Date: 10th - 12th September, 2016
Location: Port Łódź, ul. Pabianicka 245, 93-457 Łódź, Poland

The European Pinball Championship (or EPC) is the continents biggest competitive event and it is held in a different country each year. Last year we were in Belgium and the year before that in Italy, but for 2016 we headed to the Polish city of Łódź and the Port Łódź shopping centre.

Port Łódź shopping centre
Port Łódź shopping centre

Port Łódź is an out-of-town shopping centre a few miles south-west of the centre of Łódź. It is a large complex with DIY stores, a supermarket, computer and electrical outlets, plenty of ice cream and coffee shops, and a food court.

The shopping centre
The shopping centre

Unfortunately there are no good-quality hotels in the immediate neighbourhood of Port Łódź. We stayed at a pleasant guest house which was around a 20-minute walk away which proved to be no problem given the lovely weather. We also spent one night at the nearest hotel which is the Willa Marina, located just across the street from the shopping centre. We could say it has seen better days, but in truth it probably hasn’t.

In the middle of the shopping centre is a circular courtyard with more food and drink stalls, and some outside seating. It was in a former Marks & Spencer unit that the Polish organisers had set up the tournament and free play machines for this year’s EPC.

The venue for the EPC 2016
The venue for the EPC 2016
The venue for the EPC 2016
The venue for the EPC 2016

Being a former clothing and housewares store the interior was brightly lit, with a large open-plan layout which made the whole unit feel very spacious.

Inside the shopping centre retail unit used for the EPC
Inside the shopping centre retail unit used for the EPC

As players entered through the main set of doors, the registration desk was on the right. It was here that the 149 registered entrants signed-in and collected their commemorative bags containing promotional fliers, their player badge, a pair of lanyards and a guide to the city of Łódź.

Goodie bags for the players
Goodie bags for the players

The rest of the unit was split into five areas.

The first of these was the free-play machine zone. This is where the twenty practice machines were set up for people to play before and after their qualifying round.

Free-play practice machines
Free-play practice machines
Free-play practice machines
Free-play practice machines
Free-play practice machines
Free-play practice machines
Free-play practice machines
Free-play practice machines

The free-play machines were:

Bad Cats
Batman Forever
Batman Forever
Big Guns
Doctor Who*
Elvira & the Party Monsters*
F-14 Tomcat
F-14 Tomcat*
Funhouse
Hot Tip*
Indiana Jones (WMS)
Jurassic Park: The Lost World*
NBA Fastbreak
Secret Service*
Shadow, The
Shaq Attaq
Space Shuttle (Zac)
Spirit of ’76
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Time Machine (DE)
*machine was turned off or otherwise not playable

 

Sadly, with one or two notable exceptions, the condition of these free-play machines was not great. Some never seemed to work all weekend, while others had problems such as missing parts, weak flippers, reset issues or simply had no credits for much of the time.

Secret Service - a fun game, when it has credits
Secret Service – a fun game, when it has credits

There were also two more free-play games. One was an Indiana Jones which was demonstrating the PinSound customisable sound board and was part of the PinSound stand. The other was a Bride of Pinbot 2.0 which was only available to play at certain times.

The PinSound Indiana Jones and the Bride of Pinbot 2.0
The PinSound Indiana Jones and the Bride of Pinbot 2.0

Behind the PinSound stand was the area used for the ’80s Tournament which was the ‘classics’ tournament at this year’s EPC.

The machine numbers board for the '80s Tournament
The machine numbers board for the ’80s Tournament

Eight machines were used for the ’80s Tournament, although one of them was actually a ’90s machine. The machines were:

Earthshaker!
Comet
Funhouse
Fire!
Black Knight 2000
Pinbot
Road Kings
Swords of Fury

 

Players in the '80s Tournament
Players in the ’80s Tournament

Competitors could play one game on any four of the eight machines. Those scores were ranked alongside all the other scores on those machines and points awarded. The top 16 scorers would qualify for the play-offs on Saturday night.

Players in the '80s Tournament
Players in the ’80s Tournament

To the right of the PinSound stand was the organisers’ desk which is where the trophies and the current standings were on display.

Trophies and cash prizes for the tournaments
Trophies and cash prizes for the tournaments
The trophies for the main EPC tournament
The trophies for the main EPC tournament
The trophy for the winner of the main EPC tournament
The trophy for the winner of the main EPC tournament
The Fair Play trophy given to the player who shows the best sportsmanship
The Fair Play trophy given to the player who shows the best sportsmanship
The Team Tournament awards
The Team Tournament awards

The scores and standings were shown on projector screens at the organisers’ desk.

'80s Tournament scores and standings
’80s Tournament scores and standings
The groupings for the EPC
The groupings for the EPC
The rather ad-hoc projector mounting
The rather ad-hoc projector mounting

Guests could buy commemorative EPC mugs or T-shirts. The mugs were 25 Zloty ($6.48/€5.80/£5.00) and the T-shirts twice that price.

EPC 2016 mug
EPC 2016 mug
EPC 2016 T-shirt
EPC 2016 T-shirt

In addition to the main EPC, Team Tournament and ’80s Tournament, there were three single-machine side tournaments taking place.

The Lorneta Challenge and Crossroads Show were held on a High Speed 2 and a Roadshow respectively.

The Lorneta Challenge tournament award
The Lorneta Challenge tournament award
The Crossroads Show Tournament award
The Crossroads Show Tournament award

Those two machines were positioned to the right of the organisers’ desk.

The Lorneta Challenge and Crossroads Show machines
The Lorneta Challenge and Crossroads Show machines

A High Speed 2: The Getaway machine was used for the Lorneta Challenge but players had to wear distorting goggles while playing.

The Lorneta Challenge goggles
The Lorneta Challenge goggles

The left and right flipper buttons were swapped on the Crossroads Show Roadshow game, with players forbidden from crossing their arms while playing it. EPC competitors could have one entry in both tournaments, and the highest scorers on each machine would win the trophies.

There was another high score tournament. This one was the Whoa Nellie! Challenge. No prizes for guessing which machine was used for this one.

The Whoa Nellie! Challenge machine
The Whoa Nellie! Challenge machine

The game cost 2 Polish Zloty ($0.50/€0.46/£0.40) to play, with unlimited attempts allowed during show hours. At the end of the EPC the player with the highest score would win.

The Whoa Nellie! Challenge
The Whoa Nellie! Challenge

The right side of the main room was where the EPC tournament machines were set up. The 27 games were divided into three pools of nine, with each pool containing eight tournament machines and one reserve.

The pools were:

POOL A POOL B POOL C
Metallica Pro
Scared Stiff
Kiss Pro
Corvette
Tales of the Arabian Nights
Batman: Dark Knight
Whitewater
Demolition Man
Reserve: Dirty Harry
World Cup Soccer
Game of Thrones Pro
The Addams Family
Star Trek Pro
AC/DC Pro
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Dirty Harry
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Reserve: The Flintstones
The Walking Dead Pro
Terminator 2
World Cup Soccer
Scared Stiff
AC/DC Pro
Metallica Pro
Lethal Weapon 3
The Lord of the Rings
Reserve: Twilight Zone

 

Each player was put into a group of 12 and played a single game against each of the other players in the group.

Players were allocated to one of the pools – A, B or C – and played all their matches in that zone. The list of matches and the machines to be played were shown on the reverse of each player’s badge and also on a board next to the entrance to the pool.

Pool C
Pool C

Some groups played their matches on the Friday, but the majority played during the three time slots on Saturday.

The matches for the first round on Friday evening
The matches for the first round on Friday evening
Players in Pool B await the start of their matches
Players in Pool B await the start of their matches
Pool B machines, one with live stream cameras
Pool B machines, one with live stream cameras
Pool A machines
Pool A machines

A win in a match earned a player 1 point while a loss earned them a zero. Once all eleven rounds had been played the four players with the most wins progressed to the play-off rounds on Sunday.

Players in Pool C check their final scores
Players in Pool C check their final scores

If there were ties for any of the qualifying positions, the number of wins each tied player had over the other tied players was used to determine who qualified. If that still failed to break the tie, a single play-off match was played.

The number of wins between tied players is worked out
The number of wins between tied players is worked out

Beyond the EPC zones was a ‘chill-out’ area – a darkened room with soft seating and two table football (foosball) games. There was also a Demolition Man game set up in there, but this never seemed to be powered-up.

The chill-out zone (with the lights turned on)
The chill-out zone (with the lights turned on)
The chill-out zone (with the lights turned on)
The chill-out zone (with the lights turned on)

The final zone was behind one of the banks of free-play practice machines, and it contained the four machines used for the Team Tournament: Mustang Pro, Roadshow, Johnny Mnemonic and WWE Wrestlemania Pro.

The Team Tournament area
The Team Tournament area

These machines were also used on Sunday for the main EPC play-offs as a ‘Zone D’ area.

Here’s a chance to look around the EPC venue during qualifying on Saturday afternoon in our exclusive Six Minute Tour.

 

In the main EPC tournament, each round was given 3.5 hours to complete their eleven matches before the following round began. Although that didn’t leave much time for machine maintenance or adjustments, this seemed to generally work well with only around a 15-20 minute delay in some areas by the time the last round began at 4pm on Saturday.

When the final round was completed, the 52 qualifiers who would play in Sunday’s play-offs were known along with the 12 players with the most wins who would get a bye through the first round. They were all listed on the projector screen.

The list of EPC qualifiers
The list of EPC qualifiers

Because the type is rather small and indistinct on the screen, here’s the list.

EPC 2016 Qualifiers
Name Wins
Erwin Deutschländer 11
Sandor Varga 10
Konrad Masłowski 10
Jorian Engelbrektsson 10
Franck Bona 10
Daniele Acciari 10
Marcus Hugosson 9
Roberto Pedroni 9
Jan Anders Nilsson 9
Stefan Karlhuber 9
Kim Günther Hansen 9
Philipp Unger 9
up Bye through first round up
Benjamin Gräbeldinger 9
Gabriel Gavrilita 9
Daniel Nowak 8
Paweł Nowak 8
Marcin Jaśkiewicz 8
Tamas Odler 8
Johan Genberg 8
Linus Persson 8
Linus Jorenbo 8
Daniele Baldan 8
John van der Wulp 8
Fabio Francescato 8
Jörgen Holm 8
Anders Carlsson 8
Cayle George 8
Helena Walter 8
Mariusz Tkacz 8
Rafael Masedo 8
Peter Andersen 8
Cesare d’Atri 8
David Dahl-Hansson 8
Reiner Pfeiffer 7
Kevin Kuhn 7
Martin Janczyk 7
Ari Sovijärvi 7
Antti Peltonen 7
Daniel Kaczmarek 7
Jakub Ciepliński 7
Lukasz Wawryka 7
Kirsten Adam 7
Marcin Kisiel 7
Carlos Javier Parra 7
Hartmut Besigk 7
Lukasz Romanowski 7
Stefan Schichtl 7
Philippe Bocquet 7
Stefan Herold 7
Karyn Kiser 7
Marco Suvanto 7
Pontus Qvarfordh 6

 

In cases where players were tied for a bye position, their IFPA ranking was used as the deciding factor rather than having any kind of play-off.

The final tournament event on Saturday evening was the final of the EPC Team Tournament.

Twenty-nine teams of three took part and they were mostly – but not entirely – groups of players with the same nationality. Each team played one game on the four Team Tournament machines, with every player playing one ball of the game. Games could be played at any time from 3pm on Friday until 6pm on Saturday. The scores were ranked with the top eight teams qualifying for the play-offs.

The EPC Team Tournament
The EPC Team Tournament

In the play-offs the teams were paired-up and played the machines again. The first team to get two wins moved on to the semi-finals.

The Team Tournament also gave the Polish repair team a chance to work on the games which would be used for the main EPC play-offs the next day, fixing any faults and cleaning them up.

Cleaning and maintenance on Saturday evening
Cleaning and maintenance on Saturday evening

The two teams who then contested the final were Hungary 2 (Sandor Varga, Tamas Odler & Balázs Pálfi) and Sweden (Jorian Engelbrektsson, Jörgen Holm & Marcus Hugosson). The final was played as a single two-player match on Bride of Pinbot 2.0.

Team Sweden discuss tactics for the final
Team Sweden discuss tactics for the final
Team Hungary 2 start the final
Team Hungary 2 start the final
Despite being held on Saturday evening, a good crowd watched the final
Despite being held on Saturday evening, a good crowd watched the final

In the end it was a victory for the Swedes, leaving Hungary 2 in second place and Team France (Franck Bona, Willy Sachet & Philippe Bocquet) in third.

The top three in the EPC Team Tournament: Hungary 2 (2nd), Sweden (1st) and Team France (3rd)
The top three in the EPC Team Tournament::Hungary 2 (2nd), Sweden (1st) and Team France (3rd)

Here are the results for all 29 teams taking part:

EPC Team Tournament Results
1 Team Sweden
2 Team Hungary 2
3 Team France
4 Team Sweden 2
5 Team Hungary
6 Team Spain 2
7 Team Austria
8 Team Finland
9 Team Denmark
10 Team Poland
11 Team Finland
12 Team Poland 5
13 Team Italy
14 Team Netherlands
15 Team UK/Sweden
16 Team Slovenia 2
17 Team Poland 3
18 Team Spain
19 Team Germany 2
20 Team Finland
21 Team Sweden 3
22 Team Poland 2
23 Team Slovenia
24 Team Germany
25 Team Germany 3
26 Team Finland 3
27 Team Romania
28 Team Poland 6
29 Team Poland 4

 

The fun wasn’t over though, because the EPC organisers had arranged an evening at a music club in the centre of Łódź. A bus was also booked to ferry everyone from Port Łódź to the New York Music Club.

The bus to the night club in Łódź
The bus to the night club in Łódź

The twenty minute ride took us to Piotrkowska in the centre of Łódź.

Piotrkowska in Łódź
Piotrkowska in Łódź

Entry to New York Music Club was 10 PLN (or roughly $/€/£ 2). A raised seating area had been reserved for EPC guests with a great view of the stage where an excellent covers band was performing AC/DC, Tom Petty and Neil Young songs along with many other classic tracks.

Live music at the New York Music Club
Live music at the New York Music Club
The lively and appreciative guests
The lively and appreciative guests
Team Sweden celebrate their Team Tournament win
Team Sweden celebrate their Team Tournament win
More of the EPC crowd enjoying themselves
More of the EPC crowd enjoying themselves

Not surprisingly we weren’t out of bed too early on Sunday morning and so missed the first rounds of the ’80s Tournament play-offs which began at 8:30am.

EPC ’80s Tournament Qualifiers
1 Ernö Rotter
2 Tobias Wagemann
3 Sandor Varga
4 Fabio Francescato
5 Cezary Głowala
6 Roberto Pedroni
7 Julio Vicario Soriano
8 Johan Genberg
9 Jorian Engelbrektsson
10 Rafael Masedo
11 Daniel Nowak
12 Daniele Baldan
13 Javier Núñez Pérez
14 Giuseppe Violante
15 Patrik Jönsson
16 Karyn Kiser

 

The format saw the sixteen qualifiers split into four groups of four players. It was a harsh cut with the four in each group playing a single match on one machine where only the top scorer continued to the final. The remaining players were ranked according to their qualifying position.

The four who made it to the final were Julio Vicario Soriano, Jorian Engelbrektsson, Daniele Baldan and Giuseppe Violante. They played on three machines: Fire!, Cyclone and Earthshaker! using a 7-5-3-0 scoring system.

Julio won on Fire!, with Daniele second, Jorian third, and Giuseppe fourth.

The order of the top two were swapped on game two, Cyclone, with Daniele winning and Julio second.

With Jorian on six points and Giuseppe yet to score, only Daniele or Julio could win. If Jorian won game three on Earthshaker! he could take second if either Daniele or Julio failed to score a point.

Julio in the last game of the final of the '80s Tournament
Julio in the last game of the final of the ’80s Tournament
The last game of the final of the '80s Tournament
The last game of the final of the ’80s Tournament
The last game of the final of the '80s Tournament
The last game of the final of the ’80s Tournament

It was an incredibly tight final game, with all the scores between 1.47M and 2.94M, but it was Giuseppe who won it to give himself a total of 7 points. Jorian’s game was interrupted by a tournament official standing too close, and with no possibility of winning the tournament he walked away from his third ball mid-game to end on 6 points.

Between the two contenders to be the overall winner, Daniele took second place on Earthshaker! with his 2.347M narrowly beating Julio’s 2.161M, thus earning him first place in the tournament. Julio was second, Giuseppe third and Jorian fourth.

The top three in the '80s Tournament: Julio Vicario Soriano (2nd), Daniele Baldan (1st) and Giuseppe Violante (3rd)
The top three in the ’80s Tournament: Julio Vicario Soriano (2nd), Daniele Baldan (1st) and Giuseppe Violante (3rd)
Winner of the '80s Tournament, Daniele Baldan
Winner of the ’80s Tournament, Daniele Baldan

Here’s the full result of the ’80s Tournament:

EPC ’80s Tournament Results
1  Daniele Baldan
2  Julio Vicario Soriano
3  Giuseppe Violante
4  Jorian Engelbrektsson
5  Ernö Rotter
6  Tobias Wagemann
7  Sandor Varga
8  Fabio Francescato
9  Cezary Głowala
10  Roberto Pedroni
11  Johan Genberg
12  Rafael Masedo
13  Daniel Nowak
14  Javier Núñez pérez
15  Patrik Jönsson
16  Karyn Kiser
17  Joel Wozniak
18  Antti Peltonen
19  Jörgen Holm
20  Sebastian Gwizdała
21  Andrej Bukovšek
22  Stefan Karlhuber
23  Olli-mikko Ojamies
24  Reiner Pfeiffer
25  Stefan Herold
26  Radosław Słotwiński
27  László Horn
28  Andrzej Cieślik
29  David Dahl-hansson
30  Roland Schwarz
31  Gabriel Ortiz
32  Janek Nietrzebka
33  Martin Ayub
34  Peter Blakemore
35  Marcin Kisiel
36  Dirk Elzholz
37  Michał Mazurkiewicz
38  Konrad Maslowski
39  Benjamin Gräbeldinger
40  Daniel Bengtsson
41  Anders Karlsson
42  Andrej Demsar
43  Tamás Odler
44  Juan antonio Martin
45  Kevin Kuhn
46  Devis Pierantozzi
47  Rich Mallett
48  Mattias Jeppsson
49  Mika Arvela
50  Perttu Pesä
51  Artur Natorski
52  Fredrik Mellberg
53  Carlos javier Parra
54  Hartmut Besigk
55  Juha Lijalainen
56  Flavio Baddaria
57  Ari Sovijärvi
58  David Mainwaring
59  John Van der wulp
60  Nikodem Kaczmarek
61  Jerzy Węglarz
62  Juha Viitanen
63  Pontus Qvarfordh
64  Balázs Pálfi
65  Philippe Bocquet
66  Marcus Hugosson
67  Milan Caranovic
68  Joonas Haverinen
69  Boldizsar Botka
70  Andrzej Olszewski
71  Pablo Crespo García
72  Jakub Tkacz
73  Linus Persson
74  Cayle George
75  Marco Suvanto
76  Julian Klotz
77  Tommi Koski
78  Vid Kuklec
79  Peter Andersen
80  Teemu Vinnikka
81  Rafal Bytomski
82  Rafał Jodełko
83  Lukasz Romanowski
84  Mirko Lundén
85  Piotr Czubkowski
86  Willy Sachet
87  Jani Saari
88  Anja Nielsen
89  Petri Taurio
90  Jakub Ciepliński
91  Morten Petersen
92  Erwin Deutschländer
93  Kirsten Adam
94  Olle Strandh
95  Lukasz Wawryka
96  Philipp Unger
97  Erno Lahdenperä
98  Marcin Jaśkiewicz
99  Wolfgang Haid
100  Andreas Nirven
101  Jakub Józefczyk
102  Helena Walter
103  Marcin Dylewski
104  Lukasz Dziewulski
105  Ovidiu Cacina
106  Kim günther Hansen
107  Daniel Kaczmarek
108  Lars Ovinder
109  Kornél Kosdi
110  Jasmijn De jong
111  Vesa Sovijärvi
112  Daniele Acciari
113  Simo Rimmi
114  Stefan Schichtl
115  Pilvi Salonen
116  Jarosław Rupiewicz
117  Mathias Jäger
118  Piotr Andrzejewski
119  Jaroslaw Nietrzebka
120  Linus Jorenbo
121  Olli Paloheimo
122  Bartosz Nowak
123  Zeljko Vasic
124  Tobias Löfstedt
125  Roni Valkonen
126  Aleš Rebec
127  Mariusz Tkacz
128  Patrik Gräntz
129  Mats sahlberg Mats
130  Marcin Brodziak
131  Mateusz Leja
132  Enrico giorgio De stefani
133  Mateusz Gwizdala
134  Piotr Kochański
135  Sandra Katic
136  Sebastian Sołtys
137  Marek Szymborski
138  Franck Bona
139  Admir Peco
140  Dariusz Mazurkiewicz
141  Jan Anders Nilsson
142  Martin Janczyk
143  Cesare D’atri
144  Gabriel Gavrilita

 

All eyes were then on the final rounds of the main EPC tournament.

The 52 qualifiers included 12 who skipped the first round of play-offs, leaving 40 players to play head-to-head best-of-three pairs matches.

The play-off rounds of the EPC
The play-off rounds of the EPC

The 20 winners from the first round were joined the 12 players with a bye for round two which was played in the same way.

The 20 losers from round one entered the loser bracket where they played head-to-head single games to determine who continued in the loser bracket and who went out of the tournament.

Tales of the Arabian Nights burned up a flipper coil mid-game
Tales of the Arabian Nights burned up a flipper coil mid-game
The Team Tournament machines formed the new Zone D for the play-offs
The Team Tournament machines formed the new Zone D for the play-offs

This system continued as the thirty-two players in the main winners’ bracket were reduced to sixteen, then eight, then four, and then two.

In the loser bracket the single game matches eventually reduced the number of players remaining to two. These two joined the two from the winners’ bracket to make a four-player final.

The four finalists were Jorian Engelbrektsson and Konrad Masłowski from the winners’ bracket, and Daniele Acciari and Cesare d’Atri from the losers’.

The final would be played on four machines. These were brought into the open so everyone could crowd around and watch.

The machines for the final are set up
The machines for the final are set up

The machines would be played from left to right, starting with The Walking Dead. This was followed by World Cup Soccer, Terminator 2, and finishing with the newest game, a Ghostbusters Limited Edition.

Points would be awarded for position on each game, with nine points for a win, five points for second and two points for third. The player with the most points after Ghostbusters would be the overall winner.

The crowd watches as the final begins
The crowd watches as the final begins

The Walking Dead worked out well for Daniele as he took first place and nine points on game one. Jorian was second to score five points, while Konrad was third.

Daniele wins on The Walking Dead
Daniele wins on The Walking Dead

So the scores after the first game were:

TWD WCS T2 GB Total
Jorian Engelbrektsson 5 5
Konrad Masłowski 2 2
Daniele Acciari 9 9
Cesare d’Atri 0 0

 

Game two on World Cup Soccer mixed things up a bit as Jorian put up a huge 2 billion score early on which sealed the win. The remaining three were all close together around the 500 million mark, with Cesare leading the pack ahead of Daniele, with Konrad in fourth.

Cesare gets his first points with second place on World Cup Soccer
Cesare gets his first points with second place on World Cup Soccer

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TWD WCS T2 GB Total
Jorian Engelbrektsson 5 9 14
Konrad Masłowski 2 0 2
Daniele Acciari 9 2 11
Cesare d’Atri 0 5 5

 

The third game was Terminator 2 and Cesare built on his previous second place to win this game.

A stuck ball on Terminator 2 briefly interrupts the final
A stuck ball on Terminator 2 briefly interrupts the final
Cesare wins on Terminator 2
Cesare wins on Terminator 2

Jorian continued his record of always being in the top two by coming second, while Konrad gathered the remaining two points in third place.

Konrad takes third place on Terminator 2
Konrad takes third place on Terminator 2

Going into the last game of the final, Jorian was five points ahead of Cesare who in turn was three points up on Daniele. The best Konrad could hope for now was third, and that relied on him winning game four and Daniele getting no points.

TWD WCS T2 GB Total
Jorian Engelbrektsson 5 9 5 19
Konrad Masłowski 2 0 2 4
Daniele Acciari 9 2 0 11
Cesare d’Atri 0 5 9 14

 

The last machine played in the EPC 2016 final
The last machine played in the EPC 2016 final

The current leader, Jorian, played first.

The last game of the EPC 2016 final begins
The last game of the EPC 2016 final begins

Although none of the scores were exceptional, Jorian’s 69.1 million was more than double his nearest rival and gave him the win on Ghostbusters.

Daniele is often a master of the last-minute comeback, but it eluded him this time as Konrad’s 25.9 million was enough for second place ahead of Daniele’s 20.9 million.

The ball was saved but the game wasn't
The ball was saved but the game wasn’t

Cesare meanwhile had an unhappy time and only scored 5.8 million on the last game and no points.

With two wins and two second places in the final, Jorian was the clear winner of the EPC 2016.

TWD WCS T2 GB Total
Jorian Engelbrektsson 5 9 5 9 28
Konrad Masłowski 2 0 2 5 9
Daniele Acciari 9 2 0 2 13
Cesare d’Atri 0 5 9 0 14

 

Daniele’s third place on Ghostbusters meant Cesare kept second overall, while Konrad couldn’t quite get the first place he would have needed to take third and ended up fourth.

The scores are totalled to confirm Jorian as the winner
The scores are totalled to confirm Jorian as the winner

Then it was time for the presentations of trophies and cash prizes.

European Pinball Champion 2016, Jorian Engelbrektsson
European Pinball Champion 2016, Jorian Engelbrektsson
Second place, Cesare d'Atri
Second place, Cesare d’Atri
Third place, Daniele Acciari
Third place, Daniele Acciari
The top three in the EPC 2016::Cesare d'Atri (2nd), Jorian Engelbrektsson (1st) & Daniele Acciari (3rd)
The top three in the EPC 2016::Cesare d’Atri (2nd), Jorian Engelbrektsson (1st) & Daniele Acciari (3rd)

Here are the full results of the main EPC tournament.

EPC 2016 Final Results
1 Jorian Engelbrektsson
2 Cesare d’Atri
3 Daniele Acciari
4 Konrad Masłowski
5 Daniel Nowak
5 Cayle George
7 Ari Sovijärvi
7 Daniel Kaczmarek
10 Franck Bona
10 Linus Persson
10 Sandor Varga
10 Stefan Karlhuber
14 Benjamin Gräbeldinger
14 Helena Walter
14 Johan Genberg
14 Marco Suvanto
20 Daniele Baldan
20 Erwin Deutschländer
20 Hartmut Besigk
20 Jan Anders Nilsson
20 Jörgen Holm
20 Marcin Kisiel
20 Philipp Unger
20 Roberto Pedroni
28 Jakub Ciepliński
28 Fabio Francescato
28 Kim Günther Hansen
28 Kirsten Adam
28 Marcin Jaśkiewicz
28 Marcus Hugosson
28 Peter Andersen
28 Reiner Pfeiffer
40 Anders Carlsson
40 Carlos Javier Parra
40 David Dahl-Hansson
40 Gabriel Gavrilita
40 John van der Wulp
40 Linus Jorenbo
40 Lukasz Romanowski
40 Lukasz Wawryka
40 Mariusz Tkacz
40 Martin Janczyk
40 Paweł Nowak
40 Philippe Bocquet
40 Rafael Masedo
40 Stefan Herold
40 Stefan Schichtl
40 Tamas Odler
50 Antti Peltonen
50 Karyn Kiser
50 Kevin Kuhn
50 Pontus Qvarfordh
57 Sebastian Sołtys
57 Cezary Głowala
57 Jakub Józefczyk
57 MortenPetersen
57 Piotr Andrzejewski
57 Peter Blakemore
57 Tobias Wagemann
57 Erno Lahdenperä
57 Joonas Haverinen
72 Balázs Pálfi
72 Willy Sachet
72 Joel Wozniak
72 Lars Ovinder
72 Andrej Demsar
72 Roland Schwarz
72 Jani Saari
72 Enrico Giorgio De Stefani
72 Marcin Dylewski
72 Daniel Bengtsson
72 Zeljko Vasic
72 Patrik Gräntz
72 Juha Iijalainen
72 Flavio Baddaria
72 Jasmijn de Jong
72 Devis Pierantozzi
72 Fredrik Mellberg
72 Juan Antonio Martin
72 Mats Sahlberg Mats
72 Rich Mallet
72 Olli-Mikko Ojamies
91 Olli Paloheimo
91 Mathias Jäger
91 Marta Ścibisz
91 Mateusz Leja
91 Jacek Wenda
91 Jarosław Rupiewicz
91 Armand Maculewicz
91 Jarosław Nietrzebka
91 Giuseppe Violante
91 Boldizsar Botka
91 Horn László
91 David Mainwaring
91 Mattias Jeppsson
91 Roni Valkonen
91 Andrej Bukovšek
91 Martin Ayub
91 Andreas Nirven
111 Rafał Bytomski
111 Admir Peco
111 Simo Rimmi
111 Marek Szymborski
111 Mirko Lundén
111 Juha Viitanen
111 Teemu Vinnika
111 Marcin Brodziak
111 Ernö Rotter
111 Tobias Löfstedt
111 Andrzej Cieślik
111 Wolfgang Haid
111 Olle Strandh
111 Javier Núñez Pérez
111 Kornél Kosdi
111 Nikodem Kaczmarek
111 Janek Nietrzebka
111 Piotr Czubkowki
111 Piotr Kochański
111 Vid Kuklec
111 Jerzy Węglarz
111 Tommi Koski
111 Aleš Rebec
130 Sebastian Gwizdała
130 Mika Arvela
130 Andrzej Olszewski
130 Daniel Górecki
130 Pilvi Salonen
130 Patrik Jönsson
130 Bartosz Radomyski
130 Michał Mazurkiewicz
130 Artur Natorski
130 Ovidu Cacina
130 Pablo Crespo Garcia
130 Petri Taurio
130 Dirk Elzholz
130 Jakub Tkacz
130 Milan Caranovic
130 Gabriel Ortiz
142 Julian Klotz
142 Radosław Słotwiński
142 Dariusz Mazurkiewicz
142 Rafał Jodełko
142 Perrtu Pesä
142 Łukasz Dziewulski
142 Anja Nielsen
142 Bartosz Nowak
147 Sandra Katic
147 Vesa Sovijärvi
149 Mateusz Gwizdała

 

Jorian also won €500 ($560/£430) for taking first place, while Cesare took home €300 for second. Daniele collected €200 for his third place. Daniele also won the Fair Play award and topped the table of scores on Whoa Nellie! to win that tournament too.

Winner of the Fair Play award, Daniele Acciari
Winner of the Fair Play award, Daniele Acciari

The Lorneta Challenge side tournament played using distorting goggles on the Getaway machine was won by Morten Petersen.

Winner of the Lorneta Challenge, Morten Petersen
Winner of the Lorneta Challenge, Morten Petersen

The other side tournament, the Crossroads Show using a reverse-flipper Roadshow machine was won by Marcin Jaśkiewicz who wasn’t present to collect his trophy.

Thanks to all the organisers and players who made this year’s EPC a very special time.

Organisers and players in the EPC
Organisers and players in the EPC

We rounded-off this trip with a return visit to the centre of Łódź to get some late Sunday night dinner.

We headed to an area called Manufaktura – a renovated industrial area which as been turned into large open plaza fronted by a large glass shopping mall and surrounded by long brick building housing shops, restaurants, art galleries, clubs and bars.

The shopping mall at the top of Manufaktura
The shopping mall at the top of Manufaktura

Although the plaza was largely deserted late on Sunday night, you can easily imagine this being a lively and vibrant place on Friday and Saturday evenings.

One of the long brick building housing restaurants, bars and shops
One of the long brick building housing restaurants, bars and shops
Fountains in front of the shops and bars
One of the long brick building housing restaurants, bars and shops

We returned home the next day after an enjoyable, entertaining and enlightening visit to Łódź.

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