IFPA EUROPEAN
CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
FINAL 2016


Date: 11th & 12th February, 2017
Location: Pinball Universe, Daimlerstraße 41-43, D-32257 Bünde, Germany

Each year, a single tournament in each of fifteen different European countries is selected as that country's qualifying tournament for the IFPA European Championship Series (ECS). The WPPR points earned by players from each tournament are totalled and a ranking table produced.

The IFPA ECS rankings for 2016
The IFPA ECS rankings for 2016 Click to expand

Once all the qualifying tournaments have been played, the top 32 players automatically qualify for the ECS finals which - wherever possible - are held in a different country each year. For the final of the 2016 season we were in Germany at Pinball Universe in the snowy town of Bünde, 90km west of Hanover.

The Pinball Universe building in Bünde
The Pinball Universe building in Bünde

Pinball Universe has several locations across Germany, but this custom-built building is their main base, and it's an impressive operation. From the outset it is clear that brand recognition is an important part of the business.

One of many Pinball Universe branded vehicles
One of many Pinball Universe branded vehicles

Their main showroom is up a flight of stairs, and this was where the free play practice area was located.

Up to the showroom
Up to the showroom

Inside the showroom visitors get to see the latest Stern Pinball machines, which on this trip included Batman 66 Premium and Aerosmith Pro. Everything in the showroom is very clean, with a counter for drinks and a seating area.

Some of the Pinball Universe showroom games
Some of the Pinball Universe showroom games

More showroom games
More showroom games

More showroom games
More showroom games

Two Kiss games - a Pro and a Premium
Two Kiss games - a Pro and a Premium

Batman 66 Premium
Batman 66 Premium

The free play area extended into a side room where a selection of Pinball Universe's restored games were set up along with a few more interesting new games such as Pabst Can Crusher, Spider-Man home edition, Rob Zombie's Spookshow International and Scoregasm Master.

The second free play area
The second free play area

The left bank of machines
The left bank of machines

The right bank
The right bank

Pabst Can Crusher and Spider-Man Home Edition
Pabst Can Crusher and Spider-Man Home Edition

The Spider-Man playfield
The Spider-Man playfield

The opposite end of the room
The opposite end of the room

From the balcony overlooking the ground floor you get to see some of the boxes from the Stern games in the showroom.

Stern Pinball boxes
Stern Pinball boxes

But you need to head to the ground level for a much better idea of the sheer number of new games Pinball Universe must have in stock.

Stern pinball machine boxes
Stern pinball machine boxes - these rows are two boxes deep

...and more
...and more

Boxes on the ground floor too
Boxes on the ground floor too

Since we are now on the lower level, let's take a look at some of the other rooms.

A dining area was set up which initially contained fruit, snacks and a stocked refrigerator with fruit juices, water, soft drinks and beer.

The dining area
The dining area

This room would be where the daily meal was served on both Saturday and Sunday.

Next door was the machine preparation area where Pinball Universe take new-in-box pinball machines and undertake their own pre-delivery checks, mods and protectors.

The machine preparation workshop
The machine preparation workshop

In the room was a Batman Limited Edition which needed some protectors added to stop the ball breaking some of them plastics.

A Batman 66 LE being prepared for delivery
A Batman 66 LE being prepared for delivery

Pinball Universe cut their own plastics in another part of the building, so it shouldn't take long create a set of protectors for a new game.

Batman 66 LE
Batman 66 LE

Then we come to the two tournament areas.

The main ECS area contained 35 dot-matrix pinballs from 1991 to the present.

The main ECS tournament area
The main ECS tournament area

The left bank of machines
The left bank of machines

The right bank of machines
The right bank of machines

Out in the warehouse, another twelve recent Stern Pinball machines were set up. These would be used for the side tournament on Saturday and then for Sunday's tournament.

The side tournament machines
The side tournament machines

The left bank of machines
The left bank of machines

The right bank of machines
The right bank of machines

The machines were:

Main ECS Tournament Area

Iron Man Vault Edition
X-Men Magneto LE
Metallica Premium
Indiana Jones (Stern)
CSI
Transformers Pro
Rollercoaster Tycoon
AC/DC Luci
Sporanos, The
Pirates of the Caribbean
Kiss Pro
Batman - The Dark Knight
Shrek
Spider-Man
WWE Wrestlemania LE
Tron
NBA
Terminator 3

Jackbot
World Cup Soccer
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Judge Dredd
Getaway, The - High Speed 2
Tommy
Fish Tales
Whitewater
Demolition Man
No Fear
NBA Fastbreak
Shadow, The
Terminator 2
Monster Bash
Attack from Mars
Indianapolis 500
Dirty Harry


Side Tournament Area

Iron Man Vault Edition
Kiss Pro
Metallica Premium
Walking Dead, The Pro
Star Trek Pro
Spider-Man Vault Edition

Game of Thrones Pro
Avatar LE
X-Men Premium
Ghostbusters Pro
AC/DE Premium
Mustang LE

And so to the tournaments themselves.

The main ECS took place on Saturday starting at 1pm. It was scheduled to finish between midnight and 1am, but everyone suspected it might take a few hours longer.

Entry to the whole weekend cost €120 ($128/£102) which included both main tournaments, the side-tournament (if available), access to the free play areas, unlimited drinks and a buffet meal each day. Everyone taking part had to register on the ground floor in order to get their player badge and to also receive a Pinball Universe goody bag.

This goodie bag included paper pads and a pen for running tournaments, packs of mints, hair tonic, a collapsible ruler, post cards, flyers, stickers and a Millennium Falcon model kit - all items made by firms local to Pinball Universe in Bünde.

The Pinball Universe goodie bag
The Pinball Universe goodie bag

IFPA Country Director for Germany, Tobias Wagemann explained the rules to players in the showroom before everyone trooped downstairs to begin.

ECS players assemble
ECS players assemble

Tobias explains how the ECS final works
Tobias explains how the ECS final works

Players learn the rules and the timings for the day's activities
Players learn the rules and the timings for the day's activities

The format pitched pairs of players against each in a best-of-seven match. The highest-seeded player had choice of machine or position for the first game, with the loser having choice after that.

Match pairings were pre-selected and shown on a paper chart.

The main ECS winner's bracket
The main ECS winner's bracket

Once a match had been decided, the winner continued to the next stage of the chart, while the loser entered the loser bracket for a second chance at making it to the final.

The loser bracket
The loser bracket

The ECS trophies
The ECS trophies

The first matches get underway
The first matches get underway

The first matches get underway
The first matches get underway

Once players were relegated to the loser bracket they played a best-of-five head-to-head match to continue. The loser from the pair was out of the ECS.

Players check their progress and next opponents
Players check their progress and next opponents

All was not over though, as there was a separate side tournament for those who were eliminated and for non-ECS players who wanted to take part.

This side tournament was held on the twelve machines on the warehouse floor.

Trophies for the side tournament
Trophies for the side tournament

The format for the side tournament gave each player sixteen entries which they could play over and of the twelve machines, although no single machine could be played more than twice.

Players in Saturday's side tournament
Players in Saturday's side tournament

All the scores on each machine were ranked and ranking points awarded, with 100 for the top score, 99 for second and so on. The total points for a player's sixteen entries gave them their overall points score, with the top eight players going into the semi-finals.

The latest scores were shown on a big monitor
The latest scores were shown on a big monitor

With the ECS finals also taking place at the same time, only ECS players who had been eliminated from the ECS were allowed to compete in the side tournament. Also, because of the time required to play sixteen games, only those eliminated early could hope to play all their games before the end of qualifying at 8pm.

Before that, around 5pm, food was served to all competitors. Because of the timing of our games, by the time we got to the dining area most of it had already ben consumed, but you get an idea of what was available in the pictures below.

Dinner time
Dinner time

This consisted of soups, salad, bread and a selection of cold meats. The previously seen fruit, chocolate bars and drinks were also available.

Salad and bread
Salad and bread

Two different soups were available - chicken goulash and leak & potato
Two different soups were available - chicken goulash and leak & potato

Play continued in both tournaments as soon as dinner was over, so now would be a good time to have a look around the amazing Pinball Universe facility in Bünde while Saturday's ECS play-offs and the side tournament were under way.

Returning to the tournament areas, the main ECS tournament was gradually whittling down the number of players in the winner bracket, as more matches were completed.

Play in the main ECS finals
Play in the main ECS finals

Play in the main ECS finals
Play in the main ECS finals

The winner and loser brackets begin to fill up
The winner and loser brackets begin to fill up

Those out of the ECS or who never qualified were free to play in the side tournament.

Play in the side tournament
Play in the side tournament

Play in the side tournament
Play in the side tournament

The top eight would qualify for the play-offs
The top eight would progress to the semi-finals

The top eight were:

Saturday Side Tournament Qualifiers
Mario Kertels
Roland Schwarz
Dirk Elzholz
Marcin Kisiel
Gabriele Tedeschi
Didier Dujardin
Peter Blakemore
Ernö Rotter

The eight were split into two groups of four with each group playing a single game to decide which two would go through to the final.

One of the two semi-final matches
One of the two semi-final matches

Dirk plays on Mustang
Dirk plays on Mustang

The final four were:

Saturday Side Tournament Finalists
Dirk Elzholz
Gabriele Tedeschi
Peter Blakemore
Ernö Rotter

The final of Saturday's side tournament
The final of Saturday's side tournament

The final was won by Ernö who finished ahead of Gabriele in second, with Peter third and Dirk fourth.

Winner of Saturday's side tournament, Ernö Rotter
Winner of Saturday's side tournament, Ernö Rotter

Second place, Gabriele Tedeschi
Second place, Gabriele Tedeschi

Third place, Peter Blakemore
Third place, Peter Blakemore

Fourth place, Dirk Elzholz
Fourth place, Dirk Elzholz

The top four in Saturday's side tournament
The top four in Saturday's side tournament

Meanwhile, the number of players left in the main ECS tournament began to dwindle as the night continued.

The main ECS tournament later on Saturday night
The main ECS tournament later on Saturday night

Franck and Daniele battle it out on Creature
Franck and Daniele battle it out on Creature

As we said earlier, the main ECS finals were unlikely to finish on time, and so it proved.

With a fresh tournament to play on Sunday, we stayed until around 1am at which point there was clearly still some way to go. As it turned out, the match above between Franck and Daniele was the semi-final in the winner bracket which Daniele won.

Franck then joined the loser bracket where he played Cayle George. Cayle had had a remarkable run having lost his first round match to Olivier Renders but continuing right through the loser bracket to the final match against Franck, which he also won. That made Franck third, and Taco Wouters - who he beat in the previous winner bracket round - was fourth.

So the final was between Daniele and Cayle. Cayle needed to beat Daniele in the best-of-seven match, and even if he did that, he then had to beat him again in the final best-of-five loser bracket match.

And that's exactly what he did. A narrow 4-3 victory in the first match was followed by a 3-0 win in the second.

Both skill and stamina were needed, since the final didn't actually end until 8am - the latest of any tournament Pinball News has ever reported from.

The final winner bracket
The final winner bracket Click to expand

In order to allow some time to recover, the trophy presentation was deferred until 1pm on Sunday, but even then Daniele was sleeping and not able to attend. The trophies were presented by Tobias in the showroom upstairs.

Cayle receives his trophy
Cayle receives his trophy

IFPA ECS Winner, Cayle George
IFPA ECS Winner, Cayle George

Third place, Franck Bona
Third place, Franck Bona

Fourth place, Taco Wouters
Fourth place, Taco Wouters

Three of the top four, with Daniele's second place trophy
Three of the top four, with Daniele's second place trophy

Sunday's tournament was a 'Swiss-style' format of 16 rounds, where players are drawn against different opponents and play different machines in each round. When all rounds have been played, the eight players with the most wins went into the play-offs to decide the overall winner.

Trophies for the top eight in Sunday's tournament
Trophies for the top eight in Sunday's tournament

The tournament began at 10am with the announcement of the first round draw.

Players discover their opponent and the machine they will be playing
Players discover their opponent and the machine they will be playing

The matches are under way
The matches are under way

When a match was over, the winner returned to the computer and selected the winner. Once all matches in a round were over, the next round was drawn.

The match pairings and standings were shown on a monitor
The match pairings and standings were shown on a monitor

At 1pm there was a break for lunch. Again, this was included in the cost of the event, but unlike yesterday most of the food was hot. It was generally agreed that players preferred Sunday's hot food over Saturday's cold buffet.

The queue for Sunday's lunch
The queue for Sunday's lunch

The delicious hot food dishes
The delicious hot food dishes

With lunch over, play resumed in Sunday's tournament's qualifying round.

Waiting for the next round to begin
Waiting for the next round to begin

Unfortunately we had an 8pm flight to catch from Hanover which is an hour's drive away from Bünde, so we had to leave at 5:30pm, just after round 14 of 16 had been completed.

By the end of qualifying, the standings looked like this:

Sunday Tournament Qualifying
  1 Roland Schwarz
  2= Robert Sutter
  2= Cesare Datri
  4 Paul Jongma
  5= Levente Tregova
  5= Ernö Rotter
  7 Michael Trepp
  8 Roberto Pedroni
  9 Jim Lindsay
  10 Albert Nomden
  11= Taco Wouters
  11= Reiner Pfeiffer
  13 Kirsten Adam
  14= Erwin Deutschländer
  14= Peter Blakemore
  16= Gabriele Tedeschi
16= Fabio Squadrani
16= Ivan Geentjens
  19= Marc Steinmeier
19= Heinz Baumann
19= Marcin Kisiel
  22= Ollivier Francq
22= Philipp Unger
  24 Martin Ayub
  25 David Mainwaring
  26= Stefan Hänsch
26= Dirk Elzholz
26= Marco Suvanto
  29= Jürg Berchtold
29= Didier Dujardin
  31 Mathias Jäger
  32= Sven Göttsche
32= Benjamin Gräbeldinger
  34 Luhn Stephan
  35 William Dutton
  36 Andrej Demsar
  37= David Dutton
37= Kim Danielmeier
  39= Mario Kertels
39= Rich Mallett
  41= Heinz Berges
41= Flavio Baddaria
41= Mirco de Marchi
41= Ergun Erdemir
  45 Norman Heikamp
  46= Lars Thiele
46= Carsten Menke
  48= Karl Weber
48= Ari Sovijärvi
  50 Dina Fukson
  51= Louis Hänsch
51= Lutz Schroeder
51= Jendrik Thiele
  54 Thomas Doepelheuer
  55 Margit Danielmeier
  56= Simon Niehausmeier
56= Tobias Wagemann
  58 Archibald Lefevre
  59 Jonathan Joosten
  60 Olivier Renders
  61 Franck Bona
  62 Florian Thomas
  63 Daniela Oymann

The final placings for both the ECS and Sunday's tournament are still being drawn up, so we will update this report with those as soon as we get them..

Holding the ECS at Pinball Universe was undoubtedly a success. Their selection of new and expertly restored games has to be second to none, and they have the space to hold two tournaments simultaneously while still providing an extensive free play area. In fact, the whole facility is very impressive, with around as many new-in-box machines as you are likely to see at the Stern Pinball factory.

Talking to the company owners, they tell us these machines are selling because they are creating a new, untapped market for pinballs in Germany.

That's hugely encouraging in itself, but they are also able to provide players with a world class tournament venue which will receive its next influx of guests at the forthcoming Pinball Universe Battle at the end of March.


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