GameWorks Columbus, OH Pinball Tournament Feb 13th thru 15th

[Bmatth]

Hi

I have been working with GameWorks to create local tournaments at their locations. GameWorks has announced another Pinball Tournament, this time in Columbus Ohio. Here are the details of this event.

Open Tournament
Players will qualify on the (4) four different pinball machines that are chosen for this tournament.
Players do not have to play all (4) four if they feel their point total will get them into the top (16) sixteen players on Sunday.

Tournament Location:
GameWorks, Columbus, OH - Easton Town Center
Phone: 614-428-7529

Tournament Open Play is from:
Friday Feb 13, 2009 from 6pm to 12am
Saturday Feb 14, 2009 from 12pm to 12am
Sunday Feb 15, 2009 from 12pm to 2pm

Tournament Finals: Sunday Feb 15, 2009 from 3pm to 8pm

Tournament Games: High Roller Casino, Simpsons Pinball Party, Sopranos, and NASCAR

• This tournament is endorsed by the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA), all players are eligible to earn World Pinball Ranking Points for participation in this tournament.

Cost to Play:
Players will purchase game tickets to play in the tournament at the tournament location.
Each ticket will let you play (1) one game of your choice.
1 Ticket = $4.00
3 Tickets = $10.00 (value price)
** Tickets are Non-Transferable, and may not be used outside of Tournament **
Ticket sales will stop approximately 45 minutes before the end of Open Tournament Play on Sunday to ensure all players holding tickets will have time to use them in the tournament.

Prizes:
1st Place = $800 + 4 4Hr Free Play Cards
2nd Place = $300 + 2 4Hr Free Play Cards
3rd Place = $150 + 2 4Hr Free Play Cards
4th Place = $50 + 2 4Hr Free Play Cards
5th Place thru 16 Place will get a 1Hr Free Play Card

Scoring and Rankings:
1. A player can try as many times as they would like to get the highest score on any game during open tournament play.
2. A Player can only hold 1 high score per game. The player’s highest score will always be the score that is used for tournament scoring.
3. Players will get ranked on each game they play depending on their score.
4. Each game’s 1st place high score will be worth 100 points and working down in score to 85th place receiving 1 point.
5. Once the open tournament play has been closed the player’s points are totaled up to determine their total score and ranking.
6. The top 16 ranked players will compete in the finals on Sunday for the prize money. Any tiebreakers will be played off to determine players’ SEEDING.

Below is an example of the scoring and ranking:
A 1st place high score ranking on any game is worth 100 points
A 2nd place high score ranking on any game is worth 90 points
A 3rd place high score ranking on any game is worth 85 points
A 4th place high score ranking on any game is worth 84 points
A 5th place high score ranking on any game is worth 83 points
A 6th place high score ranking on any game is worth 82 points
A 7th place high score ranking on any game is worth 81 points
A 8th place high score ranking on any game is worth 80 points
ETC, ETC down to 85th Place receiving 1 Point

Finals:
The top 16 players will compete in the Final Rounds on Sunday from 3pm to 8pm.

1. Finals will consist of a head-to-head bracket single elimination tournament until a winner is crowned.
2. The player’s position in the final tournament is predetermined by their final position from the open tournament rankings. These qualifying positions are each players’ SEEDING for the remainder of the Final Tournament play.
3. The winner of each round is determined by the best 2 out of 3 games played. The player with the highest seed chooses the first game, the second game is chosen by the second player, and the third game again is chosen by the player with the highest seed. The player choosing the game to compete on will play first, and then the second player has the advantage of playing last.
4. The games the players compete on will be determined by the highest seeded of the two player groups choosing first out of the available games at the time the players are to compete against each other. The next highest seeded two player group will choose next, and so on until all groups have chosen a game for that round to compete on. If 2 groups choose the same game to compete on then the lower seeded group will have to wait until the higher seeded group finishes their game first.


If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Have a great day
Brian

 

[elton]

Welcome to PN brian.

Slightly off-topic but .... whatever happened to that ambitious pinball physics project you were working on?
Has it permanently stalled or is it progressing quietly. :)

 

[Bmatth]

Hi Elton

UltraPin is the project I believe you are talking about.
http://www.globalvr.com/products_up.html

That project was completed with Global VR in 2006 and they produced about 200 cabinets. The problem was they had a hard time selling the product and never got behind marketing the product. Part of it was that UltraPin's retail price was around $6000 compared to a new Stern game for around $4000. On top of all of that the Arcade Industry has been shrinking in size so there are fewer buys and now fewer manufacturers.

I still think UltraPin is a great idea. In some ways it helps preserve pinball because the games on UltraPin will never get old or slowly breakdown. They are a digital version of the game that will last as long as the software can be played.

Have a good day
Brian

 

[elton]

Thanks for the reply Brian. Yes I knew about Ultrapin - which I agree is a pretty nifty setup, just wish I had the reddies to buy one! - but I thought you were working on another similar project. Just a sign of me shedding more brain cells I suppose.

Best wishes
Elton

 

[Bmatth]

I believe that was Aaron Hightower. Last I remember it was called HCPin, or something like that. I am not sure what happened with this project. If I remember correctly Aaron could not find a display that did not have a huge lag when drawing images so he put the idea on hold until there is a monitor that is good enough for his project. I have not spoken with Aaron in a long time so I could be wrong.

 

[elton]

Of course it was Aaron! I fear I may have lost even more brain cells than first envisaged!
Thanks for the reminder Brian. Sorry to have bothered you.

 

[m4paws]

Oh yeah, I remember skimming that thread at VPF. He was maddeningly obsessed with the smallest about of blur and wouldn't continue to work on it because of it. A bit disappointing.

 

[Bmatth]

just wondering if anybody from these forums plans on showing up for this event??

 

[sleepy]

Well, not unless you're giving away free airline tickets. I'm in Los Angeles and a little worse for wear.

On the subject, why do you suppose there are no pinball expos in this town of E3? I would think a pinball expo might work with a County population of 10 million that's got to allow for 100,000 pinheads. Maybe mix it up with some Low Rider models (the magazine), or?

 

[Bmatth]

I am not sure why, but what if I try and put a pinball tournament together at the Long Beach GameWorks location? Would that work?? If so how many people do you think would show up??

 

[sleepy]

Valamir might be more savvy on the potential, but I think it would depend on how and where you promote it. If you had tie-ins with local entities, pinball resale, Low Rider magazine, or Barney's Beanery, In-and-Out Burger, local Carl's Jr., or local radio/television/newspapers/local Internet, then it might attract a couple thousand patrons minimum, and bonus points if you can draw popular celebrity attendance/tounament players, maybe for charity.

Like the Superbowl, you might need the Halftime Show.

 

[Bmatth]

Maybe that is the problem for LA, if you can't just pull some good pinball games together, invite some friends and have a good time without all the hoopla, then sometime its to much work to create a good time. I like the idea of the charity event, but I will leave the Football half-time celebration to the Pro's.

 

[sleepy]

Well I certainly don't mean the cost of a Halftime Show!

As for a mix-and-mingle celebrity tournament for charity, you could hold it at a larger venue nearby the Queen Mary or even the Paramount Studios lot or up at Universal on the hill. They host charity events from time to time.

Yeah, I'm not disputing a buddy-sized tournament, but I think a cross-promotional fiesta-style event with concessions and entertainment might be more successful, particularly for the casual or uninitiated player, or the new kids.

 

[ValamirCleaver]

I'd go to a tournament at the GameWorks located at either the Pike in Long Beach, Ontario Mills and probably even at the Vegas Strip if I could coordinate the trip; I could visit the Pinball Hall of Fame at the same time...

 

[sleepy]

You could seek promotion through the local Carl's Jr./Hardees or In-and-Out Burgers like within 5 miles of the Gameworks and I would still look at media. Local programs like Eye On L.A. or the local news, though that would be hit and miss. A countertop promotion in the area would probably work better from a standpoint of exposure.

Still, a charity tournament at Paramount back lot with a Star Trek prequel tie-in playing the ST machines promoted through KLOS FM or The Sound FM would be pretty trippy. I'm daydreaming.

 

[ValamirCleaver]

Arne, there's Hardee's out here?...

The only times I had ever seen a Hardee's was when I was stationed in the Gulf Coast...

Cross-promotion with In-and-Out and KLOS sounds like a great idea though!...

 

[sleepy]

Hardees is the name Carl's Jr. uses everywhere else, or visa-versa. Same store. I only mentioned Hardees for Bmatth's benefit.
Or is Bmatth from out here too?

As for "countertop promotion", that would be the way Circus Vargas used to do it, with door-to-door canvasers seeking on-site management consent to place a poster in the window with an additional counter card display and some value of discount coupons on site, in the case of a tournament either for admission, entry, or food and drinks, and I would look at local record stores, bars, auto parts, music stores like Guitar Center or Sam Ash and one or two fast food chains, but limited to the local area and maybe parts of Hollywood.

 

[ValamirCleaver]

Hardees is the name Carl's Jr. uses everywhere else, or visa-versa.

I realize this, Arne. I wasn't sure of what you specifically meant in your previous post. It's extremely obvious when one compares the 2 logos...

 

[sleepy]

That's the first time I've ever seen the Hardees logo in my entire life.