GAME SPECIFIC
Best Theme – Based on THEME ONLY
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 21.5%
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 17.4%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 16.9%
Houdini (American Pinball) 15.4%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 13.3%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 9.4%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 2.2%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 1.2%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 1.1%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.9%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.7%
Best Animations and Display
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 29.5%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 21.6%
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 15.9%
Monster Bash Remake (Chicago Gaming Company) 13.4%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 10.6%
Houdini (American Pinball) 3.7%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 3.6%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.8%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.3%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.1%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.1%
Best Lightshow
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 31.1%
Monster Bash Remake (Chicago Gaming Company) 20.5%
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 19.3%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 9.9%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 6.5%
Houdini (American Pinball) 5.0%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 4.3%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 2.1%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.4%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.2%
Best Toys and Gimmicks
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 54.3%
Houdini (American Pinball) 14.4%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 12.8%
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 7.8%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 6.2%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 2.1%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 1.0%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.8%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.1%
Best Theme Integration
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 34.2%
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 20.0%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 15.0%
Houdini (American Pinball) 11.9%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 8.2%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 6.1%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 1.7%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 1.0%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.8%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.8%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.3%
Best Music and Sound Effects
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 42.5%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 19.7%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 12.8%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 12.5%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 6.9%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 2.2%
Houdini (American Pinball) 2.2%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.5%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.4%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.3%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.1%
Best Callouts
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 38.2%
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 28.7%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 16.4%
Houdini (American Pinball) 5.1%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 4.9%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 3.6%
Priums (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 1.6%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.4%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.4%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.4%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.2%
Best Rules
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 49.9%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 27.7%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 8.6%
Houdini (American Pinball) 6.3%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 2.9%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 2.8%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.8%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.3%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.3%
Best Playfield Gameplay and Layout
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 54.4%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 24.5%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 9.0%
Houdini (American Pinball) 4.0%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 3.5%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 3.3%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.5%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.3%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.2%
Best Artwork
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 30.6%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 22.4%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 13.6%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 11.0%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 7.5%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 6.4%
Houdini (American Pinball) 6.4%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.8%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.5%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.4%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.4%
Game of the Year
Iron Maiden (Stern Pinball) 46.9%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Jersey Jack Pinball) 28.6%
Deadpool (Stern Pinball) 10.3%
Houdini (American Pinball) 5.0%
Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle (Spooky Pinball) 3.8%
The Beatles (Stern Pinball/Ka-Pow Pinball) 3.6%
Cosmic Cart Racing (Multimorphic) 0.9%
Primus (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Supreme (Stern Pinball Contract Game) 0.3%
Thunderbirds (Homepin) 0.3%
Mafia (Team Pinball) 0.0%
WRITE-INS
Favorite Pinball Twitch Streamer
Winner: Dead Flip
Honorable Mentions: Buffalo Pinball, Colorado Pinball Collective, IE Pinball, Pinball Undesirables, Straight Down the Middle
Favorite Pinball Podcast
Winner: Kaneda’s Pinball Podcast
Honorable Mentions: Bro Do You Even Talk Pinball, Head 2 Head Pinball Podcast, Pinball Profile, Slam Tilt, Special When Lit, Spooky Pinball Podcast, This Week in Pinball
Favorite Pinball YouTube Channel
Winner: Straight Down the Middle: a pinball show
Honorable Mentions: PAPA Pinball, Pinball Supernova, TNT Amusements
Favorite Pinball Mod of 2018
Winner: Pin Stadium Lights
Honorable Mentions: ColorDMD, Deadpool Pro Disco Ball, Eat At Eddy’s Building – AFM, Flying Monkey – WOZ, Iron Maiden Color inserts, Pinsound
Favorite Home Brew Pinball Machine
Winner: Nightmare Before Christmas
Honorable Mentions: Airplane, Despicable Me, Ghost in the Shell, Good vs Evil, Kill Bill, Queen
Rookie of the Year (new designers, artists, coders, players)
Winner: Keith Elwin
Honorable Mentions: Eric Meunier, Mrs. Pin, Tanio Klyce, Tim Sexton
Favorite Pinball Website
Winner: Pinside
Honorable Mentions: Pinball Info, Pinball News, This Week in Pinball, Tilt Forums
Favorite Pinball Publication (book, magazine, article)
Winner: Pinball Magazine
Honorable Mentions: Dennis Kriesel Articles (multiple), Drop Target Omnibus, Pinball Wizards – Adam Ruben, Pingame Journal, Todd Tuckey Pinball Adventures
Favorite Pinball Location
Winner: Logan Arcade, Chicago, IL
Honorable Mentions: 1 up Colfax – Denver, CO, Abari Game Bar – Charlotte, NC, AYCE Gogi – Van Nuys, CA, Pinball Gallery – Malvern, PA, Sunshine Laundromat – NY, Tilt Pinball Bar – Minneapolis, MN, TitleTown Pinball – Green Bay, WI, Wizard’s World – Fort Wayne, IN
Favorite Pinball Convention
Winner: Texas Pinball Festival
Honorable Mentions: Chicago Pinball Expo, Midwest Gaming Classic, Pinfest Allentown PA, Pintastic New England, ReplayFX, Southern Fried Gaming Expo
Favorite Pinball Tournament/Competition
Winner: Pinburgh
Honorable Mentions: INDISC, Texas Wizards Tournament, Wizard’s World War
There are way too many people to thank and I know I will forget people! Thank you to the CREATORS of the pinball industry, the manufacturers, designers, software developers, artists, sound engineers, animators, mod developers, home-brew machines, etc., etc. Thank you to the content creators – all of you that spend time on creating podcasts, Twitch streams, YouTube content, websites, photography, publications, etc., etc. Thank you to all of you that are growing pinball – the operators, tournament directors, technicians, people and volunteers that run conventions, people that bring games to the conventions, etc., etc.
Huge thank you to the sponsors of the show – Marco Specialties and Flip N Out Pinball.
Thank you to the TWIPY Committee: Colin MacAlpine, Greg Bone, Lloyd Olson, Steve Bowden, William Oetting, Zach Meny and the countless hours you spent helping make the TWIPY Pinball Awards Show a great show.
Thank you to Ed and Kim Vanderveen, Paul McKinney, and the entire team at the Texas Pinball Festival.
Thank you to all guest presenters: Antoinette Johnson, Butch Patrick, Charlie and Bug Emery, Chris Franchi, Dwight Sullivan, Eric Meunier, Jack Danger, Jack Guarnieri, John Rhys-Davies, Ken and Bill from Special When Lit, Krystle Gemnich, Marty Robbins, Mrs. Pin and Dr. Pin, Rachel and Cale from Marco, Robin from Pinside, Scott Danesi, Steve Ritchie, Todd MacCulloch.
Thank you to all of you that helped set things up in that small window before the show began: Jeff Teolis, Ryan White, Nicole Meny, Jason Schmidt, Priscilla Schmidt, Bud Sommerville, Jason Fowler, Christian Line, Sarah Line, and a bunch more that I am forgetting!
Thank you to Christian Line and Sarah Line for the TWIPY tie I wore during the show!
Thank you to Joel Reeves, who was the DJ for the show and did a great job.
Thank you to William Oetting, who was asked at the last minute to run the videos for the show and did a great job.
A HUGE thank you to Richard Barnett and Howard Barnett, the Audio/Visual specialists at the Texas Pinball Festival. We asked about a million questions to you guys in the months leading up to TPF and on Friday and Saturday at TPF, and appreciate your patience and efforts – we couldn’t have done the show without you and you did an incredible job.
A HUGE thank you to William Oetting, who helped develop the online ballot for the TWIPYs and was a huge help to the show in tons of different ways, and is a huge help to This Week in Pinball in general.
Finally, I can’t thank Zach and Greg from Straight Down the Middle enough for all they did to make this an incredible show. From all your efforts with the amazing video production, to trying to figure out the best ways to light the stage and have the best production quality for those in attendance in person and those watching at home, to a million other things leading up the the show, THANK YOU. And for the incredibly difficult job of hosting the show, and making that look easy, thank you. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
TWIPY Pinball Show Timeline
9/17/18: TWIPY Committee formed
10/30/18: TWIPY Talking Points sent, first phone call scheduled
11/12/18: TWIPY Committee Conference Call
11/13/18: TWIPY Committee votes on categories and eligibility, LIVE show at Texas Pinball Festival Confirmed
12/5/18: TWIPY Teaser Video and Article posted, LIVE show announced
12/18/18: TWIPY Committee Conference Call
1/1/19: TWIPY voting opens
1/15/19 – 2/1/19: TWIPY Presenters lined up
1/17/19: Conference call with TPF Audio/Visual people
1/31/19: TWIPY voting closes
2/1/19: TWIPY votes verification – RAW data sent to TWIPY Committee members
2/6/19: TWIPY Committee Members receive more detailed voting information to analyze
2/7/19: TWIPY Committee Conference Call to examine voting metadata to make sure to only include legit votes
2/7/19 – 2/15/19: Compiling TWIPY votes to determine top 3s in each categories and winners
2/16/19: Results sent to TWIPY Committee for approval
2/16/19 – 3/20/19: Videos created by Zach Meny
3/5/19: Final voting results approved by the TWIPY Committee
3/6/19: Presenters provided with TWIPY Categories they will be introducing
3/7/19: Conference call with TPF Audio/Visual people
3/15/19: Conference call with TPF Audio/Visual people
2/16/19 – 3/20/19: Dozens of conference calls with Zach Meny and Greg Bone
3/22/19-3/23/19: Testing with TPF Audio/Visual people
3/23/19 at 8:15PM: The LIVE TWIPY Awards Show!