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Cramers Pinball Tournament

Cramer’s Pinball Tournament: It’s Hotter Than July!

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Cramers_July28_TitleWhoa! Time flies when you are having fun! It seems like yesterday that we attended the inaugural Cramer’s Pinball Tournament, but alas, that was over a month ago!

Well, the second Cramer’s Pinball Tournament rolled around this past Tuesday (July 28). Once again, tournament director Scott Kellett put on a wonderful competition at an equally awesome venue. Not only did we have the influence of pinball on the bar menu, Scott also worked tirelessly to upgrade the cameras near the competition area (thanks also to Dr. Curlytek) to ensure that all the flipping action was beamed to the big screen so that no one missed the wizards in action.

As per usual, the competition was fierce, but the social aspects of such pinball tournaments is always the winner on the night. In the end there were four left standing (from 27 participants): teenage pinball sensation, Jordan Tredaway, Wal Dickie, Daniel Luth and Mr. Pinball himself, Scott Kellett. There were a few nail biting moments on the scoreboard, but the eventual champion and last wizard standing was, (Ed: drum roll please!) Scott Kellett – well done on a fantastic win, Scott!

On a night like this, pinball is the winner, so congratulations to everyone that participated and to all the new players, we hope to see you at the next pinball tournament!

A big thanks to Scott Kellett, Luke Marburg, Wal Dickie, Stacey Borg, Cramer’s Hotel and Cashbox Amusement for another great tournament! Roll on next month!

The board says it all!
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Scott makes final camera adjusments
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A Pinball Wizard must eat before battle!
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A new registrant is always welcome into the pinball family!
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Light, Camera, Action!
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Matt Cawley – Deep in concentration
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ausretrogamer EIC, Alex Boz, with matching red sneakers tries his luck on AC/DC Luci!
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The crowd builds! This is the best part of pinball’n
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More devilish action! 
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Fierce competition!
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With a massive score, Scott Kellett (SMK) is crowned the Grand Champion!
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Till next time…….
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Dreamy Custom Pinball Tables

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After the Australian 2015 Timezone Supanova Pinball Championship Victorian State Final and Cramer’s Pinball Tournament, we have gone a bit pinball mad! Although we love the traditional tables, we are in awe of these amazing custom machines.

They call this table ‘The Goonies’

Mike Johnson from Orlando, FL has built a beautiful custom The Goonies pinball table for the film’s 30th anniversary (yes, 30th anniversary!). It’s really hard to believe no one has made one before.

goonies


Video source: Cinereelists on YouTube
Source: Kotaku UK

Order that pinball table a red cap and a speedo

Wes Anderson has designed a new cafe in Milan, called Bar Luce and it’s gorgeous (no surprise!). Most beautiful of all are the custom pinball machines based on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and short film Castello Cavalcanti.

wes andersonImage source: sissirossi on Instagram

The pinball machine that really ties the room together, or ‘f**k it, let’s play pinball’

The Big Lebowski custom pinball table is not only fantastic (it will feature original movie clips and movie quotes in the game), but is soon to be available to buy from manufacturer Dutch Pinball!

Backbox Translite artwork
4Image source: The Big Lebowski Pinball


Video source: Dutch Pinball on YouTube

Wow, so pinball, such flippers

See our previous post about how an old Baby Doll table was saved from the scrap heap and converted into Internet Meme Ball.

Meme_Ball_table2Image source: Liberty Games

Bite my shiny metal balls

This one-off Futurama: Space 3000 table was made in a mere 6 months by Evan K. from Seattle using the shell of an old Superman machine and a Futurama Space Pilot movie poster – wow! Check out how he did it.

Futu

FuturImage source: Special When Lit

Don’t cross the flippers!

Brian Stahl, or ‘Betelgeuse’ as he’s known on forums, built this amazing custom Ghostbusters table in 14 months from a worn out Flash Gordon machine. The soundboard contains over 40 quotes and music from the movie. Why has this not been made before?!


Video source: superiorcrown on YouTube
Source: Gameroom Junkies Poscast

Everything about this pinball table is awesome!

An awesome life-size LEGO pinball machine with a fully automatic reloading system made by ElectryDragonite.

lego


Video source: ElectryDragonite

By now you should be thoroughly inspired, our dream table would be Pulp Fiction (just imagine the quotes and music alone!) – what would yours be? Let us know on Twitter using .

pulp fictionImage source: Miramax

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msausretrogamerMs. ausretrogamer
Co-founder, editor and writer at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.

Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter

 

 

Cramers Pinball Tournament: A Flippin’ Success

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Cramers_bar_titleThe Cramers Pinball Tournament (an IFPA endorsed competition) was run and won, and boy, did we have a lot of fun!

The competition was stacked with players from all age groups and experience. The wizards all had a crack on the Cashbox Amusements supplied Metallica Premium Road Case and AC/DC Luci pinball machines to qualify for the top eight and the finals. The play was frenetic and exciting – lots of bumping, slamming and tilting going on. To ensure the crowd could enjoy watching the pinball action from the comfort of the Cramer’s Hotel lounge chairs, a camera was rigged up to the overhead projector – a stroke of genius.

The tournament generated lots of interest in the media, from local newspapers, websites, radio stations, and even national commercial TV stations!  The Channel 7 morning show, Sunrise, had a cameraman videoing all of the action for a segment on the show the following morning. Watch the video (at the bottom of this article), which also features an interview with tournament director, Scott Kellett.

Cramers_Scott_interview

Like all good things, the tournament had to come to and end. Congratulations to Greg Quinn on becoming the inaugural Cramers Pinball Tournament winner. To all the other participants, well done for playing hard! We get the feeling that the pointy end of the winner’s circle is going to become crowded in upcoming competitions.

These tournaments don’t just spontaneously appear out of nowhere. There are hard working people behind the scenes that make it all happen. It’s people like Scott Kellett that should be applauded and recognised, so for that, we thank you Scott, for a job well done. A big thank you to Cashbox Amusements for the all important pinball machines, and last, but by all means not least, Cramer’s Hotel for having us at their venue. Can’t wait to participate at the next Cramers Pinball tournament – speaking of which, keep July 28 free!

The Tournament Control deck – let the registration begin!
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The tournament area is abuzz! 
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Even the menu gets the pinball treatment! Anyone for some TNT Wedges?
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Oo’er, the prizes!
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The Cashbox Amusements supplied Metallica table!
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Getting in a bit of practice before the tournament.
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The Wal Dickie Lego Pinball – I hope Stern make this one!
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Great recognition from the Cramers Pinball Tournament!
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Scott Kellett calls for the official start of the tournament!
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Dr Curlytek (Stacey Borg) gets flippin on AC/DC Luci
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More tournament flipper action on AC/DC Luci.
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National broadcaster, Channel 7, getting up close and personal!
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Teenage pinball sensation, Jordan Tredaway showing everyone how Metallica should be played!
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Yours truly’s fancy footwork being videoed
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Announcing the finalists!
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Nick Hamhougias bumps his way to the top 4 finalists!
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A top 4 finish for Jordan Tredaway – a future Australian pinball champion in the making!
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The top 4 [L to R]: Jordan Tredaway, Brian Shleibs, Nick Hamhougias, Greg QuinnCramers_Finalists_top4

Cramers Pinball Tournament winner: Greg Quinn
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Cramers Pinball Tournament

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Cramers_HDR_titleAttention all pinball wizards and potential pinball wizards! If you want to participate in a local International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) sanctioned pinball tournament, then diarise June 11!

Scott ‘Skott’ Kellett (Tournament Director) will host the inaugural pinball tournament at the Cramers Hotel in Preston. Registration opens at 5:30pm with a $10 entry and all machines set to free play to hone in on your flipper skills. The official tournament commences at 7:00pm, with great prizes on offer, like tickets to PAX Aus 2015. Another bonus for participants is that they will receive IFPA points and gain a world ranking! With a great specials bar and menu on the night, it promises to be an all-round awesome evening.

Tournament: Cramers Pinball
Date: 11 June 2015
Where: Cramers Hotel – 1 Cramer Street, Preston VIC
Entry fee: $10
Registration time: 5:30pm
Tournament start time: 7:00pm
Tournament pinball machines: Metallica Premium and AC/DC Luci

For more details on the tournament and to register your attendance, go here.  We hope to see you at Cramers!

Are you ready?
Metallica_START

Let’s get it on!
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The tournament tables are waiting!
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