I think part of the romance of Moneymaker winning the WSOP was the fact he was an unknown amateur (at the time) who came and won against the professional high profile players (having won his seat from a satellite tournament for $50 IIRC). It gave everyone the dream that for minimal outlay they could do the same.
The number of players who are capable of winning a pinball major tournament is limited, as can be seen from the fact that the winners come from the same dozen or so people year in year out. They already attend the comps - increasing the prize pool will have little effect on those people attending.
I doubt that there’s many sat at home thinking “I can beat all those players, but I can’t be bothered to attend because the prize pot isn’t worth it”. There will be even less sat at home thinking the same who could back those thoughts up with actions.
The UK doesn’t have the culture of high value cash prizes for comps (or indeed any cash prizes). When I announced that last years comp (Old style PAPA ticket format) at the major show was going to have the highest payout ever (it turned out to be £585 for the winner) there was open opposition from a large number who didn’t see themselves in with a chance of getting in the cash, and thought that their entry money was just going to go to the best players anyway. As it happens after the comp there was nothing but praise for the comp and many people apologised for their comments before seeing the comp itself.
(There was going to be a big announcement regarding the comp this year, which was due to start tomorrow , but we’ll not know how that works out until next year)
TLDR: The majority of players who turn up to the large comps turn up for the format rather than the prize money. Big Prize pot - garbage comp = people won’t return.
I fully believe that if the prize pools are big enough, players from other sports will start to show interest in competitive pinball. If pinburgh paid out a million dollars to the winner, it would be a whole new ball game.
One point w.r.t. people who realistically don’t have a chance of winner and the impact on them. If raising the prize pool attracts more top players, it will have a trickle down effect of those that are not top players, but get enjoyment out of competing with the best.
I think those stories can and do exist in pinball. I doubt there were many people who thought that Daniele would win IFPA World’s in 2010, or Adam Becker would win Pinburgh in 2012, or Eric Stone to win the IFPA N. American Championship (and Pin-Masters) in 2017. Going into Pinburgh 2017, I certainly didn’t think I was going to win it.
I think if the goal is to get really high attendance for a new or newly-enlarged event, you’ve got three basic methods. All have as a prerequisite that the event is well-run and a fun format.
Have a show attached; Expo, TPF, FPF, etc.
Have multiple divisions (A/B/etc, womens, youth, seniors, high stakes, etc.) so that more players have a chance to do well or win something - see PAPA, Pinburgh, Indisc, etc.
Have established your event over multiple years as a Quality fun thing - see NW Championships, Pinmasters, OBX, etc.
If you’re starting from scratch and have no show, that leaves option 2. You’d also need to have a TD team with cred as knowing what they’re doing. If it’s a small-to-medium event now and you want to Go Big, #2 is still the most realistic choice. Adding more money to the A division won’t add many new attendees. Adding more divisions will. Bottom line is you need to give the people who aren’t coming now a reason to come. Creating a world-class event, like Pinburgh, will do it but takes time. Growing organically, like Indisc, takes time. Adding a show to a “right-now-it’s-just-a-tournament” may mean a major venue change. Just adding money won’t do much unless it’s enough to pay people’s travel expenses, and will work better if you “spread the wealth.” I went to Europe for EPC one year and DPM another; it wasn’t for money - - there wasn’t much of that in either one - - it was for the events themselves.
I agree that these stories exist in pinball but the reason that the popularity of poker skyrocketed was the combination of an unknown amateur + life changing money. Obviously pinball is not at a place right now that it can pay millions to the winner of a tournament.
A really nice thing about major open pinball tournaments is that, like in poker, it’s one of the very few sports a beginner can play against the best in the world in. The great thing about pinball is that it costs much less to do than poker, and absolutely anyone can enter PAPA A, Pinburgh (if they’re fast enough to get a slot), and the IFPA Open. Pinburgh is the real special one in this way because you will likely face a world-class player head to head on day one.
, but we’ll not know how that works out until next year)