The main thing is colourful: Dolly Parton is also there when the pinball pros compete against each other in Echzell.
Image: Frank Röth
Milan, Florida, and now Central Hesse: The world championship in pinball starts on Thursday in a village in the Wetterau region. What drives men and women from all over the world to these devices?
When the lights go out, the pinball machines wake up. Dodge City Cowboys flash and roar alongside the Ghostbusters. Batman warns in a sonorous voice, flanked by Captain Picard and the Wizard of Oz. In this company, the lone sheriff and his entourage seem almost reserved. But when the light is switched on again, the magic ends abruptly: this is no hype, this is the inside of a former supermarket on the outskirts of Echzell. The small community in Wetterau has almost 6,000 inhabitants and will soon be the venue for a world championship: This is where pinball fans meet who have achieved real proficiency on the devices that had their heyday in the 1970s.
The meeting took place in Ontario in 2018, in Milan in 2019, and after the Corona break they met in Florida last year. And this time in Echzell. The show starts on June 1st and the tournament runs from June 2nd to 4th. Then almost 80 participants from 20 countries come together in the Wetterau community. They are joined by 20 to 40 companions and employees from the organizer IFPA, the International Flipper Pinball Association.
#Pinball #World #Championship #Cowboys #Meet #Captain #Picard