The IFPA NZ Pinball Championships is held at a private house in Pukekohe that features over 120 pinball machines.
Players are grouped together in fours to go against one another over seven rounds per machine, with three games in a round. The higher your placing per round, the higher your points – all adding towards total scores that will take the best players through.
Whoever is in the top 24 make the finals the next day, which is a bracket-style knockout competition with players going head-to-head over five rounds.
Tyler qualified sixth for the finals and Josh 15th. That meant Josh had a hard fight on his hands if he wanted to get to the grand final.
“I went up against New Zealand’s former No 1 and [the competition] is at his place,” Josh said.
“You had nothing to lose, because at the time you were 45th in New Zealand,” Tyler pointed out.
“So he wasn’t expected to go any further.”
Josh came away with that win, but still had stiff competition to beat before he could make it to the top.
Meanwhile, Tyler said he had an easier first round, but then faced off against the second-best ranked player in Australia, who had won the Southern Hemisphere championship previously.
However, both brothers kept winning until it was only the two of them left.
“You don’t expect to get all the way to a New Zealand pinball championship final and play against your brother,” Tyler said.
“It was interesting.”
While most brothers would sledge each other to hell and back, both boys say they were extremely focused during the final, letting their fingers do the talking.
“Usually when we’re playing in competitions, we give each other tips on games – none of that this time,” Tyler said.
“I ended up having to pull out all the stops against Josh.”
Tyler won two games, but Josh came right back with two wins of his own, putting the championship and brotherly bragging rights all on the final game.
The final match was played on a machine from the 80s called a “TX-Sector”.
“It’s so, so bad,” laughs Josh.
According to Tyler, the only part of the playing field of the machine that is worth any points is a little spinner.
“So whoever shoots that spinner the most, wins,” he said.
“It’s terrible.”
Like an Australian goal kicker in rugby, Josh found himself constantly hitting the posts, while Tyler channelled his inner Dan Carter and had the shot “dialled in”, hitting it three times which was enough to take the national crown.
Despite losing to his younger brother, Josh was awarded “player of the weekend” and got a further second place in the New Zealand Champs Strikes competition.
Tyler is now ranked second overall in New Zealand, with Josh moving up to 22nd.
Now back home with their trophies and prize winnings, the boys’ next goal is to conquer the pinball world champs in Austria in June and are looking for sponsors to help take them over.
They also invite anyone in Hawke’s Bay interested in competitive pinball to join in a local competition via the Hawke’s Bay Pinball Facebook page or watch Tyler stream games live from his living room on Twitch at RansomPinball.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier. He reports on all stories relevant to residents of the region.
