Tucson Pinball City Championship 2017 “Players Edition” Details
With the end of the 2017 calendar year, Tucson Pinball is soon to present the inaugural City Championship event. Inaugural could also be read as “a little more delayed than was intended”, but the pieces have finally all come together. What is the “Tucson Pinball City Championship”? It is a year-long series where IFPA (International Flipper Pinball Association, the group that tracks World/Country/State standings) points are tallied to form the standings used for “City”.
All regularly occurring events (i.e. not one-time events) contribute points to the City standings. In 2017 there were 36 events that contributed points to the City standings. City standings can be found at www.tucsonpinball.com/city Anyone and everyone is invited to play in these events to make a run at qualifying for 2018. Starting in 2018, only Tucson metro area residents will be invited to the City Championship, only because it is intended to be a local showcase to promote local player growth.
After the standings for the year were set, the qualifying players were asked their shirt size and logo side preferences. Each player will be presented with their shirts at the Championship event. The shirts feature a logo designed for the event showing the city-scape with A-Mountain in the background. The players…. The players! The players who have qualified for the City Championship in 2017 are (starting with the top seed); BEN CLEMENT, DEREK JORDAN, WAYNE SAEGER, MIKE LAHAIE, DAVE BELL, MATT CHRISTENSEN, ROBERT WHIPP, BRENDAN ACKER, CHRIS MCCALL, ROBERT NOBLE, JAMES WHIPP, MICHAEL MCCALL.
The format for this event will be 4-player match play. Neverdrains software will manage the groups, groupings, and standings for the Championship. The top 4 qualifying players have earned a bye for the first round. The remaining players will be split into 4-player groups. Each group will play a “bank” of 4 machines, earning points depending on how they finish on each of the 4 machines. The highest ranked player in each group will decide which bank the group will play on. A player may only pick a bank once during the event. Playing order is picked by player seed (top to bottom) with the player who picked the bank getting last pick. After the first game, the player with the highest score will get first pick on the next game, and moving on down the finishing order. The top 2 players from each group will advance to the next round.
Every player will be leaving with a shirt that they have earned through participation over the year. The top 4 finishers will have a banner raised in their names. Top 4? Yeah, keep scrolling.
The Tucson Pinball City Championship is a big deal. So that means that winning is also a big deal. See that thing on the left? That’s a pinball. 1-1/16 inches diameter of case hardened steel. The thing on the right is the Saeger Silverball. 12 inches diameter of (hollow) stainless steel. The player who wins the Saeger Silverball will hoist it in triumph, have pictures taken, and one very important step of claiming victory. That player will engrave their name and the event title into the trophy. The player will not be able to keep the Silverball however, as it is only beginning to tell its story.
The Championship will be held at the Tucson Indoor Sports Center at 1065 W Grant Road, Tucson, AZ. The date will be announced as an event on the Tucson Pinball Facebook page. Any questions can be directed to: wayne@tucsonpinball.com
