Pinball players set for Nhill tournament
The finest pinball players from Adelaide and Melbourne will converge on Nhill this weekend for three days of tournaments.
Nhill’s Australian Pinball Museum will host the tournaments on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, marking the first official Stern Army competition outside North America.
Stern Army is the street team of Stern Pinball – a manufacturer of pinball machines – and administers tournaments with the International Flipper Pinball Association, IFPA.
Lyndon Carter, who operates Australian Pinball Museum with his father Simon, said he expected about 30 people to travel to Nhill for the event.
“We’re the perfect half-way point for people from Adelaide and from Melbourne to get together,” he said.
“We’ve got a few locals who are interested too, and everyone is allowed to come.”
There will be four major tourna- ments across the weekend, each costing $20 to enter.
On Friday there will be a Stern Army Best Game tournament from 11am to 9pm, with players competing on 10 different Stern pinball machines and taking their highest single score.
On Saturday there will be qualifying rounds for a Stern Army Australian Pinball Museum Championship from 10am to 5pm, with the final on Sunday from 10am to noon.
On Saturday from 6.30pm to 10pm there will be a Flip Frenzy tournament, a social event where competitors play as many head-to-head games in three hours as possible.
The final tournament on Sunday will be a Stern Army 5 Strikes competition, with players sorted into teams of four.
Mr Carter said everyone was welcome to join the tournaments, or could pay $20 for unlimited use of any pinball machines not being used in competition.
He said there would also be onehour ‘mini events’ across the weekend for people who wanted to attend for a shorter amount of time.
He said prior experience as a pinball player was not necessary.
“Of the people coming, some are pinball wizards, some are just play- ing for the first time,” he said. “Anyone is welcome, so we’re encouraging Wimmera people to jump on and have a go.”
Mr Carter said anyone wanting more information about the tournament could visit the Australian Pinball Museum website at www. pinballmuseum.com.au. The museum is at 22 Dimboola Road, Nhill.