What tourney finals need from an audience perspective: More showmanship.

General
1

Picture this idea. The top 8 finalists, before matches begin, are taken outside the event hall. Over the loudspeakers, in a loud booming voice, is heard:

“IT IS NOW TIME… FOR THE MAIN EVENT… OF THE EVENING”

The Alan Parsons’ Project “Sirius” (aka 90s Chicago Bulls/Ricky Steamboat theme) starts playing

“The Tatooine Pinball Festival Mos Eisley Championship Tournament finals! Out of 1000 entrants, it has all come down to these 8 competitors, and at the end, only 1 will hold the prestigious MOS EISLEY CHAMPIONSHIP!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages… LET’S GET READY TO PINBALLLLLLLLL!”

Theme music plays for each competitor as they enter the event hall and head towards the tourney bank as the announcer calls out their name, hometown, etc

example: “FROM CARLSBAD, CA, THE SIX TIME CHAMPIONoftheWOOOOOOORLD, KEITH ELWIIIIIIIIIIN!”

etc.

Yeah, it might add some time to finals but it would attract more of a live audience, it would look cool for the viewers at home, etc.

5 Likes
2

I quite liked the FSPL/NEPL (or whoever that was) broadcast last year with the goofy non-IFPA throwdown format and the referees.

Simultaneous feeds on all tables that are in play would be interesting, too. Confusing, sure, probably, but interesting.

3

Hey, simultaneous games, I don’t know how technically easy this is, but there is certainly room on my TV screen for 2-3 games.

4

FYI it’s “Let’s get ready FOR pinball” :slight_smile: That’s what we yell out at the beginning of every league night and then ring the bell like in boxing

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5

FSPA (Free State Pinball Association, MD/VA/DC) vs PPL (Pittsburgh Pinball League). No money, no WPPRs, but an immense amount of fun. (There was a preliminary head-to-head round that wasn’t broadcast, too, so everyone from both leagues got to participate.). This event was originally created to provide some early “fun fodder” for PAPA.tv.

5 Likes
6

I hope the FSPL/PPL faceoff happens again. Until then, we’ve been brainstorming around some ideas for the PPL (there’s a streaming drone/rig/thing now, but we’re off-season).

If Twitch taught me anything though, showmanship gets viewership. Whether that’s Jack Danger having fun and streaming or a PAPA event gone overboard, we’re starting to shrug off the serious pall in a world of streaming. There’s still a ways to go, though!

7

We’ve talked about getting some NEPL players to get to papa for one of these face offs but it’s a bit of a drive so takes a bit more planning.

8

I’m fairly sure we’ll have another League Challenge. We’d been talking about having another one late 2015, but unfortunately that fell through… scheduling can be a bear.

(FWIW, @JSwain, getting up to PAPA for those events was a 4+ hour drive for most FSPA’ers, but we still managed to get 30+ people there each time… pretty good for what was basically just a day trip.)

9

We should definitely try to make it happen for the NEPL.

A few one-way driving ETAs to Pittsburgh from some of our locations:

Rumford ME, 12 hrs
Portland ME, 10.5 hrs
Pelham NH, 10 hrs
South Burlington VT, 10 hrs
Cambridge MA, 10 hrs
Meriden CT, 7 hrs

If you have a choice between any of those 10+ hour drives, I recommend driving from VT. 90% of it is really pretty easy.

10

Yeah we have it easier from Cat for distance but heading through NY from here will always add an hour or two. It’s really an impossible day trip for NEPL. And I love driving like crazy. Hell I’m driving to Alaska and back from pinburgh this year in under 2 weeks but even Pittsburgh and back in a day with a competition in the middle is too much for me.