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SWAVESEY PINBALL WEEKEND
Pinball News
We’ve been coming to the White Horse Inn pub in Swavesey for the annual pinball get-together since 2010, but this year’s event held extra significance as the organiser, Mark Squires, had announced the 2025 show would be the last.
The White Horse Inn in Swavesey
Along with being a prominent pinball repairer and restorer under his The Pinball Surgery brand, Mark was heavily involved in organising the first two UK Pinball Shows in 2005 and 2006 and started the Swavesey event in 2006 to continue the community spirit and enthusiasm for pinball generated by those two shows.
Twenty years on, Mark thinks the UK’s pinball landscape has flourished and the number of organised events grown to such a degree that the Swavesey weekend no longer needs to act as the torch bearer keeping the flame of social pinball alive.
While many of those who beat a path the village of Swavesey each year might disagree, they all respected Mark’s decision and were determined to make this year’s show a suitable finale.
The village of Swavesey in Cambridgeshire and its “Steadfast in Work and Play” motto
The village of Swavesey dates back to the 11th century, with the locale of ‘Suauesye’ recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Although it is around 50 miles inland, Swavesey was once a significant port due to having nothing but navigable swampland between it and the coast. In more recent years, the village’s proximity to the city of Cambridge, good transport connections and range of local facilities has made it a popular residential area.
The White Horse Inn can trace its roots back to at least 1668 and is the last remaining pub in a village which once boasted twenty-five such hostelries. Located on the main road through the village, it features a main ‘snug’ bar, a dining area, a pool table, a beer garden and a small function room, which is where the pinballs are set up on the Friday of the show in preparation for the weekend’s action.
The White Horse Inn’s ‘snug’ bar
The White Horse Inn’s ‘snug’ bar
Drinks, and snacks available at the bar
The pub’s pool table along with a kids gift-dispensing mini-pinball
For this year’s show, attendees were able to enjoy the third spell of hot weather in 2025 so far. Temperatures outside over the weekend peaked at around 32°C (90°F), making the prospect of playing pinball indoors potentially less attractive than sitting outside in the sunshine with a nice cold drink.
However, there was a pleasingly diverse selection of machines set up in the pub’s back room, covering half a century of pinball history and brought along by volunteers.
By Friday afternoon, several of the machines had arrived
By Friday night all the machines were in place
The Swavesey Pinball Weekend is unusual, if not unique, in that entry is free and the machines are all set on free play. You could, literally, just turn up and play pinball all weekend for no cost.
But that would be missing one of the key points of the event. Besides socialising, playing pinball in a casual, unpressured way, and introducing new players to the game, the greater aim is to raise money for the show’s chosen charity. This year, the Alzheimer’s Society was selected to receive donations from visitors along with the proceeds of ticket sales for Sunday’s raffle.
Two of the pinballs being enjoyed on Friday night
One more machine is yet to be added to the main row
By the end of Friday evening there were already quite a few prizes for Sunday’s raffle. All the prizes were donated, either by those attending or by show well-wishers.
Friday night at the raffle table
As Saturday morning rolled around, all the machines were in place and being enjoyed.
Saturday morning
Let’s take a look at the thirteen machines at this year’s Swavesey Pinball Weekend.
Road Kings, Star Wars, Black Jack, Ninja Eclipse and Aztec
The Black Jack was especially interesting, running special Black Jack 2020 code which not only added features such as a skill shot, backbox lighting animation and a ball save, but changed the rules around the card game so that the play gets to see both their cards but only one of the dealer’s.
World Cup Soccer, Mousin’ Around!, Special Force and Wizard!
Often overlooked, many players came away from Swavesey with a much greater appreciation of this Special Force game.
Space Team & The Beatles
Space Team returned after last year’s debut. This Tecnoplay title from Italy has some typical quirks, but features a four-ball multiball along with some dramatic lighting effects.
King Kong: Myth of Terror Island and John Wick
This Limited Edition King Kong game was played almost constantly all weekend.
Here are the machines along with those who brought them:
With temperatures rising inside, the beer garden was a popular place to chill between games and also the ideal place to buy more raffle tickets.
Out in the White Horse Inn’s beer garden
During the afternoon on Saturday, a presentation was made to Mark Squires to commemorate his twenty years of running the event. During the ceremony, Mark was presented with a number of gifts including a mirrored backglass for his favourite game, Medieval Madness, and a humorous framed AI-generated image of Dr. Pinball in his ‘Pinball Surgery’.
Mark with his gift of a mirrored Medieval Madness backglass
The real and AI-generated ‘Dr. Pinball’
Finally, a mechanical pinball player statue along with a card signed by many of the regulars
A group meal was arranged for Saturday evening in the White Horse Inn’s restaurant. Traditional pub food such as fish and chips, curry or lasagne were served up to the three dozen or so diners.
Saturday evening dinner
Then it was back to the pinball and/or the beer garden until around midnight when people finally drifted off to nearby hotels, B&Bs or even, for those locals, made their way home.
Sunday is competition day, but also raffle draw day. Diane Bush had been busy selling strips of raffle tickets all weekend, collecting cash in a large charity bucket. Meanwhile, additional items had been added to the prize table throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Before the draw, the first couple of rounds of the UK Pinball Cup took place.
The UK Pinball Cup began in 2007 as part of the Pinballers Anonymous Monster Meet in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, but when that event ended in 2009 the Cup moved to the Swavesey Pinball Weekend for 2010. It has remained there ever since, except for three years from 2014-2016 when the White Horse Inn was unavailable and the competition moved across the county to Bar 62 in Ely instead. This year, as it has been every year since 2007, the UK Pinball Cup was organised by Martin Ayub of Pinball News.
Trophies and prizes for the top four in the UK Pinball Cup
Like the event and the pinballs, entry to the UK Pinball Cup was free. Prizes for the top four competitors were donated by pinball and arcade machine and parts retailer, Retro Arcade Specialists.
By the time the draw for the first round of the competition began at 1pm, 48 players had signed up, picked their player number and collected their player badge.
The format consisted of two rounds of group play, followed by four rounds of head-to-head games. In the first round, players formed twelve groups of four. The groups were drawn at random by picking numbered balls out of a box.
Each group played three consecutively-numbered machines with 9-5-2-0 points awarded for first to fourth place. When all three machines had been played, the two members of the group with the most points progressed to the next round.
Play in the group rounds
In its initial incarnation, the UK Pinball Cup used a straight one-game head-to-head format throughout. However, with many competitors travelling some distance to compete, the decision was made to move the initial rounds to a group format so everyone got to play a minimum of three games.
Getting 48 players in the games room would be quite a challenge and not too comfortable, so most players waited by the pool table or out in the garden until it was their turn to play.
Competitors waiting in the garden for their turn
Or waiting in the cool next to the pool table
In the second group round, the 24 survivors split into eight groups of three to play another three machines. This time the top two progressed to the head-to-head rounds.
The first two group play rounds
Playing in the second round of the UK Pinball Cup
Now the competition moved back to the original format of a single game with the winner progressing and the loser going out. The remaining sixteen players were drawn again from the box of numbered balls to decide who they faced. The machine they played was also drawn at random from a separate box of numbered balls.
The head-to-head phase
However, before play began, it was time for the raffle drawing. Diane Bush and Ailsa Clunie had been busy folding up tickets to go into the draw bucket, while the table of prizes was carried from the pub’s back room into their beer garden.
Mark Squires began by picking out the first few winners after which Diane took over.
The raffle draw begins
The prizes available
As ticket numbers were drawn, the lucky ticket holders could come up to the table and pick any prize. Naturally, having your ticket number drawn early gave the best choice of prizes, but there were plenty of prizes available, along with a selection of pinball flyers for anyone who didn’t manage to pick up a prize.
Once the raffle had concluded it was back to the UK Pinball Cup as the 16 remaining players were reduced to 8 and then 4.
Head-to-head games in the UK Pinball Cup
Head-to-head games in the UK Pinball Cup
The last four were Conrad Chambers, David Bowery, Dan Lewell and Pete Bennett. After semi-finals on the randomly-drawn Black Jack and Ninja Eclipse, it was David and Pete who made it into the final, with Conrad and Dan playing for third and fourth places.
The semi-finals
The final machine was again drawn at random from those games not played by either finalist so far. The final machine was World Cup Soccer, while third place was contested on Road Kings.
David begins the final on World Cup Soccer
Dan begins the third place play-off on Road Kings
Although David brought the World Cup Soccer, it was Pete who took control of the game, taking an early lead on ball one.
Pete takes an early lead in the final
He extended it on the second by reaching the World Cup final and defeating Germany for 500M, giving David the daunting task of scoring nearly two billion points on his last ball.
A last second goal secures a 4-3 win in the World Cup final against Germany
Despite being his machine, World Cup Soccer wasn’t any kinder to David on his last ball than it had been on his previous two, making Pete the winner of the UK Pinball Cup 2025.
Trophies from Pinball News and prize vouchers from Retro Arcade Specialists were presented by Mark.
Winner of the UK Pinball Cup 2025, Pete Bennett, wins a voucher for £200
Second place, David Bowery, wins a voucher for £100
In the play-off, Conrad won on Road Kings to take third place, with Dan fourth.
Third place, Conrad Chambers, wins a voucher for £50
Fourth place, Dan Lewell, wins a voucher for £25
In addition to his trophy and voucher, Pete also gets to be custodian of the Nigel Hill Trophy for the next twelve months. Nigel was a stalwart of the UK pinball community who passed away far too early. The awarding of the trophy named after him has been a constant feature of the Swavesey meetings.
Pete with the Nigel Hill Memorial Trophy
Here are the results in full:
The awards to the top players in the UK Pinball Cup also marks the conclusion of the Swavesey Pinball Weekend for this year and potentially for good.
Time to pack the machines away and take them home
As we said earlier, one of the event’s key aims is to raise money for its chosen charity. After Diane’s raffle ticket sales and standalone donations were totalled, this year’s show raised a huge £1,634.40 ($2,193 or €1,886) for the Alzheimer’s Society.
And so, it is with a sense of sadness that we bid farewell to a staple of the UK’s pinball scene after twenty years. However, at the same time we can also look back at all the great memories, raffle prizes, tournament wins and, of course, the amazing sums raised for assorted charities. Many thanks to Mark, Sue, the landlords and staff of the White Horse Inn over the years, all the machine donors and everyone else who worked so hard to ensure everyone had a fun and relaxing time.
Continue reading...
Pinball News
We’ve been coming to the White Horse Inn pub in Swavesey for the annual pinball get-together since 2010, but this year’s event held extra significance as the organiser, Mark Squires, had announced the 2025 show would be the last.
The White Horse Inn in Swavesey
Along with being a prominent pinball repairer and restorer under his The Pinball Surgery brand, Mark was heavily involved in organising the first two UK Pinball Shows in 2005 and 2006 and started the Swavesey event in 2006 to continue the community spirit and enthusiasm for pinball generated by those two shows.
Twenty years on, Mark thinks the UK’s pinball landscape has flourished and the number of organised events grown to such a degree that the Swavesey weekend no longer needs to act as the torch bearer keeping the flame of social pinball alive.
While many of those who beat a path the village of Swavesey each year might disagree, they all respected Mark’s decision and were determined to make this year’s show a suitable finale.
The village of Swavesey in Cambridgeshire and its “Steadfast in Work and Play” motto
The village of Swavesey dates back to the 11th century, with the locale of ‘Suauesye’ recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Although it is around 50 miles inland, Swavesey was once a significant port due to having nothing but navigable swampland between it and the coast. In more recent years, the village’s proximity to the city of Cambridge, good transport connections and range of local facilities has made it a popular residential area.
The White Horse Inn can trace its roots back to at least 1668 and is the last remaining pub in a village which once boasted twenty-five such hostelries. Located on the main road through the village, it features a main ‘snug’ bar, a dining area, a pool table, a beer garden and a small function room, which is where the pinballs are set up on the Friday of the show in preparation for the weekend’s action.
The White Horse Inn’s ‘snug’ bar
The White Horse Inn’s ‘snug’ bar
Drinks, and snacks available at the bar
The pub’s pool table along with a kids gift-dispensing mini-pinball
For this year’s show, attendees were able to enjoy the third spell of hot weather in 2025 so far. Temperatures outside over the weekend peaked at around 32°C (90°F), making the prospect of playing pinball indoors potentially less attractive than sitting outside in the sunshine with a nice cold drink.
However, there was a pleasingly diverse selection of machines set up in the pub’s back room, covering half a century of pinball history and brought along by volunteers.
By Friday afternoon, several of the machines had arrived
By Friday night all the machines were in place
The Swavesey Pinball Weekend is unusual, if not unique, in that entry is free and the machines are all set on free play. You could, literally, just turn up and play pinball all weekend for no cost.
But that would be missing one of the key points of the event. Besides socialising, playing pinball in a casual, unpressured way, and introducing new players to the game, the greater aim is to raise money for the show’s chosen charity. This year, the Alzheimer’s Society was selected to receive donations from visitors along with the proceeds of ticket sales for Sunday’s raffle.
Two of the pinballs being enjoyed on Friday night
One more machine is yet to be added to the main row
By the end of Friday evening there were already quite a few prizes for Sunday’s raffle. All the prizes were donated, either by those attending or by show well-wishers.
Friday night at the raffle table
As Saturday morning rolled around, all the machines were in place and being enjoyed.
Saturday morning
Let’s take a look at the thirteen machines at this year’s Swavesey Pinball Weekend.
Road Kings, Star Wars, Black Jack, Ninja Eclipse and Aztec
The Black Jack was especially interesting, running special Black Jack 2020 code which not only added features such as a skill shot, backbox lighting animation and a ball save, but changed the rules around the card game so that the play gets to see both their cards but only one of the dealer’s.
World Cup Soccer, Mousin’ Around!, Special Force and Wizard!
Often overlooked, many players came away from Swavesey with a much greater appreciation of this Special Force game.
Space Team & The Beatles
Space Team returned after last year’s debut. This Tecnoplay title from Italy has some typical quirks, but features a four-ball multiball along with some dramatic lighting effects.
King Kong: Myth of Terror Island and John Wick
This Limited Edition King Kong game was played almost constantly all weekend.
Here are the machines along with those who brought them:
- Road Kings – Mark Squires
- Black Jack/Black Jack 2020 – Mark Squires
- John Wick – Phil Dixon
- Beatles Gold Edition – Wayne Johns
- Ninja Eclipse – Retro Arcade Specialists
- Space Team – Keith Withnall
- Wizard! – John Bateson
- Special Force – Nick Clark
- World Cup Soccer – Claire and David Bowery
- King Kong: Myth of Terror Island – Neil McRae
- Star Wars LE – Thomas Calvert
- Mousin’ Around! – Simon Heath
- Aztec – Matt Vince
With temperatures rising inside, the beer garden was a popular place to chill between games and also the ideal place to buy more raffle tickets.
Out in the White Horse Inn’s beer garden
During the afternoon on Saturday, a presentation was made to Mark Squires to commemorate his twenty years of running the event. During the ceremony, Mark was presented with a number of gifts including a mirrored backglass for his favourite game, Medieval Madness, and a humorous framed AI-generated image of Dr. Pinball in his ‘Pinball Surgery’.
Mark with his gift of a mirrored Medieval Madness backglass
The real and AI-generated ‘Dr. Pinball’
Finally, a mechanical pinball player statue along with a card signed by many of the regulars
A group meal was arranged for Saturday evening in the White Horse Inn’s restaurant. Traditional pub food such as fish and chips, curry or lasagne were served up to the three dozen or so diners.
Saturday evening dinner
Then it was back to the pinball and/or the beer garden until around midnight when people finally drifted off to nearby hotels, B&Bs or even, for those locals, made their way home.
Sunday is competition day, but also raffle draw day. Diane Bush had been busy selling strips of raffle tickets all weekend, collecting cash in a large charity bucket. Meanwhile, additional items had been added to the prize table throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Before the draw, the first couple of rounds of the UK Pinball Cup took place.
The UK Pinball Cup began in 2007 as part of the Pinballers Anonymous Monster Meet in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, but when that event ended in 2009 the Cup moved to the Swavesey Pinball Weekend for 2010. It has remained there ever since, except for three years from 2014-2016 when the White Horse Inn was unavailable and the competition moved across the county to Bar 62 in Ely instead. This year, as it has been every year since 2007, the UK Pinball Cup was organised by Martin Ayub of Pinball News.
Trophies and prizes for the top four in the UK Pinball Cup
Like the event and the pinballs, entry to the UK Pinball Cup was free. Prizes for the top four competitors were donated by pinball and arcade machine and parts retailer, Retro Arcade Specialists.
By the time the draw for the first round of the competition began at 1pm, 48 players had signed up, picked their player number and collected their player badge.
The format consisted of two rounds of group play, followed by four rounds of head-to-head games. In the first round, players formed twelve groups of four. The groups were drawn at random by picking numbered balls out of a box.
Each group played three consecutively-numbered machines with 9-5-2-0 points awarded for first to fourth place. When all three machines had been played, the two members of the group with the most points progressed to the next round.
Play in the group rounds
In its initial incarnation, the UK Pinball Cup used a straight one-game head-to-head format throughout. However, with many competitors travelling some distance to compete, the decision was made to move the initial rounds to a group format so everyone got to play a minimum of three games.
Getting 48 players in the games room would be quite a challenge and not too comfortable, so most players waited by the pool table or out in the garden until it was their turn to play.
Competitors waiting in the garden for their turn
Or waiting in the cool next to the pool table
In the second group round, the 24 survivors split into eight groups of three to play another three machines. This time the top two progressed to the head-to-head rounds.
The first two group play rounds
Playing in the second round of the UK Pinball Cup
Now the competition moved back to the original format of a single game with the winner progressing and the loser going out. The remaining sixteen players were drawn again from the box of numbered balls to decide who they faced. The machine they played was also drawn at random from a separate box of numbered balls.
The head-to-head phase
However, before play began, it was time for the raffle drawing. Diane Bush and Ailsa Clunie had been busy folding up tickets to go into the draw bucket, while the table of prizes was carried from the pub’s back room into their beer garden.
Mark Squires began by picking out the first few winners after which Diane took over.
The raffle draw begins
The prizes available
As ticket numbers were drawn, the lucky ticket holders could come up to the table and pick any prize. Naturally, having your ticket number drawn early gave the best choice of prizes, but there were plenty of prizes available, along with a selection of pinball flyers for anyone who didn’t manage to pick up a prize.
Once the raffle had concluded it was back to the UK Pinball Cup as the 16 remaining players were reduced to 8 and then 4.
Head-to-head games in the UK Pinball Cup
Head-to-head games in the UK Pinball Cup
The last four were Conrad Chambers, David Bowery, Dan Lewell and Pete Bennett. After semi-finals on the randomly-drawn Black Jack and Ninja Eclipse, it was David and Pete who made it into the final, with Conrad and Dan playing for third and fourth places.
The semi-finals
The final machine was again drawn at random from those games not played by either finalist so far. The final machine was World Cup Soccer, while third place was contested on Road Kings.
David begins the final on World Cup Soccer
Dan begins the third place play-off on Road Kings
Although David brought the World Cup Soccer, it was Pete who took control of the game, taking an early lead on ball one.
Pete takes an early lead in the final
He extended it on the second by reaching the World Cup final and defeating Germany for 500M, giving David the daunting task of scoring nearly two billion points on his last ball.
A last second goal secures a 4-3 win in the World Cup final against Germany
Despite being his machine, World Cup Soccer wasn’t any kinder to David on his last ball than it had been on his previous two, making Pete the winner of the UK Pinball Cup 2025.
Trophies from Pinball News and prize vouchers from Retro Arcade Specialists were presented by Mark.
Winner of the UK Pinball Cup 2025, Pete Bennett, wins a voucher for £200
Second place, David Bowery, wins a voucher for £100
In the play-off, Conrad won on Road Kings to take third place, with Dan fourth.
Third place, Conrad Chambers, wins a voucher for £50
Fourth place, Dan Lewell, wins a voucher for £25
In addition to his trophy and voucher, Pete also gets to be custodian of the Nigel Hill Trophy for the next twelve months. Nigel was a stalwart of the UK pinball community who passed away far too early. The awarding of the trophy named after him has been a constant feature of the Swavesey meetings.
Pete with the Nigel Hill Memorial Trophy
Here are the results in full:
| Winner |
|---|
| Pete Bennett |
| 2nd |
|---|
| David Bowery |
| 3rd |
|---|
| Conrad Chambers |
| 4th |
|---|
| Dan Lewell |
| 6th Equal |
|---|
| Tim Porter Nick M Paul Garner Malc Lashley |
| 12th Equal |
|---|
| John Bateson Dan Vin Jauhal Shaun Harvey George Bennett Martin Ayub Clive Bush Matt Vince |
| 20th Equal |
|---|
| Mike Brayshaw Neil McRae Andy Broom Graham Swaffield Stewart Judson Diane Bush Chris Miller Andy Brock |
| 36th Equal |
|---|
| Phil Dixon Nick H Dave Shelton Marc Gatward Phil Stokes Ian Clarricoats Tex Mark Squires Nick London Martin Bedford Bob Marlow Stan Sam Zucconi Geoff Web Emily Stokes Poibug Keith Withnall Andy Brook Claire Ailsa Clunie Ben Leigh Nick Clark Wayne Lori Jardin |
The awards to the top players in the UK Pinball Cup also marks the conclusion of the Swavesey Pinball Weekend for this year and potentially for good.
Time to pack the machines away and take them home
As we said earlier, one of the event’s key aims is to raise money for its chosen charity. After Diane’s raffle ticket sales and standalone donations were totalled, this year’s show raised a huge £1,634.40 ($2,193 or €1,886) for the Alzheimer’s Society.
And so, it is with a sense of sadness that we bid farewell to a staple of the UK’s pinball scene after twenty years. However, at the same time we can also look back at all the great memories, raffle prizes, tournament wins and, of course, the amazing sums raised for assorted charities. Many thanks to Mark, Sue, the landlords and staff of the White Horse Inn over the years, all the machine donors and everyone else who worked so hard to ensure everyone had a fun and relaxing time.
Continue reading...
