Pinball Championship

Pinball Action At Supanova Pop Culture Expo

April 11, 2015 By ausretrogamer

When we arrived at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds, we thought we had died and gone to geek heaven. We found cosplayers, artists, cosplayers, comics, cosplayers, actors, cosplayers, and most importantly – pinball! Specifically, the Victorian leg of the Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Championships.

While some people qualified for Sunday’s Victorian Final by getting the highest score on certain machines in Timezones around Melbourne during the lead up to Supanova (like I attempted at Chadstone a few weeks ago). Others took their chances at Supanova today by trying to get the highest score on one of the onsite tables during each of the four time slots (10-11 am, 11 am-12 pm, 12-1 pm and 1-2 pm).

The flipper action was fast and furious. The pinball wizards were racking up high scores aplenty and wowing the crowd with their pinball wizardry. While Norbert Snicer, Director of the Australian Pinball League, worked hard to keep the tournament fun, professional, and running like clockwork.

In addition to qualifying for Sunday’s Victorian Final, the top scorer on each machine for each time slot (in all ages and under 18 categories) was eligible to compete in the Pinball vs. Supanova Final at 3 pm (prize: iPad Mini!) (see the under 18 and all ages winners).

We can’t wait to see the high scores and awesome flipper skills of Victoria’s top pinball players in tomorrow’s final!

Play some pinball and win some prizes!

Play and donate at the Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Champs

The tournament machines!

The State Finalist winner’s trophy!

Runners-up medals! No one walks away empty handed

APL director, Norbert Snicer, prepares the tournament machines

Flipping action begins!

Ms ausretrogamer enjoys the pinball action

Shane is in the zone on Legends of Wrestlemania

Pinball qualifying action – Skott racks up the points

A true Pinball Wizard!

Beat this score – The Walking Dead

Beat this score – Legends Of Wrestlemania

Beat this score – Wrestlemania

Smooth lines

The hardest working pinball wizard in Australia, Norbert Snicer

The next generation enjoying pinball!

ausretrogamer.com boss, Alex Boz, wishes he could take this table home

Pinball Antics at Timezone

March 20, 2015 By ausretrogamer

I am a persistent type of gamer, especially when it comes to pinball and when there is a prize at stake. I just wish I was persistent like this when playing RPG or adventure games *sigh* (Ed: not this again!).

In a previous post I mentioned that I was frequenting Timezone to set a high-score on the designated tournament pinball machine (Star Trek Pro) to book my place for The Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Championship. Well, I returned to Timezone Forest Hill only to find that the Star Trek Pro table was out of action! I didn’t dwell on my disappointment for too long, so I just hightailed it to another Timezone to flip some balls of steel.

Nooooooo! Time to leave Timezone Forest Hill…..

Next stop, Timezone Chadstone! Instead of Star Trek Pro, the tournament table here was Metallica. My first impressions of the machine were quite negative, but after a few plays, I was hooked – love the music! With some positive encouragement from Ms. ausretrogamer, I was able to get my name on the tournament qualification high-score table, albeit in 2nd place.

With only a few weeks to go till the qualification period ends (March 29), I will be back to feed the snake and build the voltage to give Sparky a good charge. Long live pinball!

Hello me pretties

She is a beauty

Damn! That’s a massive high-score!

Metallica! Let’s get this baby started!

Getting into some flippin rhythm

Fill up that fuel tank! You don’t wanna run out of gas!

Feed the snake, he’s very hungry!

Ms Ausretrogamer getting some flipping action, while I rest my hands

Studying the instructions – gotta get that big score!

Sparky is gonna get some electric action

Finally, I am on the scoreboard. Gotta get that number 1 spot!

Timezone Forest Hill Chase

March 2, 2015 By Ms. ausretrogamer

Ausretrogamer and I are no strangers to arcades – check out our previous stories about the giant Timezone Family Entertainment Centre on the Gold Coast and San Francisco’s Musée Mécanique.

We recently discovered a new fun arcade a little closer to home – Timezone Forest Hill.

Before visiting I was dubious we could have as much fun as promised by the pictures on the website, but I was wrong. Despite its relatively small size, there were plenty of quality machines: Batman, Mario Kart 2, Tekken 6, Virtua Tennis and Time Crisis 4, among others.

The fun promised by the photos on the website seemed too good to be true

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Batman

Woo Hoo! Mario Kart 2

Tekken 6 and Virtua Tennis – Game, Set, Match

However, the highlight was the Stern Star Trek Pro pinball machine, one of the Australian Timezone Supanova Pinball Championship qualification tables. I think we will be heading back before entries close on 29 March for ausretrogamer to try his luck at qualifying for the Victorian state final!

And what better way to finish off than a visit to TGI Fridays where the geeky / retro theme was continued.

Hasta la vista, Timezone Forest Hill!

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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher 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

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