BELGIAN OPEN PINBALL 2016

This year the Belgian Open Pinball tournament moved out of its former home at the JC Den Eglantier nightclub near the central square in Sint-Niklaas to a airier, more spacious and better air-conditioned hall close to the train station in the same city.

Walking under a bridge behind the silver ball above brought us to the ‘t Bau-huis – a glass and metal structure containing two large halls.

There was plenty of free parking for vehicles both directly outside the building and on the surrounding streets. The Belgian Open Pinball event was in the second, right-hand hall, although the organisers had also booked the left-hand hall for storage and as a quiet area, so they really had the run of the place.

In the glass-sided foyer were multiple tables and chairs for relaxing, eating or drinking. The bar on the left side provided coffee, soft drinks and several different beers ranging from the draft Jupiler to bottles of Westmalle Dubble or Tripel trappist beers. They also sold some pastries and potato crisps.

Payment for the bar’s offerings had to be made in tokens which could be purchased from the registration desk, located on the right side of the hall.

Entry to the Belgian Open Pinball tournament cost €45 ($50.44 / £39.56) which needed to be submitted in advance along with a chosen qualifying time slot. Five two-and-a-half-hour qualifying sessions were available spread throughout Saturday, with the first starting at 9:30am.

On arrival, players collected their entry pack which included their player badge, three €1.50 green tokens for use at the bar, and a red token for one entry in the Classics Tournament.

Event T-shirts like the ones above could also be pre-ordered at a cost of €25, and there was the €13 option of joining an all-you-can-eat pizza dinner on Saturday evening. More on that later but let’s head into the hall.

The left and central areas contained the twenty-six free-play machines, at the back of the hall were the Classics Tournament games, while the main Belgian Open Pinball machines were on the right wall. The area on the bottom right of the picture above was where the side tournaments for teams and junior players were held.

Here is the list of the free-play machines. As usual, asterisked titles in the list were not working or switched off when we compiled it on Sunday.

Free-Play Machines

Airborne Alien Star Cirqus Voltaire Firepower Funhouse* Hobbit, The Hook Indianapolis 500 Jack in the Box Judge Dredd Millionaire* Monopoly NBA Fastbreak Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Rocky & Bullwinkle Rollergames Shadow, The Simpsons Pinball Party, The Sopranos, The Spiderman Vault Edition Star Trek Pro Teed Off Terminator 3* Tommy Tron* Wizard of Oz, The

 

There were twenty-four main Belgian Open Pinball (BOP) tournament machines arranged along the right wall. The exact mix of machines in each area changed from Saturday to Sunday, but these were the titles used for Saturday’s BOP qualifying.

During the qualifying round players could choose any eight of the twenty-four BOP machines on which to try to get their highest scores. All scores on each machine were ranked with the highest score earning that player 125 points. The total points across all eight machines made their overall total.

Belgian Open Pinball Qualifying Machines

Tales from the Crypt X-Men Pro Roadshow, Red & Ted’s Whitewater Hook Doctor Who Waterworld Funhouse Lost in Space Creature from the Black Lagoon Jack in the Box Tommy, The Who’s Freddy: A Nightmare on Elm Street Game of Thrones LE Medieval Madness Remake Simpsons Pinball Party, The Tron LE Avatar LE Star Trek LE Addams Family Gold, The AC/DC Premium Dirty Harry Skateball Star Wars (DE)

 

The machines were behind barriers with two manned entrances each of which had a peg board with small plaques for each of the twelve machines covered by that board. Players had to choose a machine and then give their player badge to an official who put it on the peg board against the machine number.

When a machine was free its plaque was also on the peg board and the next player to choose it could enter the area and start their game. If the plaque was not on the board, someone was playing the game, and the badges of subsequent players were stacked on the board.

To combat any attempt to restart a game, credits could only be added and the game started by officials using a fob similar to the ones employed by bar staff to identify themselves to the electronic till.

In addition to their original eight scores, each player had a ‘joker’ they could play to either replay one of the eight machines or to play a ninth machine which would replace their lowest points-scoring machine from the original eight. In both cases the joker score would replace the previous score, even if it was lower.

The joker could either be played as part of the player’s qualifying period, or used in a special joker session from 10pm until 11pm on Saturday evening.

Besides the projector display on the wall, several upright terminals were available where players could check their performance and see the overall rankings in all the available tournaments.

If that wasn’t enough, a second projector was set up in the lobby, and players could log-on to a closed wireless network and use their phones, tablets or laptops to further interrogate the scoring system.

The only thing seemingly missing was an internet version so players could keep up-to-date with their standing when they had left the building.

In the centre at the back of the hall were the sixteen machines used in the Classics Tournament.

The same peg board system was used for the Classics Tournament, although with fewer machines than the BOP it only required two entry points.

The machines used were:

Classics Tournament Machines

Barracora Centaur Cheetah Cosmic Gunfight Dolly Parton Eight Ball Deluxe Elektra Evel Knievel Firepower Flash Gordon Grand Prix Rocky Super Soccer Viking Wizard! Xenon

 

The same type of scoring system was used for the Classics Tournament, although an entry only consisted of three games rather than eight. However, unlike the BOP, players could buy as many entries for the Classic Tournament as they wanted during the qualifying session which lasted all day Saturday and from 10am until 2pm on Sunday.

Everyone received one entry with their BOP registration, while extra entries cost €3 from the registration desk.

Scores and standings were projected on the back wall of the hall.

The projected standings appeared to lag the on-line versions by several minutes, but the scoring system generally worked very smoothly and was diligently run by a team in a darkened corner at the back of the hall.

On Saturday there was a team tournament which was open to twelve groups of four.

The teams were split into two groups of six and played a single match against each of the other five teams in the group. A match consisted of two 4-player 4-ball games where in each game two players from one team played two from the opposition. The games were played so that the first three balls were played normally but the fourth was played split-flipper by both members of the team.

Points were awarded for the finishing position in each game using a 5-3-1-0 system.

The machines used for the Team Tournament were:

Team Tournament Machines

Batman Dark Knight Johnny Mnemonic Kiss LE Metallica Pro Pinball Magic Star Trek: The Next Generation Taxi Walking Dead LE, The

 

The top two teams from each group then went through to the final which was held on Saturday night.

The final competitive event on Saturday took place in a small room between the lobby and the main hall, and that was the Winner Takes It All (WTIA) tournament.

Four Stern machines were set on €1 per game coin play and the simple task was to try to get the high score on any one of them. Whoever managed it would get themselves a place in the final on Sunday afternoon.

The machines were: Transformers LE, Metallica LE, Mustang LE and Ghostbusters Pro.

Also in that room was another scoring terminal and a rather lonely upright video game.

For most of the weekend, hot food was provided by two catering trucks parked outside the entrance to the venue. We didn’t try any of the food there ourselves, but did see plenty of people thoroughly enjoying the appetising burgers they sold.

On Saturday evening another company turned up and set up their wood-burning pizza ovens in preparation for the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet which was available for €15 per person.

Those who partook had to sit in a special segregated area so they didn’t share their food, and only seemed to get one or maybe two slices per visit. Again we passed on the pizza and headed into town for a nice meal at a Danish restaurant before returning for the joker session at 10pm.

After the hour-long session the final qualifying results in the BOP were announced:

Belgian Open Pinball Qualifying

Pos Name # Games Points 1 Julio Vicario Soriano 8 929 2 Jean-Philippe Congnard 8 845 3 Daniele Acciari 8 819 4 Peter Andersen 8 791 5 Paul Jongma 8 782 6 Bo Mertins 8 760 7 Van Der Gugten Mark 8 752 8 Anthony Rorive 8 750 9 Albert Nomden 8 746 10 Lieven Engelbeen 8 718 11 Mads Kristensen 8 706 12 Colin Macalpine 8 696 13 Franck Bona 8 693 14 Cayle George 8 677 15 Armin Kress 8 672 16 Martijn Van Aken 8 672 17 Didier Dujardin 8 668 18 Henning Lescher 8 664 19 Joeri Stroobants 8 662 20 Ivan Geentjes 8 659 21 Olivier Renders 8 655 22 Franck Baudon 8 647 23 Carlos Javier Parra Moracho 8 638 24 Stan Simpson 8 637 25 Ergun Erdemir 8 635 26 Norbert Broman 8 635 27 Peter Blakemore 8 625 28 Frank Goeltl 8 618 29 Giuseppe Violante 8 615 30 Andrew Foster 8 604 31 Olivier Leurs 8 604 32 Axel Bouet 8 599 33 Stanislas Chabior 8 595 34 Michel Rorive 8 592 35 Kim G. Hansen 8 591 36 Alain Boulieu 8 586 37 Erwin Deutschländer 8 585 38 Martijn Van Amsterdam 8 585 39 Tom Geneyn 8 582 40 Kirsten Adam 8 578 41 Glenn Verhoosele 8 577 42 Christophe Leroy 8 573 43 Lars Ørskov Jensen 8 564 44 Mathias Leurs 8 562 45 Wozniak Christophe 8 562 46 Sébastien Muller 8 557 47 David Deturck 8 552 48 Mario Kertels 8 551 49 Ollivier Francq 8 551 50 Jasmijn De Jong 8 549 51 Tobias Wagemann 8 549 52 Philipp Unger 8 547 53 Andrés Elices Cereceda 8 543 54 Nick Marshal 8 540 55 Pablo Crespo García 8 540 56 Maurice Ney 8 539 57 Gert Houthaeve 8 538 58 Taco Wouters 8 531 59 Michael Trepp 8 530 60 Evert Brochez 8 529 61 Martin Ayub 8 529 62 Francis Pott 8 527 63 Kevin Claeys 8 521 64 Victor Stulemeijer 8 521 65 José Gabriel Ortiz Llonis 8 518 66 Greg Mott 8 516 67 Helen De Haan-Verbeek 8 514 68 Patrice Luwel 8 508 69 Kris Van Clapdorp 8 507 70 Benjamin Gräbeldinger 8 506 71 Sylvain Carre 8 496 72 Dimitri Van Hove 8 495 73 Bjorn Brand 8 494 74 Anthony Streulens 8 492 75 David Van Balen 8 487 76 Wayne Johns 8 479 77 Jochen Krieger 8 477 78 Rich Mallett 8 473 79 Robert Lau 8 471 80 Heinz Berges 8 466 81 Tim Brouns 8 463 82 Kevin Roelants 8 462 83 Rob Breyne 8 461 84 Raphaël Duez 8 458 85 Joska Keunekamp 8 457 86 Rob Overdijk 8 457 87 Maarten Lemey 8 453 88 Mario Vercauteren 8 450 89 Mike Kindler 8 448 90 Marc Steinmeier 8 437 91 Pascal Van Wonterghem 8 436 92 Tim Kreukels 7 429 93 Tommy Machado 8 422 94 Hans Skov 8 421 95 Roald Nielsen 8 421 96 Jos Deboosere 8 416 97 Mathias Jäger 8 416 98 Damien Dumont 8 411 99 Michael Idemo 8 410 100 Koen Simoens 8 407 101 Jens Vercruyssen 8 406 102 Joachim Reniers 8 406 103 Lene Andersen 8 405 104 Dennis Verleyen 8 403 105 Fred Van Den Bosch 8 403 106 John Van Der Wulp 8 403 107 Kate Rothwell Jackson 8 403 108 Jakob Bonne Weisbjerg 8 401 109 Bart Vyvey 8 400 110 Giancarlo Rossetti 8 400 111 Archibald Lefevre 8 399 112 Ramon Richard 8 399 113 Daniela Oymann 8 397 114 Jochen Jaspers 8 397 115 Tim Thornton 8 397 116 Florian Thomas 8 394 117 Mik Dahl-Nielsen 8 393 118 Peter Van Den Bergh 8 393 119 Oscar Evrenos 8 384 120 Nick Hamill 8 383 121 Jean-Marc Paul 8 380 122 Ralph Beckers 8 378 123 Vincent Chardome 8 376 124 Joel Wozniak 8 372 125 Heiler Michael 8 364 126 Thomas Doepelheuer 8 364 127 Tom Van Den Panhuyzen 8 362 128 Luc Goovaerts 8 359 129 Steven Smith 8 358 130 Geert Versieck 8 355 131 Laurence Boulieu 8 354 132 Wilbert Der Kinderen 8 352 133 Dirk Elzholz 8 351 134 Torben Jacobsen 8 350 135 Gert Hammel 8 349 136 Kevin Van Rossem 8 349 137 Michael Nielsen 8 345 138 Jim Lindsay 8 343 139 Theo De Reuver 8 342 140 Kirk Sadler 8 341 141 Vin Jauhal 8 340 142 Jonas Heide 8 336 143 Richard Rothwell Jackson 8 336 144 Dieter Bouckaert 8 333 145 Dina Fukson 8 331 146 Romain Wilem 8 330 147 Nina Vestmark Christiansen 8 328 148 Tim Peeters 8 327 149 David Mainwaring 8 325 150 Magnus Lindström 8 325 151 Thomas Reichenstein 8 325 152 Cinthya Messiaen 8 318 153 David Carlier 8 315 154 Jorge Villoria Aparicio 8 314 155 Arjan Neet 8 313 156 Martin Christiansen 8 312 157 Mike Parkins 8 312 158 Roy Smith 8 305 159 Herve Grenier 8 302 160 Nico Rosvelds 7 300 161 John O’Sullivan 8 297 162 Nick Van Vossel 8 297 163 Rapael Gangi 8 296 164 Christian Skov 8 293 165 Sven Elskens 8 291 166 Tim Slow 8 290 167 Ben Zaad 8 288 168 Richard Garbutt 8 283 169 Dumont Bernard 8 278 170 Pascal Leroy 8 274 171 Andreas Salathe 8 271 172 Tom Loomans 8 268 173 Kevin Van Weyenberg 8 266 174 Thomas Evrenos 8 261 175 Gunther Bussche 8 260 176 Gilberte Bollaert 8 259 177 Philippe Bocquet 8 257 178 Clara Boulieu 8 255 179 Laurent Mahé 8 254 180 Fabrice Spronck 8 252 181 Alain Müller 8 250 182 Geert Vanderpijpen 8 241 183 Kelly Lembrechts 8 237 184 Geert Raes 8 234 185 Sverker Nordqvist 8 233 186 Benny De Clercq 8 232 187 Kyoo Barbaix 8 231 188 Dirk De Groote 8 221 189 Adam Bona 8 220 190 Victor Machart 8 220 191 Agatho Schrans 8 219 192 Kevin Sultana 8 219 193 Manuela Krieger 8 214 194 Kristof Hanssens 8 211 195 Sharis Dewulf 8 206 196 Denis Cuypers 8 197 197 Helsen Yuri 8 197 198 D’Hanens Christoph 8 192 199 Evelyne Desot 8 187 200 Guy Wilem 8 187 201 David Vanhoutteghem 8 184 202 Luc Castiglione 8 184 203 Sander Debaere 8 183 204 Peter Verlinden 8 172 205 Pieter Bouckaert 8 170 206 Ralf Wittwer 8 164 207 Nils De Kleine 8 158 208 Anthony Croes-Lacroix 8 155 209 Timmy De Meeter 8 154 210 Alberto Pedone 8 146 211 Mario Schröder 8 143 212 Mieke De Smet 8 133 213 Koen Willocx 8 131 214 Dubelloy Ruben 8 121 215 Steven Demets 8 120 216 Ann Verberckt 8 119 217 Machteld Decloedt 8 107 218 Lieven Meys 8 100 219 Pascal Janssens 8 95 220 Hans Rappé 8 94 221 Bart Vanderpijpen 8 62 222 Evelien Crevits 8 50 223 Wim Immesoete 2 35 224 Mary Van Der Putten 8 25 225 Steven Quintijn 5 15

 

Sunday morning began at 9am as the 56 qualifiers from Saturday’s BOP qualifying session turned up to register and start the first rounds of play-offs.

Several qualifiers didn’t turn up for the play-off rounds, so they were replaced by players in positions 57+ who were present at the time.

The top eight qualifiers skipped the first two rounds of the play-offs, and the remaining players in the top twenty-four got a bye through the first round. That left thirty-two to play in round one.

The play-offs were head-to-head best-of-three three-ball games played on randomly selected machines. Several machines from the previous day’s qualifying had been replaced with machines from the Team Tournament or elsewhere in the hall. Pinball Magic, Kiss and The Walking Dead replaced Funhouse, Jack in the Box and Skateball.

The winner of each best-of-three match moved on to the next winner’s bracket round, while the loser bracket awaited the loser of the match. Results and matches were shown with a spreadsheet on the projector screen.

Those who lost a match played their loser bracket match as a four-ball single game. The winner continued, while the loser was out of the tournament.

Meanwhile, down at the area used for the Team Tournament on Saturday there was a Youth Tournament on Sunday.

Six machines were used for the Youth Tournament and entry was free:

Youth Tournament Machines

Hook Metallica Pro Revenge from Mars Star Wars Walking Dead LE, The World Cup Soccer

 

Youngsters aged 15 and under could take part, with a high score qualifying round played on all six machines from midday until 3:45pm. They also had a joker they could use to replay one of the six.

Here are the qualifying results:

Youth Tournament Qualifying

Pos Name Played Points 1 Thomas Van Clapdorp 6 460 2 Korben Van Wonterghem 6 421 3 Arnaud Van Balen 6 420 4 Emile Quintijn 6 420 5 Sander Van Wonterghem 6 399 6 Timber Engelbeen 6 389 7 Jorn Dujardin 6 383 8 Joren Engelbeen 6 355 9 Mathis Deturck 6 284 10 Daan Rosvelds 6 279 11 Milan Verhoosele 6 259 12 Lotte Van Wonterghem 6 241 13 Louis Deturck 6 216 14 Lotte Dujardin 6 209 15 Louis Quintijn 6 208 16 Siebe Dubelloy 6 196 17 Indy Vanhoutteghem 6 179 18 Robbe Goeminne 6 161 19 Sisto Meulewaeter 6 154 20 Cinta Vanhoutteghem 6 150 21 Renzo Meulewaeter 6 119 22 Peeke Van Den Bergh 6 76 23 Bram Van Den Bergh 6 64 24 Loeke Dubelloy 6 18

 

Once qualification was over, the top eight played off using BOP machines to decide the final places.

At 2pm the qualification for the Classic Tournament ended. The top 32 scorers made it into the play-offs, although there were no byes for the top qualifiers.

Here are the qualifying results:

Classics Tournament Qualifying

Pos Name Entry# Points 1 Julio Vicario Soriano 75 284 2 Colin Macalpine 180 250 3 Rich Mallett 189 248 4 Van Der Gugten Mark 652 240 5 Albert Nomden 42 239 6 Dirk Elzholz 588 236 7 Cayle George 135 233 8 Mads Kristensen 473 233 9 Archibald Lefevre 815 230 10 Franck Bona 7 228 11 Paul Jongma 823 228 12 Carlos Javier Parra Moracho 618 226 13 Daniele Acciari 192 226 14 Michael Trepp 416 226 15 Erwin Deutschländer 12 220 16 Andrew Foster 347 218 17 David Mainwaring 760 213 18 John Van Der Wulp 584 212 19 Michel Rorive 678 211 20 Peter Andersen 629 204 21 Giuseppe Violante 43 202 22 Bo Mertins 437 200 23 Andrés Elices Cereceda 22 199 24 Philippe Bocquet 317 199 25 Maarten Lemey 846 195 26 Vin Jauhal 351 195 27 Kim G. Hansen 862 190 28 Ollivier Francq 919 188 29 José Gabriel Ortiz Llonis 56 182 30 Jasmijn De Jong 261 180 31 Pablo Crespo García 687 179 32 Tim Thornton 292 178 33 Jonas Heide 274 174 34 Martin Ayub 278 174 35 Tobias Wagemann 339 173 36 Kirsten Adam 87 171 37 Jorge Villoria Aparicio 505 169 38 Christian Skov 534 162 39 Robert Lau 228 162 40 Olivier Leurs 1006 161 41 Oscar Evrenos 178 161 42 Frank Goeltl 530 160 43 Henning Lescher 354 159 44 Joska Keunekamp 859 155 45 Kevin Roelants 920 155 46 Pieter Bouckaert 696 155 47 Alain Boulieu 211 152 48 Ramon Richard 125 148 49 Rob Breyne 955 148 50 Mathias Jäger 478 146 51 Kate Rothwell Jackson 95 145 52 Jakob Bonne Weisbjerg 701 143 53 Nina Vestmark Christiansen 570 143 54 D’Hanens Christoph 645 142 55 Kristof Hanssens 716 141 56 Thomas Evrenos 758 141 57 Greg Mott 328 140 58 Jim Lindsay 719 140 59 Sverker Nordqvist 435 139 60 Laurence Boulieu 770 138 61 Alain Müller 676 137 62 Joel Wozniak 603 137 63 Vincent Chardome 462 136 64 Kevin Van Rossem 653 134 65 Mario Kertels 759 133 66 Nils De Kleine 460 129 67 Norbert Broman 954 129 68 Romain Wilem 998 128 69 Thomas Reichenstein 796 127 70 Bjorn Brand 96 126 71 Andreas Salathe 715 124 72 Mik Dahl-Nielsen 142 124 73 Axel Bouet 474 123 74 Didier Dujardin 1020 122 75 Dubelloy Ruben 654 122 76 Taco Wouters 714 122 77 Peter Blakemore 120 121 78 Denis Cuypers 574 119 79 Jochen Jaspers 174 119 80 Christophe Leroy 300 118 81 Olivier Renders 374 118 82 Ralph Beckers 683 118 83 Armin Kress 160 117 84 Bart Vyvey 957 117 85 Mario Schröder 941 116 86 Stan Simpson 320 115 87 Magnus Lindström 154 114 88 Thomas Van Clapdorp 816 113 89 Tim Kreukels 681 113 90 Fred Van Den Bosch 942 112 91 Marc Steinmeier 617 112 92 Mike Kindler 269 111 93 Philipp Unger 601 111 94 Roald Nielsen 362 110 95 Theo De Reuver 309 108 96 Arjan Neet 108 107 97 Clara Boulieu 767 106 98 Rob Overdijk 731 106 99 Helen De Haan-Verbeek 272 105 100 Lieven Engelbeen 138 105 101 Pascal Leroy 299 100 102 Martijn Van Amsterdam 259 99 103 Ralf Wittwer 191 99 104 Mieke De Smet 392 98 105 Lars Ørskov Jensen 396 97 106 Sylvain Carre 445 97 107 Dirk De Groote 297 94 108 Kevin Sultana 595 94 109 Mathias Leurs 325 94 110 Nick Marshal 688 94 111 Heinz Berges 252 91 112 Mike Parkins 424 90 113 Gert Houthaeve 386 89 114 Benjamin Gräbeldinger 349 88 115 Francis Pott 720 88 116 Hans Skov 486 87 117 Geert Versieck 53 86 118 Adam Bona 453 85 119 Martijn Van Aken 268 85 120 Patrice Luwel 930 84 121 Herve Grenier 481 83 122 Jean-Philippe Congnard 713 82 123 Thomas Doepelheuer 468 82 124 Martin Christiansen 230 81 125 Heiler Michael 76 80 126 Nick Hamill 890 80 127 Peter Van Den Bergh 561 80 128 Roy Smith 583 80 129 Wayne Johns 666 80 130 Jochen Krieger 206 76 131 Pascal Janssens 114 76 132 Evert Brochez 888 73 133 Pascal Van Wonterghem 706 73 134 David Deturck 763 72 135 Fabrice Spronck 423 72 136 Geert Vanderpijpen 281 72 137 Steven Smith 916 71 138 Nico Rosvelds 65 70 139 Tim Peeters 532 70 140 Evelien Crevits 959 68 141 Jens Vercruyssen 704 67 142 Dina Fukson 367 66 143 Mario Vercauteren 9 66 144 Richard Rothwell Jackson 97 65 145 Guy Wilem 550 62 146 Wozniak Christophe 540 61 147 Kirk Sadler 397 60 148 Richard Garbutt 571 60 149 Dimitri Van Hove 516 59 150 Ann Verberckt 84 58 151 Kyoo Barbaix 774 54 152 Dieter Bouckaert 693 51 153 Sander Debaere 177 51 154 Alberto Pedone 427 49 155 Tom Loomans 980 49 156 Joachim Reniers 458 48 157 Jean-Marc Paul 729 45 158 Mary Van Der Putten 308 45 159 Sharis Dewulf 870 45 160 Tim Slow 101 45 161 John O’Sullivan 111 44 162 Luc Castiglione 477 44 163 Steven Quintijn 510 44 164 Florian Thomas 613 42 165 Rapael Gangi 575 42 166 Daniela Oymann 647 41 167 Glenn Verhoosele 263 38 168 Hans Rappé 393 38 169 Geert Raes 341 37 170 Damien Dumont 757 36 171 Jonas Nib Groes 289 35 172 Luc Goovaerts 992 35 173 Joeri Stroobants 560 34 174 Tom Geneyn 217 34 175 Tommy Machado 987 34 176 Benny De Clercq 266 32 177 David Carlier 450 30 178 Bart Vanderpijpen 355 29 179 David Van Balen 295 29 180 David Vanhoutteghem 756 28 181 Gilberte Bollaert 573 26 182 Jos Deboosere 197 24 183 Kevin Van Weyenberg 497 24 184 Sébastien Muller 718 23 185 Steven Demets 912 23 186 Victor Machart 459 21 187 Giancarlo Rossetti 412 19 188 Manuela Krieger 188 19 189 Tim Brouns 169 19 190 Maarten Tavernier 1019 17 191 Victor Stulemeijer 271 16 192 Arnaud Van Balen 790 11 193 Ergun Erdemir 18 11 194 Ivan Geentjes 944 11 195 Machteld Decloedt 635 9 196 Laurent Mahé 590 2 197 Maurice Ney 103 1 198 Andreas Tilt Borella 287 0 199 Anthony Streulens 634 0 200 Ben Zaad 237 0 201 Cinthya Messiaen 775 0 202 Daan Rosvelds 819 0 203 Kelly Lembrechts 563 0 204 Kevin Claeys 210 0 205 Koen Simoens 526 0 206 Koen Willocx 431 0 207 Lieven Meys 340 0 208 Nick Van Vossel 572 0 209 Raphaël Duez 449 0 210 Stanislas Chabior 593 0 211 Timmy De Meeter 128 0 212 Tom Van Den Panhuyzen 527 0

 

Instead, eight groups of four were formed with each group playing a single game on one machine. The top two scorers continued to the last sixteen while the bottom two dropped out.

There was a little overlap between players in the Classic Tournament and the BOP play-offs, but it didn’t cause too much delay as the BOP headed towards deciding the four finalists.

Outside the main hall, the finals of the Winner Takes It All tournament was also about to begin, with the top scorers on each machine playing them again to decide the overall Winner who would indeed Take It All.

The Classics Tournament has also reached its final stage back in the main hall.

As in the play-offs, this was a one game final, although the number of balls was increased from three to five on the selected machine, Evel Knievel.

It was a very tight final, with no player having a breakaway ball. Julio was in the lead going into the fifth and final ball with his 125,450 score. David was second on 70,910, with John close behind on 66,780 and Cayle just 10K further back on 56,640.

Once again none of the four had a great ball, which meant Julio retained the top score with 132,010 to take first place. John had the best ball to boost his score up to 96,310 which gave him second place ahead of David on 76,390, with Calye close in fourth on 70,560.

All eyes then turned to the final of the Belgian Open Pinball tournament. The three winner bracket finalists were Franck Bona, Daniele Acciari and Erwin Deutschländer. They were joined by the winner of the loser bracket, Cayle George.

Each of the winner bracket finalists got to choose a machine to be played in the final. Cayle then got to choose play order for the first game which was Roadshow.

Going into the third ball, Erwin was in fourth on 21M, Daniele was in third with 48M, Cayle was second on 103M, but Franck was leading with 198M.

Franck extended that lead on his last ball with another multiball to give him a game total of 303M. Cayle added another 100M to his score, but his 200M total fell short and looked good for second place after Erwin only boosted his score to 83M. But never discount Daniele’s comeback skills, as he started multiball on his last ball and took his 51M starting score up to 316M to take the win.

Points were awarded for position on each of the three games, with four points for a win, two for second, one for third and none for fourth.

BOP Final – After 1 Game

Daniele Acciari 4 Franck Bona 2 Cayle George 1 Erwin Deutschländer 0

 

The second game was Tales from the Crypt and this time Daniele started well with 63M, double his nearest rival which was Franck on 32M. Erwin was narrowly ahead of Cayle in third by 10M to 8M.

Both Franck and then Cayle then scored big on their second balls. Franck managed a total of 244M, but Cayle went further and ended his second ball on 289M. These followed a poor second ball from Daniele which only gave him 75M, and was followed by Erwin’s equally lacklustre ball which gave him a total of 22M.

Although Daniele did better on his last ball, it still only gave him a game total of 145M. Franck needed to set Cayle a challenge but his ball drained quickly with 265M on the board. Cayle then just had to make sure his score was out of reach of Erwin which it seemed he had, ending on 298M, a lead of almost 270M.

However, Erwin had a great final ball and only very narrowly failed to overtake Cayle, finally draining with a score of 286M, just 12M points away from victory.

So Cayle took the four points, Erwin two points and Franck the one point.

BOP Final – After 2 Games

Cayle George 5 Daniele Acciari 4 Franck Bona 3 Erwin Deutschländer 2

 

The last game of the final was Game of Thrones and Franck led off this time.

It was a short ball, only scoring 9M before Cayle took over.

He racked up an impressive 2.051B on ball one, staking and early claim to the Iron Throne.

Erwin didn’t shed much blood with his first ball and only managed 2.6M, while Daniele in the player four spot did the best of the following pack with a 62M opener.

Franck had another disappointing ball as his grip on the crown started to slip with just 11.9M after two balls.

Despite starting Hand of the King, Cayle didn’t add much to his score and walked away with 2.7B racked up. Erwin started to ramp-up his game and managed 398M, but it was Daniele who looked as though he could be a genuine challenger, ending his second ball with just over 1B points.

Franck’s game finally found some traction as he ended his final ball on 494M.

Cayle was already looking pretty comfortable with his huge score, so he wasn’t too worried when his last ball did the same as his second ball, adding 100M to end on 2.836M.

Erwin’s promise with his second ball wasn’t fulfilled as he only added 15M on his final ball for a total of 413M and fourth place.

Daniele needed a ball as good as Cayle’s first if he was to win this game, and although he got Hand of the King as well, it wasn’t enough and he finished on 1.7B for second place.

The four points guaranteed Cayle’s win, while second place in the last game gave Daniele second overall as well. Franck’s close third place ensured he remained third, while Erwin scored no points in this game and stayed fourth.

BOP Final – After All Games

Cayle George 9 Daniele Acciari 6 Franck Bona 4 Erwin Deutschländer 2

 

Then it was out into the lobby for the awards presentations from Lieven.

First of all, the Youth Tournament was an all-Belgian top four, and was won by Thomas van Clapdorp. Second was Timber Engelbeen, while third and fourth went to siblings Korben Van Wonterghem and Sander Van Wonterghem.

Each of the top three got to choose a prize to go with their trophies, with the remaining prize going to Sander.

Then came the awards to the top three in the Team Tournament. The winners were KDIT from Belgium.

Second were De Boertjes, also from Belgium.

And in third place was the French team of The Insiders.

After the final play-off, the winner of the Winner Takes It All tournament was Mads Kristensen from Denmark.

In fact Mads didn’t quite Take It All, as there were runner-up prizes for the other finalists.

Sadly the winner of the Classic Tournament, Julio, had to leave before the trophy presentation but the other three were there to collect their awards.

Then, finally, the main Belgian Open Tournament awards were given out.

In fourth place, as we just saw, was Erwin Deutschländer from Germany.

In third was Franck Bona from France.

The runner-up was Daniele Acciari from Italy.

And the winner was Cayle George from the USA.

Finally, Lieven told the audience about Wayne John’s upcoming charity attempt to beat the current Guinness World Record for the longest continuous pinball playing. Everyone wished him well in his attempt which will take place on 22nd/23rd October 2016.

And with that the Belgian Open Pinball weekend drew to a close. The players were invited to leave as the breakdown of the machines, desks and systems began.

Everyone agreed that the facilities at the new venue for the BOP were a great improvement over those at the previous location. The air conditioning in particular was very welcome, and there was a much more spacious feel. It may have lacked some of the intimacy and charm of the multi-room nightclub, but the multiple entrances and numerous ways to check scores and standings without blocking the aisles more than made up for it.

It’s also amazing how many people work on the tournament weekend. We reckoned there must have been around twenty helpers at the tournament entry points, registration desk, doing the scoring, running the bar, looking after the computer systems and fixing games.

A big “thanks” to them and to all the competitors. No doubt we shall be back in ‘St. Nick’s’ again next October.