Eugene is hosting the state pinball championship tournament for the first time, at Blairally. Hopefully this link isn’t behind a paywall (I’m a subscriber).
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In a couple of firsts, the city will host the sixth state championship, and five of its 24 competitors will be from the local area
Twenty-four contestants are coming to Eugene for the first time later this month to vie to become Oregon’s champion pinball wizard.
And, in another first, five of those contestants will hail from Lane County’s metropolitan area.
It’s all a major coup for local pinball enthusiasts who have been working to establish an identity separate from Portland, the nation’s pinball mecca and home of the first five state championships. In 2017, Willamette Week determined the Rose City is home to 722 pinball machines, more than any other U.S. city.
“It’s gratifying because it’s a lot of work on our end, but we know that people really enjoy what we’re doing,” said Matt Walton, co-founder of Emerald City Pinball and one of the five local qualifiers.
I barely played in competition this past year so my rating is horrible but I'll be there taking part in the Pinball Chump tournament, which is open to all.
Blairally has a new Beatles pinball, which is rather fantastic, IMO. Very fast, constant flipping, hard to trap makes for an exciting time. No clue about the soundtrack as you can't hear squat from most of the machines due to general noise. Haunted House is currently working (knock on wood).
Going by my lousy memory, the current pin lineup is (modern)Star Wars, Deadpool, Beatles, Junk Yard, NBA Fastbreak (two of them linked{really rare}), Harlem Globetrotters, Flash Gordon, Fathom, Skateball, Space Invaders, Haunted House, Volcano, Flip Flop, Buck Rogers, Whirlwind, Earth Shaker, Fun House, Taxi, Banzai Run (recently put up 17 million on it), Twilight Zone, Jurassic Park, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dr. Who, and Fish Tales.
