jaargang 9 nummer 2 With the atmosphere more focused on competition rather than an expo, the absence of older electromechanical pinballs, though lamented by some (‘older players’), weren’t missed by the majority. The pin’s selected for general play alongside those 20 games selected for the open finals were all of 1990’s vintage, ranging from the Pinball 2000 games of Revenge from Mars and Star Wars to Funhouse with its alpha-numeric display. Whoever throughout the earlier rounds, 5 machines succumbed to
mechanical failure or player discontent and were subsequently removed. It was also noted by us that there were no Gottlieb games amongst those available. The competition results of the earlier rounds provided as much surprise and speculation as did the final. It was a day which provided to all who had ever doubted, that pinball is very much a game of balancing variables of skill and luck-especially on the day one wants of needs it! Several high profile players were casualties of the early rounds, including the former Dutch Champion Richard Baan (Richard was niet aanwezig, misschien doelt Marco op Dirk Klaver?, red.), by Englishman Simon Holman (though he was not aware of this at the time!). Other notable exits were, Joska Keunekamp and Arthur de Jong, both being finalists on many previous occasions.
As for ourselves? The form we displayed coming into the competition was, unfortunately not replicated on the day! Call it nerves or whatever, but neither of us had any luck. Marco could only cringe at his alleged deplorable luck and game play, which ultimately saw him exit the competition on a fast playing Scared Stiff against Henk Brakels. Henk apparently went on to give the reigning World Champ a bit of a fright!
resulting in 2x individual scores in excess of 2 billion. While the remaining competitors completed their allocated games on the other available games. Perhaps the only real criticism of the whole competition, was the inability to play many of the games allocated for the championship. Despite Saturday being nominated for this purpose, the games area was engulfed by all-comers, with
In the Women’s Championship – on which I had decided to concentrate- though I managed to rank 5/6 hence a chance to playoff for a position in the final, this saw me bid a hasty farewell. Two quick games with irretrievable balls down “the guts”, left me shaking my head, and a finals berth to Macky van Moll, 2-0! Round one in this part of the competition, provided the early and thankfully only controversy for this minority group of 18 players. Of the 4 machines chosen for play: Revenge from Mars, Circus Voltaire, Indiana Jones and Hook, Indiana Jones settings hadn’t been appropriately altered for the competition. Thus, 3 women took approximately 1,5 hours to play the 5 bal, add-a-ball game,
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