{"id":2157,"date":"2017-02-20T09:58:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T09:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/?p=2157"},"modified":"2017-08-26T00:02:24","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T23:02:24","slug":"ifpa-european-championship-series-final-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/2017\/02\/20\/ifpa-european-championship-series-final-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"IFPA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES FINAL 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> produced.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The IFPA ECS rankings for 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 B\u00fcnde, 90km west of Hanover.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Pinball Universe building in B\u00fcnde<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of many Pinball Universe branded vehicles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their main showroom is up a flight of stairs, and this was where the free play practice area was located.<\/p>\n

\"Up<\/a>
Up to the showroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>
Some of the Pinball Universe showroom games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"More<\/a>
More showroom games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"More<\/a>
More showroom games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Two<\/a>
Two Kiss games – a Pro and a Premium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Batman<\/a>
Batman 66 Premium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The second free play area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The left bank of machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The right bank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Pabst<\/a>
Pabst Can Crusher and Spider-Man Home Edition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Spider-Man playfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The opposite end of the room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the balcony overlooking the ground floor you get to see some of the boxes from the Stern games in the showroom.<\/p>\n

\"Stern<\/a>
Stern Pinball boxes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Stern<\/a>
Stern pinball machine boxes – these rows are two boxes deep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"...and<\/a>
…and more<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Boxes<\/a>
Boxes on the ground floor too<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since we are now on the lower level, let’s take a look at some of the other rooms.<\/p>\n

A dining area was set up which initially contained fruit, snacks and a stocked refrigerator with fruit juices, water, soft drinks and beer.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The dining area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This room would be where the daily meal was served on both Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The machine preparation workshop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the room was a Batman Limited Edition which needed some protectors added to stop the ball breaking some of them plastics.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Batman 66 LE being prepared for delivery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Batman<\/a>
Batman 66 LE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then we come to the two tournament areas.<\/p>\n

The main ECS area contained 35 dot-matrix pinballs from 1991 to the present.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The main ECS tournament area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The left bank of machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The right bank of machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The side tournament machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The left bank of machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The right bank of machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The machines were:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
Main ECS Tournament Area<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n
Iron Man Vault Edition
\nX-Men Magneto LE
\nMetallica Premium
\nIndiana Jones (Stern)
\nCSI
\nTransformers Pro
\nRollercoaster Tycoon
\nAC\/DC Luci
\nSporanos, The
\nPirates of the Caribbean
\nKiss Pro
\nBatman – The Dark Knight
\nShrek
\nSpider-Man
\nWWE Wrestlemania LE
\nTron
\nNBA
\nTerminator 3<\/td>\n		Jackbot
\nWorld Cup Soccer
\nCreature from the Black Lagoon
\nJudge Dredd
\nGetaway, The – High Speed 2
\nTommy
\nFish Tales
\nWhitewater
\nDemolition Man
\nNo Fear
\nNBA Fastbreak
\nShadow, The
\nTerminator 2
\nMonster Bash
\nAttack from Mars
\nIndianapolis 500
\nDirty Harry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
Side Tournament Area<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n\n\n
Iron Man Vault Edition
\nKiss Pro
\nMetallica Premium
\nWalking Dead, The Pro
\nStar Trek Pro
\nSpider-Man Vault Edition<\/td>\n		Game of Thrones Pro
\nAvatar LE
\nX-Men Premium
\nGhostbusters Pro
\nAC\/DE Premium
\nMustang LE<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

And so to the tournaments themselves.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Entry to the whole weekend cost \u20ac120 ($128\/\u00a3102) 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.<\/p>\n

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 B\u00fcnde.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Pinball Universe goodie bag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

IFPA Country Director for Germany, Tobias Wagemann explained the rules to players in the showroom before everyone trooped downstairs to begin.<\/p>\n

\"ECS<\/a>
ECS players assemble<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tobias<\/a>
Tobias explains how the ECS final works<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Players<\/a>
Players learn the rules and the timings for the day’s activities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Match pairings were pre-selected and shown on a paper chart.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The main ECS winner’s bracket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The loser bracket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The ECS trophies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The first matches get underway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The first matches get underway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Players<\/a>
Players check their progress and next opponents<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This side tournament was held on the twelve machines on the warehouse floor.<\/p>\n

\"Trophies<\/a>
Trophies for the side tournament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Players<\/a>
Players in Saturday’s side tournament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The latest scores were shown on a big monitor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Dinner<\/a>
Dinner time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This consisted of soups, salad, bread and a selection of cold meats. The previously seen fruit, chocolate bars and drinks were also available.<\/p>\n

\"Salad<\/a>
Salad and bread<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Two<\/a>
Two different soups were available – chicken goulash and leak & potato<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 B\u00fcnde while Saturday’s ECS play-offs and the side tournament were under way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n