UK PINBALL PARTY
SUMMER BBQ 2015


Date: 21st August - 23rd August, 2015
Location: Heighway Pinball, Cyfarthfa Industrial Estate, Merthyr Tydfil, CF47 8PE, UK

After several years of being hosted at a hotel in Daventry in the English Midlands, this year's UK Pinball Party featured a radical change of location as it headed to South Wales.

The motivation behind the move was the formation of show organiser Andrew Heighway's pinball company, Heighway Pinball.

The Heighway Pinball factory, home to the UK Pinball Party in 2015
The Heighway Pinball factory, home to the UK Pinball Party in 2015

Running the company obviously takes up a lot of his time, so holding the UK Pinball Party in the same premises not only made arrangements easier, it also allowed visitors to tour the factory and gave machine donors much more time to set-up and tear-down. Indeed, we took our van-load of machines and tournament equipment down to Merthyr Tydfil ten days before the event began, and at the time of writing it is (hopefully) all still there.

Although it is common in many countries, this was one of the few UK pinball shows where it is possible to drive into the venue to unload cars and vans. Given the constant rain outside for almost the entire three days, that was a welcome feature.

Vans could drive into the hall to unload
Vans could drive into the hall to unload...

...which is just as well
...which is just as well

Machines in the free-play area waiting to be set up on Friday afternoon
Machines in the free-play area waiting to be set up on Friday afternoon

Setting up the power in the tournaments area
Setting up the power in the tournaments area

The UK Pinball Party opened to guests at 6pm on Friday.

The building is split into two separate units. The one on the right is where pinball manufacturing is currently taking place. The one on the left is normally unused, but once production starts to really ramp up, it is expected to expand into this second unit.

Guests entering the building first arrived in the right-hand unit where they encountered the front desk team which issued wristbands and offered assorted merchandise for sale.

The team at the front desk
The team at the front desk

T-shirts featuring the show or the Full Throttle game
T-shirts featuring the show or the Full Throttle game

T-shirts were priced at £12 ($18.50/€16.50) each, while copies of Pinball Magazine #2 were also on sale for the same price.

Pinball Magazine and the book 'Pinball'
Pinball Magazine and the book 'Pinball'

Just across from the front desk were two Full Throttle machines. One had standard trim but an optional backbox LCD panel, while the other sported one of the two limited edition colour options.

Two Full Throttles in the lobby
Two Full Throttles in the lobby

Then it was into the show being held in the left-hand factory unit.

One of the Bacardi bagatelle machines was next to the entrance to the show hall
One of the Bacardi bagatelle machines was at the entrance to the show hall

The show floor
The show floor

The large space allowed for plenty of seating for anyone wanting to take a break from the pinball, or to enjoy the food and drinks on sale.

Cooked food and hot drinks were prepared on-site
Cooked food and hot drinks were prepared on-site

Cold drinks could be purchased from the bar
Cold drinks could be purchased from the bar

Moving further into the hall, the first block of machines were reserved for the seven tournaments being run over the three days, although they were opened up for everyone to play once the tournaments were over for the day.

The tournament desk team of Dawn, Tim, Anne and Jayne Raison
The tournament desk team of Dawn, Tim, Anne and Jayne Raison

Trophies, medals and cash prizes were at stake
Trophies, medals and cash prizes were at stake

The first bank of tournament machines
The first bank of tournament machines

The facing bank
The facing bank

Further into the hall we find the bulk of the pinballs which form the free-play area.

TThe first bank of free-play games
The first bank of eight free-play games

More free-play machines
Three more free-play machines

Then a longer row
Then a longer row

One side of a bank of free-play machines in the centre of the area
One side of a bank of free-play machines in the centre of the area

Two EM games complete the row
Two EM games complete the row

The other side of the same bank
The other side of the same bank

At the back of the hall were a The Walking Dead LE and a The Wizard of Oz
At the back of the hall were a The Walking Dead LE and a The Wizard of Oz

And another row of games at the back of the hall
And another row of games at the back of the hall

Also at the back of the hall was a selection of video games.

The video games area
The video games area

Finally, there was another bank of pinballs leading up to the vendor stands.

Four machines featured the PinSound replacement sound board
Four machines featured the PinSound replacement sound board

PinSound had four demonstrator games fitted with headphones to help guests hear the difference one of their boards makes. Incidentally, the picture above features the show's special guest, but more on him later.

Nicolas at the Pinsound booth
Nicolas at the PinSound booth

Next to PinSound was Dave Willcox's Pinball Daze stand selling a wide selection of both new and a few reclaimed pinball parts.

Lynda and Dave with Pinball Daze
Lynda and Dave with Pinball Daze

Taking up the corner position was Andy Netherwood's Pinball Mania. As usual they had a large number of electronic components in their tower, as well as their regular range of rubbers, cleaning materials, LEDs and more.

Lisa on the Pinball Mania stand
Lisa on the Pinball Mania stand

The final vendor at the show was Jon Melleny of 1 Stop Pinball who had masses of LEDs along with his displays, cabinet protectors and other assorted pinball goodness.

Jon with his 1 Stop Pinball stand
Jon with his 1 Stop Pinball stand

So here's our full list of all the pinballs, videos and vendors at the UK Pinball Party 2015.

Free-Play Machines
Addams Family, The
Avatar, James Cameron's
Baby Pac-Man
Batman Forever
Batman, The Dark Knight*
Black Knight
Black Knight 2000
Black Knight 2000
Bride of Pinbot, The Machine
Buck Rogers*
Cactus Canyon Continued
Class of 1812
Diner
Dirty Harry*
Dr. Dude
Dracula, Bram Stoker's
Family Guy
Fantasy*
Fathom
Fire!
Fireball II
Fish Tales
Fish Tales
Full Throttle
Full Throttle
Funhouse
Hi-Deal
Indiana Jones (WMS)*
Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
Iron Man
Iron Man
Jokerz!
Jolly Jokers
Lethal Weapon 3
Magic City
Mystic
NBA Fastbreak
New Canasta*
Operation Thunder
Party Animal
Phantom of the Opera*
Pirates of the Caribbean
Playboy (Data East)
Playboy (Stern)
Police Force
Pool Sharks
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends, The Adventures of
Rollergames
Scared Stiff
Shadow, The
Simpsons Pinball Party, The
Simpsons, The
Six Million Dollar Man, The
Sopranos, The
Space Invaders
Space Shuttle
Space Station
Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Star Trek (Premium)
Star Trek (Pro)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Surf 'N Safari
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Terminator 2
Theatre of Magic
Time Machine (DE)
Twilight Zone
Walking Dead, The (LE)
Whitewater
Wizard of Oz, The
Wizard!

Non-Pinball Games
Bacardi Bagatelle
Daytona USA, Twin
Killer Instinct 2
Mortal Kombat II
Primal Rage
Space Invaders
Star Wars Racer, Twin*
The Simpsons
*machine not working or not switched on

Vendors
1 Stop Pinball
Pinball Daze
Pinball Mania
PinSound

The first of the tournaments got under way at 7:30pm on Friday, and that was the UK Pinball Team Tournament.

Eight teams of four took part, competing in one of two groups and playing a single four-ball match against each of the three other teams in their group.

UK Pinball Team Tournament Groups
Group A
Special When Lit:
  Ivan Miles
Greg Mott
Peter Blakemore
Richard Mallet

Not Surrey Pinball:
  Martin Ayub
David Mainwaring
Mike Parkins
Vin Jauhal

French Froggs:
  Nicolas Linqué
Fabien Baffault
Marianne Linqué
Paul Baffault

Exotic Aruba:
  Dan Wallace
Ian Wallace
David Dodds
John Gray
Group B
Bene Pinball Team:
  Albert Nomden
Paul Jongma
Mark van der Gugten
Steven Demets

The DNQs:
  John Whitfield
Tim Thornton
Robin Kemp
Nick Hamill

As Yet Unnamed:
  Jim Lindsay
Dina Fukson
Mike Kindler
Gary Flower

Swedish Meat:
  Daniel Janson
Patrik Tenn
Ingvar Karlsson
Anders Gånge

In the four-ball games, each team member plays one of the balls.

Swedish Meat play Exotic Aruba on Spider-Man
Swedish Meat play Exotic Aruba on Spider-Man

When all three rounds of matches had been played, the two teams with the most wins from each group progressed to the final, which was played in the same way as the first round. The teams who made the final round were:

UK Pinball Team Tournament Groups
Group A
French Froggs
Exotic Aruba
Group B
The DNQs
Swedish Meat

Exotica Aruba vs The DNQs on Star Trek - TNG
Exotica Aruba vs The DNQs on Star Trek - TNG

After the three matches, French Froggs, Exotic Aruba and The DNQs all had two wins, while Swedish Meat had not won a game. So there was a three-way sudden-death match to decide the top three places. The machine drawn at random was Full Throttle.

Tim from The DNQs on Full Throttle in the play-off match
Tim from The DNQs on Full Throttle in the play-off match

In a close game, The DNQs not only qualified but came first with 20.8M to Exotic Aruba's 18.7M, with the French Froggs not far behind on 12.9M.

The final scores
The final scores

The winners of the UK Pinball Team Tournament - The DNQs
The winners of the UK Pinball Team Tournament - The DNQs

Second place, Exotic Aruba
Second place, Exotic Aruba

Third place, French Froggs
Third place, French Froggs

Fourth place, Swedish Meat
Fourth place, Swedish Meat

Once the Team Tournament was over, play continued on all the machines - free-play and tournament - until the show closed at midnight.

The show opened again at 9am on Saturday. The first events of the day were the first qualifying group in the UK Pinball Open, the start of qualifying in the UK Pinball Classic and Saturday's UK Pinball Kids Tournament, all of which began at 10am.

In the UK Pinball Open, 88 players were registered with a number of reserves waiting to take the places of any who couldn't make it. The location of the show was always going to mean fewer visitors and so rather than the 100+ players who usually take part the original plan was for 80 players. However, the number of players who missed out called for an increase to 88.

Those 88 players were split into 8 groups of 11, where everybody played a single 3-ball game against all the other players in the same group. Players could record their wins and losses on their score cards which also showed who played first in each game. Machines were drawn at random. Here is the selection of machines:

UK Pinball Open Machines
Avatar, James Cameron's
Blackout
Corvette
Dracula (Stern)
Fish Tales
Full Throttle
Getaway, The: High Speed 2
Goldeneye
Jackbot
Monster Bash
Roadshow
Scared Stiff
Spider-Man
Star Trek (Pro)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Walking Dead, The (Pro)
Whitewater
World Cup Soccer
World Soccer Challenge
WWF Royal Rumble
X-Men (Pro)

When all the matches in a group had been played, the 4 players with the most wins in the group (32 players in total) progressed to the play-offs on Sunday. The current win/loss records were shown on a large LCD screen on the tournament desk so everyone could keep track of their progress.

Four of the groups (A-D) played in the morning session starting at 10am, the remaining four (E-H) played in the afternoon session starting at 2pm. Entry to the Open tournament cost £10 ($15.50/€13.70) in addition to show entry, and was purchased in advance through the show website.

Play in the UK Pinball Open qualifying round
Play in the UK Pinball Open qualifying round

The 32 qualifiers were:

UK Pinball Open Qualifiers
Albert Nomden
Andrew Foster
Andrew Wilson
Cayle George
Daniel Janson
David Dodds
David Mainwaring
Franck Bona
Greg Mott
Helmut Langenbruch
Ian Craig
Ivan Miles
Janos Kiss
Jasmijn de Jong
John Gray
John Higgins
John Whitfield
Kayla Greet
Mark van der Gugten
Martin Ayub
Matt Vince
Mike Parkins
Neil Fellender
Paul Jongma
Paul Owen
Peter Blakemore
Philip Fryars
Richard Mallett
Romain Fontaine
Thomas Evrenos
Wayne Johns
William Dutton

Those not playing in the current Open groups could play in the Classic Tournament.

This was held on six machines opposite the tournament desk. They were:

UK Pinball Classic Machines
Banzai Run
Caveman*
Firepower
Harlem Globetrotters
Mousin' Around
Nitro Groundshaker
*subsequently replaced on Sunday by Dracula (Stern), when Blackout was added

This followed the same format as the Open from previous years, where players could choose any five of the six machines and play a single 3 or 5 ball game (depending on the machine) on each of them. Their scores were ranked against other players with the top score on a machine earning 100 points. The total of their five ranking scores gave them their overall total.

Scores were recorded on Android tablets and linked back to the main tournament system which showed the current standings on a monitor. Qualifying ran from 10am until 6pm, after which the 32 players with the highest rankings progressed to the play-offs on Sunday. Entry for this cost £6 and was bought on the day.

Qualifying in the UK Pinball Classic
Qualifying in the UK Pinball Classic

The UK Pinball Kids Tournament also returned, with separate tournaments on Saturday and Sunday.

The Kids Tournament was open to anyone under 16 years of age, but was split into two divisions - Juniors for those under 12-years-old, and Youth for players aged 12 to 15.

These were straight high score tournaments run on separate machines:

UK Pinball Kids Tournament - Junior/Youth Machines
Batman
Flintstones, The

The Flintstones was for the Junior players and Batman was the Youth machine on Saturday.

Phoebe plays on The Flintstones in the Junior Division
Phoebe plays on The Flintstones in the Junior Division

They were then swapped over on Sunday. Play ran from 10am until 4pm each day, after which the winners were announced and trophies and medals awarded by Jayne Raison.

Here are Saturday's results:

UK Pinball Kids Tournament - Saturday
Junior Division - The Flintstones
Youth Division - Batman
1st - Leon Fryars 1st - Adam Bona
2nd - Harvey Warr 2nd - Lewis Fryars
3rd - Phoebe Lewell 3rd - Daniel Wallace

Winner of Saturday's Junior Division, Leon Fryars
Winner of Saturday's Junior Division, Leon Fryars

Second place, Harvey Warr
Second place, Harvey Warr

Third place, Phoebe Lewell
Third place, Phoebe Lewell

Winner of Saturday's Youth Division, Adam Bona
Winner of Saturday's Youth Division, Adam Bona

Second place, Lewis Fryars
Second place, Lewis Fryars

Third place, Daniel Wallace
Third place, Daniel Wallace

At two pre-arranged times during the day - one at lunchtime and another late in the afternoon - Andrew led a free tour of the Heighway Pinball factory.

Guests assemble for the factory tour
Guests assemble for the factory tour

Romain and Andrew explain the manufacturing process
Romain and Andrew explain the manufacturing process

The group then went into the print room where Romain showed how they print their own translites, cabinet side art, and can also print playfields.

Andrew in the print room
Andrew in the print room

In mid-afternoon there was the first of several private viewings of Heighway Pinball's progress with their second game - Alien. These viewings were held in a private conference room where, in order to make sure no unapproved licensed assets were distributed, no cameras pictures were permitted. Well, none except for this one.

The guests are shown development work on Alien
The guests are shown development work on Alien

Among the devices shown were pop bumper toppers shaped like eggs but made of a textured translucent material lit from below by a number of RGB LEDs, allowing it to pulsate and simulate movement within. A cabinet with Alien artwork and translite was also shown, complete with bright yellow rotating beacons on the backbox.

Also taking place on Saturday were the finals of the UK Pinball League.

The League is spread right across the UK and split into six regions covering Scotland, the North, the Midlands, the South-West, London & the South East, and Northern Ireland & Ireland. Each region produces its own winner, but at the end of the season the top players qualify for the A and B Division League Finals held at the UK Pinball Party.

Those finals are run like a regular league meeting, with players playing a selection of machines, with the scores ranked and points awarded. The player with the most points wins the final.

Players in the UK Pinball League final
Players in the UK Pinball League final

The machines used were:

UK Pinball Classic Machines
Dracula, Bram Stoker's
Iron Man
Spider-Man
Star Trek (Premium)
Walking Dead, The (Pro)
 

The winners' trophies would be awarded on Sunday afternoon, just before the Open and Classic finals.

Trophies for the UK Pinball League
Trophies for the UK Pinball League

The show continued until 7pm when the doors closed so preparations could be made in the factory for the special awards dinner.

Guests assembled at 8pm and found a position on the four tables set up in a square pattern. Entry to the awards dinner cost £32.50 per person, or could be bought at a discounted rate as part of a show package.

Guests at the special awards dinner
Guests at the special awards dinner

Once everyone had gathered and taken their positions, the dinner’s main course was served.  The highlight of his was the hog roast, which is essentially a whole roasted pig, served with assorted side dishes of potatoes, bread rolls, sage and onion stuffing, apple sauce, sausages, chicken drumsticks, and various salad items. 

The hog roast
The hog roast

Although the main meat was a little dry, the overall meal was of a good quality with plenty to go round.  Guests were invited to help themselves to second (or third) servings, and this was followed by a choice of desserts such as cheesecake, gateau, and profiteroles.

Once the meal had been concluded, Andrew began the evening’s entertainment with an impromptu auction to raise funds for Barry Oursler - last year’s special guest - whose wife had just recently passed away.  Heighway Pinball, Pinball News, Pinside and Matt Vince all donated items to be auctioned.

Andrew shows one of the T-shirts being auctioned
Andrew shows one of the T-shirts being auctioned

The highest bid of the evening was on a one-of-a-kind Full Throttle sample playfield, which raised £200 ($310/€275), but two Full Throttle side panels fetched £50 and £45 each, with a translite reaching £51.

Another bid is received
Another bid is received

In total, the auction raised £414.50 ($638.50/€567.65) for Barry.

Every year the UK Pinball Party inducts a number of new members into the UK Pinball Group Hall of Fame.  The previous inductees are:

UK Pinball Group Hall of Fame

John Trudeau

Martin Ayub

Andy Netherwood

Steve Ritchie

Gary Flower

Nick Bennett

Dennis Nordman

Gary Stern

Rob Berk

Jim Schelberg

Mark Squires

Jack Guarnieri

Jay Stafford

Will Barber

Mark Ritchie

Steve Kordek

Andrew Heighway

Mike Pacak

Dave Willcox

Gary Flower introduced the first new member of the Hall of Fame, Matt Vince, who organises the London Pinball Championship and the London Pinball League, loans machines to many events, operates pinball in the greater London area, and has raised a considerable sum for charity.

Gary Flower inducts Matt Vince
Gary Flower inducts Matt Vince

Pinball News Editor Martin Ayub then introduced the second inductee of the evening.  For all his work promoting competitive pinball and creating a system to rank players, not only in the UK but across the world, Josh Sharpe of the IFPA joined the Hall of Fame. Josh had sent a video message which was played at the dinner.

UK Pinball Group Hall of Fame 2015 inductee, Josh Sharpe
UK Pinball Group Hall of Fame 2015 inductee, Josh Sharpe

Finally, Andrew inducted the show’s special guest, Joe Balcer, into the Hall of Fame.

Andrew inducts Joe Balcer
Andrew inducts Joe Balcer

One of last year's inductees was unable to be present to collect his commemorative award, but he was here this year, so Andrew presented a plaque and certificate to Dave Willcox.

2104 inductee, Dave Willcox
2104 inductee, Dave Willcox

Dave then presented the Dave Rolfe Memorial Shield to the winner of the Welsh Pinball Cup which took place the previous month. That went to Matt Vince.

Welsh Pinball Cup winner Matt Vince receives the Dave Rolfe Memorial Shield
Welsh Pinball Cup winner Matt Vince receives the Dave Rolfe Memorial Shield

Joe then took the microphone to give a presentation about his many years in the pinball and coin-op business.

Joe Balcer was the guest speaker at the dinner
Joe Balcer was the guest speaker at the dinner

Joe began by describing how he got into pinball in 1982 at the age of 23 at Midway Manufacturing, where they were making Pac-Man machines. His job there was making fixtures for the production line but he soon got involved with the company's pinball line where Granny and the Gators was their next machine.

Joe talks about how he first got into pinball
Joe talks about how he first got into pinball

Joe then went through all the machines with which he was involved, from making tooling or assemblies on games such as Spy Hunter, Black Pyramid, Kings of Steel and Eight Ball Champ at Bally through to full game design at Sega and Stern on Star Wars Trilogy, Starship Troopers, Apollo 13, and The Simpsons Pinball Party.

Joe talks about his time at Sega and Stern
Joe talks about his time at Sega and Stern

Most recently Joe designed The Wizard of Oz for Jersey Jack Pinball, followed by the main design work on The Hobbit.

Joe describes the playfield features on The Wizard of Oz
Joe describes the playfield features on The Wizard of Oz

After his presentation, Joe took questions from the audience which covered how he came to leave Jersey Jack Pinball and how various features in The Hobbit were originally designed to work.

You can hear Joe's presentation here:

Audio Click here to play the MP3 of Joe, or right click to download the file. You can also use the player below to play it within this page.
 

Get the Flash Player to hear this audio clip.

After the dinner, guest could play any of the machines at the show into the early hours of the morning, with the doors finally closing at 3am.

Sunday's events began at 10am with the show's doors opening and qualifiers in the UK Pinball Open getting ready for their first play-off games.

Play-off games in the UK Pinball Open
Play-off games in the UK Pinball Open

The format was head-to-head best-of-three matches against pre-selected opponents. The winner of the match progressed to the next round while the loser dropped into the loser bracket. However, unlike regular double-elimination, there was no way back into the final once you were in the loser bracket. So the best you could then finish is third place.

Rounds of the Open play-offs were alternated with rounds of the Classic play-offs, so that both tournaments concluded around the same time.

Classic play-offs
Classic play-offs

Also running was Sunday's Kids Tournament, with the Junior and Youth Divisions played on the opposite machines from Saturday.

The Flintstones was the Youth machine, Batman the Junior's
The Flintstones was the Youth's machine, Batman the Junior's

The Kids Tournament concluded at 4pm when trophies and medals were awarded to the top three in each division by UK Pinball League head, Greg Mott. They were:

UK Pinball Kids Tournament - Sunday
Junior Division - The Flintstones
Youth Division - Batman
1st - Leon Fryars 1st - Lewis Fryars
2nd - Rebecca Whitfield 2nd - Adam Bona
3rd - Daniel Davies 3rd - Daniel Wallace

Winner of Sunday's Junior Division, Leon Fryars
Winner of Sunday's Junior Division, Leon Fryars

Third place, Daniel Davies
Third place, Daniel Davies

Winner of Sunday's Youth Division, Lewis Fryars
Winner of Sunday's Youth Division, Lewis Fryars

Second place, Adam Bona
Second place, Adam Bona

Third place, Daniel Wallace
Third place, Daniel Wallace

The UK Pinball Classic was the next to conclude. In an exciting best-of-three final between Paul Jongma from the Netherlands and Will Dutton from the UK, the first game went to Paul after a close game where either player could have won going into the last ball.

Will pulled it back to 1-1 on the second game and went on to take the third and deciding game to win the final. In the loser bracket final on Firepower, Franck Bona beat Ivan Miles.

Franck wins on Firepower to take third place
Franck wins on Firepower to take third place

Will Dutton, Winner of the UK Pinball Classic 2015
Will Dutton, Winner of the UK Pinball Classic 2015

Second place, Paul Jongma
Second place, Paul Jongma

Third place, Franck Bona
Third place, Franck Bona

Fourth place, Ivan Miles
Fourth place, Ivan Miles

Here are the full results:

UK Pinball Classic 2015
1 Will Dutton
2 Paul Jongma
3 Frank Bona
4 Ivan Miles
5=
Daniel Janson
Kate Morris
7= Helmut Langenbruch
Andrew Wilson
10= Cayle George
Nick Baxter
Andrew Foster
Albert Norden
14= Richard Mallett
Wayne Johns
Keith Boreland
Timothy Raison
20= Peter Blakemore
David Tucker
John Gray
Jonathon Joosten
Ian Craig
David Dodds
Vin Jauhal
David Mainwaring
28= Mike Parkins
Nick Hamill
Paul Garner
Mark van der Gugten
Kevin Donovan
Thomas Evrenos
Dina Fukson
Lukasz Dziewulski
 
Non-Qualifiers
33 Mike Parkins
34 Vin Jahual
35 Tim Thornton
36 Lewis Fryars
37= Kayla Greet
Martin Ayub
39 Matt Vince
40= Jasmijn de Jong
Jayne Raison
42 Lynda Williams
43 Jono Sandilands
44 Tony Smith
45 Adam Bona
46 Shaun harvey
47 Neil Fellender
48 Robin Kemp
49 Leo Galway
51= Dan Bradford
John Whitfield
Oscar Evrenos
53= Mike Kindler
Terry Sulivan
55 Jim Lindsay
56 Philip Fryars
57 Stefan Riedler
58 James Gadbury
59 Gary Hardy
60= Daniel Wallace
Thomas Florian
62 Akroyd Steve
63 Julie Chambers
64= Francesca Yeeles
Richard Rothwell-Jackson
66 Dave Prowse
67 Steven Demets
68 Mark Roberts
69 Ian Wallace
70 Dave Langley
71 Graham Rowley
72 Victor Machaart
73 Thomas Doepelheuer
74 Paul Rubens
75 Jakub Gandecki
76 Greg Mott
77 Pete Lloss
78 Dave Willcox
79 Daniela Oymann
80 John Higgins
81 Mel Smith

Which just left the UK Pinball Open final and 3rd/4th play-off.

Mark van der Gugten and Cayle George were the final two in the Loser Bracket, so they played their single game final on The Walking Dead to decide 3rd and 4th places.

Mark checks to see how Cayle is doing
Mark checks to see how Cayle is doing

In the end it was Cayle who triumphed to take third place.

And so to the final between Albert Nomden from the Netherlands and Franck Bona from France.

Albert and Franck in the UK Pinball Open 2015 final
Albert and Franck in the UK Pinball Open 2015 final

Their best-of-three match began with a random pick by Albert which was Corvette.

Franck began, but didn't have a very good first ball, scoring just over 8M. Albert did much better with his first ball, but Franck recovered well with his second and third balls and went on to win the game. 1-0 to Franck.

Albert plays Corvette
Albert plays Corvette but loses to Franck

The next random pick was Jackbot. The loser of each game got to pick position on the next one, so Albert made Franck play first.

Franck on game 2 - Jackbot
Franck on game 2 - Jackbot

The audience watching Albert play
The audience watching Albert play

Going into the third and final ball, Franck was behind with 289M to Albert's 850M but unlike on Corvette there was no comeback, and Albert won to level the scores at 1-1.

The deciding game would be played on Spider-Man.

Franck made Albert play first and he had a good ball one, racking up over 60M.

Albert begins on Spider-Man
Albert begins on Spider-Man

Once again Franck was playing catch-up after scoring 38M on his first ball, a situation not made any easier by Albert's consistent scoring, earning another 60M+ on his second ball.

Franck needed a good second ball, but he didn't get it, only adding 10M to his total.

The third ball begins
The third ball begins

Once again, Albert was relentless, getting Battle Royale and adding another 60M+ on his third ball. Franck had quite a challenge, even for someone renowned for making a comeback on his last ball.

Franck plays the last ball of the final
Franck plays the last ball of the final

Sadly, this was not to be the comeback of all comebacks, and Franck ended on just 45M, making Albert the winner.

Trophies were then awarded by Peter Blakemore.

Winner of the UK Pinball Open 2015, Albert Nomden
Winner of the UK Pinball Open 2015, Albert Nomden

Second place, Franck Bona
Second place, Franck Bona

Third place, Cayle George
Third place, Cayle George

Fourth place, Mark van der Gugten
Fourth place, Mark van der Gugten

Here are the full results:

UK Pinball Open 2015
1 Albert Nomden
2 Franck Bona
3 Cayle George
4 Mark van der Gugten
5= Peter Blakemore
David Mainwaring
7= Greg Mott
Ivan Miles
10= Romain Fontaine
Mike Parkins
David Dodds
Jasmijn de Jong
14= Helmut Langenbruch
Andrew Foster
Paul Jongma
Richard Mallett
20= Daniel Janson
Matt Vince
John Higgins
Thomas Evrenos
Rowan Salger
John Gray
John Whitfield
Andrew Wilson
28= Paul Owen
Ian Craig
Martin Ayub
Philip Fryars
William Dutton
Wayne Johns
Kayla Greet
Neil Fellender
 
Non-Qualifiers
33 Janos Kiss
39= Kevin Donovan
Steven Demets
Nicolas Linqué
Marianne Linqué
Ed Duckworth
Paul Rubens
Tony Smith
Ingvar Karlsson
Kate Morris
Oscar Evrenos
John Willett
47= Stefan Riedler
Jayne Raison
Dan Bradford
Victor-Francois Machart
Anders Gånge
54= Chris Poyntz
Jason Poyntz
David Tucker
Fabien Baffault
Jim Lindsay
Mike Kindler
Graham Rowley
Keith Borleand
Thomas Doepelheuer
62= Jono Sandilands
Ian Wallace
Nick Baxter-Sibley
Nathan Garwood
Thomas Florian 
Vin Jauhal
Richard Rothwell-Jackson
70= Nick Hamill
Steve Akroyd
Lynda Williams
James Trott
Shaun Harvey
Dina Fukson
Daniela Oymann
Mark Green
Patrik Tenn
78= Andrew Heighway
Adam Bona
Alice Baffault
Lukasz Dziewulski
Leo Galway
Julie Chambers
Gary Hardy
Tim Thornton
85= Jonathan Croxford
Daniel Wallace
Lewis Fryars
Lisa Trott
Dave Willcox
Robin Kemp

Awards were then presented to the top players in the UK Pinball League - both for the final and for the seasons in each individual region - by head of the League, Greg Mott. There were quite a lot of awards, but not all winners were present to collect their trophies.
UK Pinball League - Irish Region
A Division
B Division
1st - Ian Craig 1st - Leo Galway
2nd - Krzysztof Gwiazda 2nd - Keith Boreland
3rd - Dave Butler 3rd - Gary Hardy

First place in the A Division, Ian Craig
First place in the A Division, Ian Craig

First place in the B Division, Leo Galway
First place in the B Division, Leo Galway

Second place in the B Division, Keith Boreland
Second place in the B Division, Keith Boreland


Third place in the B Division, Gary Hardy
Third place in the B Division, Gary Hardy


UK Pinball League - South-West Region
A Division
B Division
1st - Greg Mott 1st - Peter Blakemore
2nd - David Mainwaring 2nd - Helmut Langenbruch
3rd - Andrew Wilson 3rd - Andrew Shillabeer

First place in the A Division, Greg Mott
First place in the A Division, Greg Mott

Second place in the A Division, David Mainwaring
Second place in the A Division, David Mainwaring

Third place in the A Division, Andrew Wilson
Third place in the A Division, Andrew Wilson

First place in the B Division, Peter Blakemore
First place in the B Division, Peter Blakemore

Second place in the B Division, Helmut Langenbruch
Second place in the B Division, Helmut Langenbruch


UK Pinball League - Midlands Region
A Division
B Division
1st - Nick Marshall 1st - Aid Cooper
2nd - Wayne Johns 2nd - Kate Morris
3rd - Phil Dixon 3rd - Richard Rothwell-Jackson

Second place in the A Division, Wayne Johns
Second place in the A Division, Wayne Johns

Second place in the B Division, Kate Morris
Second place in the B Division, Kate Morris

Third place in the B Division, Richard Rothwell-Jackson
Third place in the B Division, Richard Rothwell-Jackson


UK Pinball League - London & South-East Region
A Division
B Division
1st - Martin Ayub 1st - Mike Kindler
2nd - Matt Vince 2nd - Tim Thornton
3rd - Lukasz Romanowski 3rd - Vin Jauhal

Winner of the A Division, Martin Ayub
Winner of the A Division, Martin Ayub

Second place in the A Division, Matt Vince
Second place in the A Division, Matt Vince

Winner of the B Division, Mike Kindler
Winner of the B Division, Mike Kindler

Second place in the B Division, Tim Thornton
Second place in the B Division, Tim Thornton

Third place in the B Division, Vin Jauhal
Third place in the B Division, Vin Jauhal


UK Pinball League - Northern Region
A Division
B Division
1st - Andy Foster 1st - David Dutton
2nd - Garry Speight 2nd - Paul Owen
3rd - Will Dutton 3rd - Eddie Lehan

Winner of the A Division, Andy Foster
Winner of the A Division, Andy Foster

Third place in the A Division, Will Dutton
Third place in the A Division, Will Dutton

Second place in the B Division, Paul Owen
Second place in the B Division, Paul Owen

The final League awards went to the winners of Saturday's UK Pinball League A and B Division finals. We're still awaiting the full results but in first place in the A Division - and also winner of the Midlands region - was Nick Marshall, who also gets to play host to the Pinball Wizard cup for the next twelve months. In second place was Andy Foster.

Winner of the A Division final and Midlands region, Nick Marshall
Winner of the A Division final and Midlands region, Nick Marshall

Second place in the A Division final, Andy Foster
Second place in the A Division final, Andy Foster

In the B Division final, the winner was Kate Morris, with Richard Rothwell-Jackson in second place and Paul Owen third.

Winner of the B Division final, Kate Morris
Winner of the B Division final, Kate Morris

Second place in the B Division final, Richard Rothwell-Jackson
Second place in the B Division final, Richard Rothwell-Jackson

Third place in the B Division final, Paul Owen
Third place in the B Division final, Paul Owen

The last presentations were the Best-in-Show awards, to the owners of the machines judged the best in a number of categories.

Andrew Heighway presented the individual categories, and Gary Flower awarded the best overall machine prize. Not all the award winners were present as some of their machines had been brought to the show by another person, but of those who were available to collect their plaques, Kevin Donovan won the Best Post-1999 Machine prize sponsored by The Pinball Heaven for his The Simpsons Pinball Party.

Winner of the Best Post-1999 Machine, Kevin Donovan
Winner of the Best Post-1999 Machine, Kevin Donovan

The Best Solid State award, sponsored by Heighway Pinball, went to Steve Padgett for his Diner.

Winner of the Best Solid State Machine, Steve Padgett
Winner of the Best Solid State Machine, Steve Padgett

The overall Best in Show award, sponsored by Pingame Journal, went to Mike Parkins for his Cactus Canyon Continued.

Winner of the Best Solid State Machine, Steve Padgett
Winner of the Best in Show, Mike Parkins

The Best Electromechanical plaque was picked up by Andy Netherwood of Pinball Mania who were also sponsors of the award.

The Best Pre-2000 DMD game, sponsored by Pinball News, was won by Mike Kindler for his Terminator 2.

The award for the Best Post-1999 game went to Kevin Donovan for his Family Guy.

Then it was time to tear-down the show, pack away the machines and load up for the journey home.

Show's over, folks!
Show's over, folks!

Just as with the setting-up, it was a valuable benefit to be able to drive the Pinballnewsmobile onto the show floor to fill it with tournament kit, and to be able to leave the machines for collection at a later date.

I think we can squeeze another few power cables in there somewhere!
I think we can squeeze another few power cables in there somewhere!

And that brings our report of events in Merthyr Tydfil to a close.

There's no doubt this was a very different UK Pinball Party. For those who had never been to the Heighway Pinball factory it was an fascinating look at Andrew's facility and gave a good insight into the production processes involved in making a pinball.

However it was clear that the number of visitors was markedly down from previous years. The location made for a difficult journey for many, and the town of Merthyr Tydfil has a less-than-stellar reputation. The advantages of holding the show in the same hotel where many guests are staying was also lost, although there was a free shuttle bus service from the show to local hotels which was greatly appreciated by many given the near-constant rain over the weekend.

People also complained about the number of machines taken up by the tournaments. This was certainly more than in previous years, but a significant number of those were only there because they were being used in the tournaments, and wouldn't have been put in the free-play area anyway. The complaints were perhaps more prompted by the mixed condition of machines in the free-play area, where some remained unplayable throughout the show, with no attempt to resolve their problems.

There is still a strong demand for a national UK show as a focal point for the main international tournament, the UK Pinball League finals and as a social gathering, but the increased number of alternative shows means the UK Pinball Party has to work even harder to keep that special status as the one show everyone needs to attend.

Finally, take a look around the show for yourself with our exclusive Eight Minute Tour of the UK Pinball Party 2015.



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