Thursday night in Lenah Valley delivered something a little different for the TAPP community — our first ever weeknight event in a home setting, and by all accounts it was a great one. Twenty-four players made the trip out to a private residence in the Valley for an evening of matchplay qualifying, Amazing Race finals, and a barrel ball competition that is always one of the highlights of the night.
Qualifying saw players rotating through groups and stacking up points across the rounds, with Patrick Hewitt finishing the session on top of the leaderboard, followed closely by Joshua Hesketh and Simon Voigt. But qualifying is only half the story — and on this night, it served double duty, with results also used to set the handicap for barrel ball.
For the uninitiated: barrel ball is a chaotic side game where every player queues behind a machine and must either cause the ball to "stall" by hitting a white shoot (into a scoop, lock, post, etc), or who gets elimintated by losing the ball or hitting a red shot. Once they stall or are eliminated they must jump out of the way for the next player to take over before the ball is spat back out at them. It's tense, fun, and always gets a few laughs going. The qualifying handicap meant lower-ranked players got a head start by having more "lives" rather than being immediately eliminated.
Jackie Berry outlasted the field to win the barrel ball competition, taking home a Pac-man mini pinball machine for the effort. Jacob Mackay came in second and had their choice of AMD Swag. A great result for both!
Back to the main event — the Amazing Race finals weren't without drama. A major malfunction on Shadow during the very first game meant the whole round had to be replayed from scratch. Big thanks to the finalists for their patience while that got sorted; they took it in good spirits and got back to it. Once things were back on track, the pressure ratcheted up round by round as the field narrowed.
When the dust settled, it was Simon Voigt who claimed the top spot, converting his strong qualifying run into a finals victory and taking home the Pac-man mini pinball machine as his prize. Tom Fonda ran him close in second place, earning a BPAC T-Shirt — fitting timing, given some of us will be heading to Brisbane for BPAC shortly.
Mid-evening, things got briefly frantic when Pin Diemen's Land ticket sales went live at 8pm. With tickets extremely limited for Tasmania's biggest ever IFPA weekend, players were sneaking glances at their phones between games trying to lock in their spots before they sold out. If you missed out on the night, check the PDL event page for the latest — September 25–27 at Deep South Brewing Co. is shaping up to be something special.
A big thank you to AMD for sponsoring the night and contributing to the prize pool — your support is genuinely appreciated and makes these events what they are. And thank you to everyone who came out, RSVPed, and made the trip to the Valley. A relaxed home setting is a different vibe to our usual venues, and the crowd made it work perfectly.
If you're keen on something low-key this weekend, there's a casual IFPA21 World Championship viewing party happening this Sunday evening in Lenah Valley — games from 9pm, then tuning in at midnight to watch the world's best battle it out live. Check the event page for details.
No TAPP event next fortnight — some of us will be at BPAC in Brisbane, so consider joining us there if you can make it. We're back on Thursday 2nd July at Replay Bar for the next one. See you then.
We’re mixing things up a little for this one — join us on Thursday night for a weeknight comp out in the Valley at a private residence. It’s our first time running a weeknight event in a home setting, and we’re hoping for a great turnout to make it a fun, relaxed evening of pinball.
RSVP is a must — it’s how you’ll secure your spot, receive the address, and help us plan things out on the night. Spaces are a bit more limited than usual, so make sure you lock it in early by emailing contact@tapp.net.au.
Doors open at 5:30pm, and we’ll kick things off around 6pm with some matchplay qualifying, rotating through groups and building up points across the rounds, before moving into an Amazing Race finals where the pressure ramps up and players are knocked out one by one until we’ve got our winner. This one’s IFPA endorsed too, so there are ranking points up for grabs alongside the usual good vibes.
We’ll likely sneak in a bit of barrel ball as well — a fast, chaotic side game where the goal is simple: keep your ball alive by holding it safely in a feature, because once it drains, you’re out. It’s always a fun change of pace and gets a few laughs going.
If you’re keen, flick us an email to lock in your spot — should be a good one.
Main Tournament
This tournament is IFPA-endorsed and results are submitted for IFPA ranking points.
Group Match Play
Players compete in groups of 3 or 4 on a series of machines. Points awarded by finishing position. Scored by wins over multiple rounds.
Amazing Race
All participants play 1 machine, last-place player is eliminated each round. Meaningful games = (players − 1) ÷ 2.