From: rstetta@news.delphi.com (RSTETTA@DELPHI.COM)
Subject: Wild West Pinball Fest - Review
Date: 27 May 1994 05:28:55 -0000

Hello Everyone: I would like to let everyone know what a great time
we had at the Wild West Pinball Fest. It began with the preview day,
where all of us attenders were allowed to enter the building during
set-up to play or help or socialize or whatever. You didn't have to
be a dealer, manufacturer, have machines there or be an organizer to
be granted this privilage. This was nice. I not only enjoyed that
day very much, but I also purchased two machines for very reasonable
prices while helping the owner unload them off his truck.

There appeared to be more machines than players. There were about 125
of us there and about 140 pinballs, most were really fun games in
perfect working order. The main organizer, "Dangerous" Dann Frank,
was everything a show host could possibly be. He personally furnished
us with about 50 games, both new and old. He spent much of his time
fixing games that went down during the show, making our game
selection truly fortified. Even though he had no manufacturer
support (I hope this changes) we still got to play games as new as
STTNG, JD and Poopeye, as well as well maintained classics from his
own collection.

Dann,s helpers were great, also. Jay Stafford set up Centaur and
Balls-a-Poppin (1956 Bally with up to 9 balls total possible
multiball), side by side. He also set up KISS, THUNDERBALL, and
others. Jan Bradbury and Mark Pratt also set up machines and helped.
Mark had the coolest t-shirts. Chad Smith worked very hard setting up
games. They all pulled together to make sure the show was about as
much fun as you could have in three days. Saturdays midnight madness,
scheduled until 4AM, was reminiscent of the Pinball Expo. I wasn,t
there but I heard it lasted until 6AM!!

The tournaments were well thoughtout and a lot of work went into
them. The pinball rodeo included five machines, with the play being
different on each of them. The EIGHT BALL DELUXE had banana flippers.
The  King of Diamonds was one ball play, two vidpins were added, but
most impressive was the pinball poker machine. This is hard to
describe. A GRAND PRIX was changed to form this machine. The numbers
in the score reels were changed to cards. The playfield was numbered
to show which spots on the playfield would change your "hand". Your
hand was shown in the score reels. The object was to form the best
hand. The object of Pinball Rodeo was to score points on all five
games and get as many points as possible. Best score was 10pts. 2nd
best was 9pts down to 1 point for tenth place on a game.

This contest was free and you could enter as many times as you like,
to improve your scores. Plaques were awarded. I took 10 points on EBD
with banana flippers and 9 on one ball. I failed to place on
anything else and therefore missed third place, although not by
much. I gave it a good effort but most of all I had fun.

Tag Team Pinball was very intense and possibly the most fun of all
the tournaments. In my opinion this was the only tournament in the
history of pinball that became a true spectator event. A team
consisted of two players. The machine was a Mustang. (Two player
version of Bronco) The game was rigged with a bell, set to ring when
a player hit one of the spots on the playfield marked "TAG!" these
spots were the center drop target and both center rubbers to the side
of the drop targets. A player would play until the bell rang, then he
was required to tag his partner who stood behind a line five feet
behind. If a player flipped after the bell rang, the team was
penalized by having to stand eight feet back. A second foul made
twelve feet the new mark. Four teams made it in the one day
qualifying that took place before the banquet.

Once again, the entry was free. Re-entrys were allowed, as time
permitted. The prizes were plaques for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. We played in
seeded order 1st qualifier vs 4th and the 2nd qualifying team played
the 3rd. Our team, called "King Tut and the Bang Back" placed and
qualified 2nd. We played at the banquet so everyone could watch. It
felt great to play in front of everyone even though the stakes were
minimal. After we ate our Wild West dinner, we participated in a
raffle in which prizes were donated, including a modern Monte Carlo
pinball. After digestion, we were ready to get down to business. We
first played Neil Shatz and Tim McMurray, who had a bad game and
ended up placing 3rd. In the finals we were beaten badly by Dean St
Antoine and Jim Belsito, against whom we had a bad game. Tim McMurray
also won Pinball Rodeo. My teammate was Jeffrey Neumann. Jeff is a
great player, who is perhaps the most well-rounded pinball champion I
have had the pleasure to flip with. Jeff is not well known. He  only
competes minimally because his real love is for EM's.

Before the tag-team competition at the banquet, we were treated to an
entertaining and informative speach by pinball dealer, author and an
original Expo organizer Bill Kurtz. I found it extreemly interesting
to learn about the developmental years of both pinball collecting and
the growth and establishment of the Pinball Expo, the greatest show
on Earth. Bill also announced the upcoming arrival of his new book
Arcade Treasures, which will be huge. This book will be about 2/3rds
pinball and will contain hundreds of color pictures.

Flip-O Rama was the main tournament event. Entries were $5.00 for two
games of pinball on either of two qualifying games. Two Indiana Jones
and two Fish Tales were set up to play. The four highest players from
each type of game played for  the championship, which was to be held
on a surprise game to be revealed at the very last possible moment.
The players were to play single elimination format with seeding. The
Fish Tales were set for no extra balls and I imagine the IJs were
also, although I dont know for sure since I didn't play or ask about
IJ. FT would be my obvious choice since I like it a lot. I am also
good at FT and I am borrowing one, which I have had here at home to
play for the past couple of months. I am not too great at IJ, which
tends to find the outlanes when I play.

The top qualifier was Keith Elwin. He played a score of 3.6B on IJ.
He said he scored 12 superjackpots. His  opponent was pinball
collector Mike Mahaffey who played 672.7M on FT. The second set of
quarterfinalists were Rick Stetta (myself) as 2nd qualifier with a
score of 2B on FT, and Dean St Antoine who was 7th qualifier on IJ
with 735.4M. Third qualifier was Jim Belsito, who played 1.6B on IJ.
He played 6th qualifier Neil Shatz who scored 1.2B on FT. The 4th
qualifier was Greg Davis who played 1.474B on FT. He played 5th
qualifier Dean Grover who played 867.9M on IJ.

We were playing for the grand prize of a Strange Science pinball.
This is a 1986 Bally game. We also played for the honor of being
the first ever WWPF Flip-O-Rama Champion.

While the contestants and other enthusiasts were waiting for the
quarterfinals to begin, the organizers pulled out a Pharoah.
This game, which was on the showroom floor, is a 1981 game made by
Williams. As luck would have it I own a Pharoah. I have had my
Pharoah for 8 years and is in close to mint condition. It was one
of the original 6 machines that started my collection which is
currently at 25 games. Owning a Pharoah made me the favorite.

In the semi-finals, Keith Elwin beat Dean Grover and I beat
Jim Belsito. I went on to beat Keith in the finals. Jim took 3rd,
beating Dean, who placed 4th. Before the contest I explained the
machine as best as I could to the other players. I had help from
Mike Mahaffey, who knew some exact details I didn't know.
The game was set for tourney play at 3 balls no extra balls and
me knowing the shots seemed to be a bigger advantage than knowing
the game rules. This experience made me feel a lot better about
some of my tournament losses, of which there were plenty.
I cleaned house. I didnt feel guilty, I felt justified.
Others have beaten me in tournaments on games they knew well, often
on games I have not even seen. Sometimes I get the cold shoulder
when I ask for a game explanation, something I offer freely whenever
I can.

I am sorry that I didn't post this information sooner. I came back
from Arizona sick and very tired. After I rested up and got well,
I got on with other stuff, which I must admit included some laziness.

In closing, I would like to see everyone at the Expo on Nov. 10-13
and of course the 1995 WWPF April 28-30. I wish everyone well and
happy flipping.