (D) / 507

Qualifiers: (position/name/points)

10+11 / Ingo Gerhard (D) + Jerom de Win / 25
12 / Paul Jongma / 24
13 / Lex de Kam / 23
14 / Hans Bijsterveld / 22
15-20 / Bas Vis, Paul van der Helm, Sander van der Meer, Peter Hutjes, Turgut Hefti, Norbert Broman / 21
21-24 / Jim Jansen, Hans de Vos, Henk Brakels, Thijs Borgman / 20
25 / Mark van Duinen / 19
26 - 29 / Marcel van der Zouwen, Martijn van Aken, Eko Elens, Rembrandt Badenhop / 18
30 - 32 / Robert Rodenburg, Mila Groot, Florian Faas / 17
33 - 38 / Ed van Eersel, Bob Beerda, Jeroen Peeren, Erik Kattenbelt, Henk Fauser, Jean-Paul de Win / 16
39 - 41 / Raymond Vis, Richard Baan, Martin Ayub (GB) / 15
42 - 44 / Peter van Vliet, Wouter Heek, Ralph Beckers / 14
45 / Martijn van Amsterdam / 13
46 + 47 / Roderick Verkerk + S. van Kollenburg / 12
48 + 49 / Adrian Lodge (GB) + Claudia Gerlach (D) / 11
50 / Matthijs Hoetjes / 10
51 / Beat Egg (D) / 9
52 / Freerk André de la Porte / 7
53 - 55 / Martin van den Berg, Maaten Vreij, Steven Lievens / 6
56 - 59 / Arthur van der Zee, Jan van der Bij, Frank Tampung, Pieter Berends / 5
60 / Bart Oranje / 4
61 - 63 / Mark van der Gugten, George Freling, Wil Angenent / 2
64 / Andy de Ruiter / nul

Non Qualifiers: (position/name)

65 / Clemens Deller, Danny Crompvoets, Patrick van der Will, Ramon Ulken
69 / Max Joore, Aeoni Poelwijk, Ciske Vreuls, Ine Schramade
73 / David Crompvoets, Simon Holman (GB), Guilaume Roox (B)
76 / Claudine Leonhardt, Ed Hut, Jonathan Joosten, Manuel Delafortrie (B), Richard van der Craats, Rene Visser
82 / Bram Lemmens, Karin Kolbe (D), Frank Wolthers, Hugo Badenhop, J. Poland, Jean-Luc Truyens, Taco Wouters
89 / R. Jurrissen, Jim Verschuren
91 / A. Flach, Ilse van Rooyen, J.C. Meijer, Macky van Moll, Mike Parkins (GB)
96 / Carlos Garcia Motoro (SP), Kees Augustinus, Jordan Daane
99 / Juan Jose Escuder Miquel (SP), Nico Groenenwegen, Martin Berg, Norbert Poland
103 / Lee Buck (GB), Marnix van Maarle, Dimitri van de Wiele, Gerard den Heyer, Kim-Jona Schwenk (D)
108 / Sarah Lodge (GB), Raymond Daane
110 / Anne Hortensius, Andre van der Niet, Ben Zaad, Emma Badenhop, Robert Wielemaker, Rody Neijsen, Tanja Gaustad, W. Schuerink
118 / Mark Rotman
119 / Henk Land, Luc Lemmens, Marc ter Horst, Monique Hefti, Paul van der Brug, Roel de Haan, William Akerboom, Gerard Poelwijk, Tonia Meijer
128 / Bas van Hoven, Heribert Eiden (D), J. Beishuizen, Gina de Vos, Ronald Groot
133 / Jos Crompvoets, Anita van Uitregt, Bas Verkley, Hoang van de Par, Jacqueline Weelen
138 / Alex Duin, Hetty Bijsterveld, Robert Beckmans, Martijn van Mourik
142 / Chantal Crutz, Martin van Es, Ronald Knor, Ruud Foppele

 

Ladies Finalists: (position/name/points/final score)

1 / Jolanda van der Klaauw / 21 / 2368
2 / Helen Verbeek / 25 / 1525
3 / Chantal Crutz / 28 / 1015
4 / Hetty Bijsterveld / 25 / 803
5 + 6 / Aeoni Poelwijk + Simone Boersma / 21
7 + 8 / Agnes Altena + Claudine Leonhardt / 20
9 + 10 / Mirjam van Mill + Tonia Meijer / 19
11 - 13 / Ilse van Rooyen, Penny Broman, Yvonne Schubert / 18
14 + 15 / Linda v.d. Wel + Sarah Lodge (GB) / 14
16 / Mathilda Harenkamp / 13
17 / Annette Potiek / 12
18 / Tanja Gaustad / 11
19 / Debby Ruiter / 10
20 - 22 / Ine Schramade, Karin ter Horst, Macky van Moll / 9
23 / Monique Hefti / 6
24 / Anita van Uitregt / 4

 

Veterans Competition: (position/name/points)

1 / Hans Vos / 2764
2 / Danny Crompvoets / 1715
3 / Macky van Moll / 1621
4 / Robbert Crompvoets / 1534
5 / Peter Tartwijk / 1413
6 / Hans Balk / 1265
7 / Jos Crompvoets / 1204
8 / Jos Dijkhuizen / 963
9 / Nico Groenenwegen / 748
10 / J.C. Meijer / 740
11 / George Freling / 682
12 / Jan van der Klaauw / 635
13 / William Akerboom / 461
14 / Henk Land / 361
15 / A.J. Meijer - Tap / 320

 

Junior Competition: (position/name/points)

1 / Ingmar Brandt / 1486
2 / Max de Witte / 1259
3 / Bram Lemmens / 1206
4 / Josuah Serpara / 1167
5 / Giorgio Lapian / 984
6 / Gina de Vos / 895
7 / Mathijs Lensink / 777
8 / Marlou Lensink / 625



Country codes used:
(GB) = Great Britain, (D) = Germany, (B) = Belgium, (CH) = Switzerland, (SP) = Spain