Dates: July 2nd & 3rd, 2011
Location: Presso la Palestra, Cesano Maderno, Italy.

Report by Ad Jonker

Federico Ravagnati, owner of a pinball shop in Cesano Maderno about twelve miles north of Milan(o), organised the third edition of this small competition in his home town.

T.I.F. 2011 Organiser, Federico Ravagnati

This was the third edition and my second visit.

The venue had changed to a gym of a school closed for the holidays. Lots of space, but unfortunately slightly fewer games (thirteen) and competitors than in the previous edition.

Compared to the show held in Rovigo, games from three decades are used for the competition.

The tournament's poster

Actually it should be five decades, since the sixties and nilties (not mentioned on the poster) were also present.

Tournament T-shirts from last year and this year

On Saturday there was no competition, but in the afternoon the venue is open for free play and also for some repairs to be carried out.

I spent all Saturday in there for just two reasons; the Italian made EM-games and the US games built for Italy.

There were five in total, three Gottlieb and two Italian-built games. Three of them could use a good cleaning, but two others were in nice shape.  I was able to take a number of pictures and have a number of games on them.

The Best Wizard

The tournament is held on the Sunday afternoon. Thirty-four players registered and they were grouped to play nine games in total.

Players in the tournament

The ranks of players on each game were added together and the total result of all games was the final result of the tournament. No additional rounds here.

Games used for the tournament were:

• Tivoli, Gottlieb 1968 (copy of Fun Fair with different artwork, both Italian versions of Fun Park)
• Grande Domino, Gottlieb 1968 (only made for the Italian market)
• Bumper Pool, Gottlieb 1969 (Italian version of Mini Pool)
• The Best Wizard, Skillgame 1972
• Crocket, Giorgio Massiero 1976
• El Dorado, Premier 1984
• Jurassic Park, Data East 1993
• Congo, Williams 1995
• Austin Powers, Stern 2001
  

And another four games for free play:

• World Cup Soccer
• Twilight Zone
• WWF Royal Rumble
• The Champion Pub

As much as the older games helped me to finish third last year, I could not succeed this year and ended twentieth out of thirty-four.

The results on the scoring system

The final results were:

The winner, Daniele C. Acciari

Runner-up, Manuele Cereda

Timothée Hulin-Bouarc was in third place

So is it worth a visit next year?

• It is a small tournament, more recreational need to be added.
• DMD games are available, but it features all generations of games.
• Most special are the EM games only made for - or in - Italy.
• You can easily combine it with a visit to Milano or Como (lake Como).
• If you like Italian food there are lots of great trattorias in the vicinity.

So with these points, you can decide if it will be worth the trip for you.

If it is held next year, the venue may change but it will most probably be on the first weekend of July again. Check www.giocoflipper.it or the Pinball News Diary page for more information.

Finally, if you win this tournament you get to a very high standard according to the trophy.  Namely, 'God of Pinball'.

Only for the God of Pinball

© Pinball News 2011