Pin a Go Go Tournament Results
A huge thanks and big congratulations to Tom Collins for taking on the Pin a Go Go pinball tournament this year. He did a great job running his first ever tournament and I was very happy that he put his own ideas into the event. It’s a very tough event to run, with many first-time-ever participants (who have lots and lots of questions!), but that’s also why it’s one of the most satisfying. No doubt some of the first-timers will be back.
Kids Division:
Nick Fitzpatrick (1st), Aviana Smith (2nd) and Joaquin Dansuelo (4th). Third place went to Rory Riekki, who missed the awards ceremony, but did come back later for the trophy!
In the Open Division, Josh Lehan is Re-repeat Champion, meaning yes, he’s won this event an amazing three years in a row. That’s an absolutely staggering achievement. Oh, and he took 2nd the year he didn’t win. Super congrats to Josh!!
Open Division Finalists:
1. Josh Lehan
2. Kyle Takigawa
3. Chris Harkins
4. Louise Wagensonner
5. Usama Farage
6. Alex Pierson
7. Darren Ensley
8. Walter Hurwitz
9. Chris Lindboe
10. Dan Dempsey
11. Shon Dolcini
12. Richard Leavitt
Congratulations to the top 12 Novice Finalists:
1. Echa Schneider
2. Brian O’Neill
3. Marty Oakes
4. Rory McClure
5. Lionel Martin
6. Challisa Parisi…
7. Josh Notebom
8. Perry Farrens
9. Scott Witschen
10. Nick Fitzpatrick
11. Ellen Frankel
12. Matt Henri
And the rest of the players, as submitted to the IFPA:
13. Chris Heilig
14. Aaron Schneickert
15. Dwayne Smith
16. James Squires
17. Jeff Le
18. Michael Mattsson
19. Per Schwarzenberger
20. Matt Sarnoff
21. Matt Willmarth
22. Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen
23. Thomas Cowan
24. Rod Oakes
25. Amilcar Cifuentes
25. Alex Samonte
27. Perry Farrens
27. Ellen Frankel
29. Tanner McBurney
29. Matt Henri
31. Stephen Kleckner
31. David Joud
33. Devon Kelly
33. Challisa Parisi
35. Nick Fitzpatrick
35. Bella Gershtein
37. Lionel Martin
37. Brian ONeill
37. Joey Springer
40. Bob Schwarzmann
41. James Edes
41. Jon Olkowski
41. Josh Notebom
41. Andrew Nunes
45. Rory McClure
45. Kevin Riekki
47. Bob Klossner
47. Mark Birsching
49. Jason Delano
49. Loren Drowne
49. Cary Carmichael
52. Jake Bondar
53. Julie Gray
53. Aviana Smith
53. Echa Schneider
53. Carey Binford
57. Scott Witschen
57. Eugene Gershtein
59. David Rockholt
59. Courtney Klossner
61. Allison O’Neill
61. Jim Sousae
63. Dave Easterla
63. Kiana Lee
65. Russell Dare
65. Sean Campbell
67. Marty Oakes
67. Ford Bechtle
69. Bryce Greenfield
69. Jeff Fehervari
71. Robert Kipperman
71. Kreig Kaufman
73. John Gimera
73. Mark Fitzpatrick
75. Nina G
75. Ryan Wooley
77. Jennifer Eaton
77. Chris Kochan
79. Felicia Torrez
79. Joseph Romero
81. Eric Wagensonner
81. Jim Anderson
83. Mark Skoff
83. Erin Ray
85. Craig Okruhlica
85. Gene X Hwang
87. Christel Macabeo
87. Masha Dare
89. Samuel Roden
89. Izzy Schwartz
91. Wes Andrews
91. Rocco Lange
93. Josh George
93. Mlke McBurney
93. Richard Hammond
93. Tony Urso
97. Jenn Coleman
97. Sebastian Taylor
99. Tom Kriske
99. Anthony Battiato
101. Kevin Lee
101. Thurston Bowdy
103. Jeannie Rodriguez
103. Paul Welka
105. Mike Glick
105. Mike Bodak
107. Martin Johnson
107. Vanessa Elliott
109. Crystal Sturgis
109. Selena Shook
111. Randy Howell
111. Kim Woodward
113. Chris Gershtein
113. Cosmo Gould
113. Zach Daniels
113. Harvey Bondar
117. Katherine Fehervari
117. Larry Ozeran
119. Mike Witschen
119. Axel Szymanski
121. Chris DeLeón
121. Keith Parkins
123. Martha Benitez
123. Glen Braun
125. Dana Woodward
125. Emily Baza
127. Monica Braun
Tom revealed that his next project is to explain pinball through interpretive dance. Here he is demonstrating how a tilt bob works.
All kidding aside, great job Tom! And congrats to everyone who came out in support of pinball and a great cause!
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Pacific Pinball League 
That is a very thorough explanation and makes sense. Thanks Jonny!
The provisional Visa for Mads Kristensen was voided after he and another Danish player inflicted great harm on a Lethal Weapon machine in our Peace-Loving country. After protracted negotiations with the Danish Consulate, it was agreed by both parties that Danish Pinball should once again be banned.
IFPA does not recognize novice-only tournaments, only Open tournaments.
In the format that Tom ran (and I have run many times), during qualifying, all players play in the same qualifying pool. If a player who is ranked as a novice finishes the qualifying round high enough, s/he plays in the Open Final. If not, s/he may still qualify for the Novice final. However, as far as their IFPA rank, they get points based on how they finished in Qualifying.
This might seem to be a bad thing on the surface, but the alternative is worse: if you hold a completely separate novice tourney, the novices get no WPPR points at all.
Thus, the Novice Finals is essentially a “bonus” format for those who qualify.
The first year I ran PAGG, a first-time player (ranked a novice) finished high enough in qualifying to play in the Open Final, and then he went on to win it.
What constitutes a novice varies from who is running the tournament, however, my rules in the past have generally been:
1. Never won a novice tournament before.
2. Never finished top 3 in an IFPA-sanctioned pinball league.
3. Never finished top 3 in an Open tournament
4. Does not have a WPPR rating of better than 500
I tweaked it over time as pinball became more competitive with lots more players. Only three years ago it was pretty easy to crack 500 just by entering enough events, so I had it at 300,initially, but raised it later.
It was nice of Mads to come all the way from Denmark to run the tournaments.
Why wasn’t the novice results submitted as 13-24 to the IFPA?