Pinball

The Helicon Open 2024 will be held Thursday, December 5th through Sunday, December 8th. The format will be the same as 2023 and 2022 with only a few minimal changes:

• The date has been moved up to the first weekend in December. This is based on feedback received from many players who had other holiday obligations later in the month.
• All weekend tournament results will be submitted within one hour of the tournament completion on Sunday, 12/8. This will avoid the absolutely embarrassing situation of not filing the results in time for final PA state rankings.
• The Main Bank will be reduced from 20 to 14 games. We received a lot of feedback that 20 games was entirely too much.
• Main event ticket sales will end at 9:00pm on the qualifying days.
• The daily “Classic” tournaments are still happening but are more like “Side” tournaments–each bank will include several EMs as well as several modern games.
• The Charity Tournament has been dropped due to lack of participation.

Please direct any questions to info@heliconbrewing.com or message the Helicon Brewing facebook page.

*** Please note: The game banks are subject to change without notice. Every attempt will be made to keep all games running in tip-top shape, but pinball happens. ***

There will be four tournaments held over the 4-day tournament weekend:

1. Main Tournament
   • Qualifying runs Thursday through Saturday 11am-10pm.
     • Entry ticket sales will end at 9pm each night.
   • A Division Finals will begin Sunday at 12pm. B Division Finals will begin at 1pm.
     • There will be A Division Finals, B Division Finals, and possibly C Division Finals depending on participation.
     • Players with an IFPA ranking higher than 2000 are not eligible to play in B Division Finals.
     • All finals brackets will be head-to-head, best-of-three games, with re-seeding each round. The final round will be best-of-5.
     • During finals, a game can only be chosen once until all games have been chosen.
     • All games in the Main and all three “Classics” banks will be eligible choices in the finals.
     • For the first game in each round of the finals, the higher seed gets the choice of game AND position. On subsequent games, the losing player gets choice of game OR position.
   • The entry fee is $5 per ticket plus coin drop.
     • 5 games per ticket.
     • Tickets can be voided. If a ticket is voided then all results do not count.
     • Once a ticket has been accepted, it can no longer be voided at any time and all scores will count.
     • The point system per game will be 100, 95, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, etc.
   • Prizes:
     • 100% of all ticket entry fees will go to the prize pool.
     • The A Division prize breakdown will be:
       • 1st place – 40% of total prize pool
       • 2nd place – 20%
       • 3rd place – 13%
       • 4th place – 7%
       • 5th through 8th place – 5%
     • The B and C division prizes will be Helicon gift cards, free passes to pinball free play nights at the brewery and taproom, and pinball swag TBD.
     • All games are Pro/base models unless otherwise noted.
     • All games are set to Competition/Tournament Mode and no extra balls.
   • 14 games in the main bank:
     1. Uncanny X-Men Pro
     2. John Wick Pro
     3. Jaws Pro
     4. Venom Pro
     5. Avengers: Infinity Quest Pro
     6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pro
     7. Black Knight Sword of Rage Pro
     8. Godzilla Pro
     9. Beatles Gold Edition
     10. Mandalorian Pro
     11. Star Wars Pro
     12. Deadpool Pro
     13. Guardians of the Galaxy Pro
     14. James Bond 007 Pro
2. “Classics/Side” Tournaments
   • General Information
     • $10 per day entry fee plus coin drop for all games played.
     • The format is Herb / open qualifying. High scores will get 100, 95, 90, 89, 88, etc.
     • The best scores on 5 of 8 games will count towards the total.
     • Qualifying is 11am-6pm each day. Finals will begin afterwards as soon as the brackets are ready.
     • Finals are best-of-three each round.
     • Players will be reseeded each round.
     • For the first game of each round, the higher seed gets the choice of game AND position. On subsequent games, the losing player gets choice of game OR position.
     • During finals, a game can only be chosen once until all games have been chosen.
     • All $10 entry fees will go to the prize pool.
     • 10% of the prize pool will go to the top qualifier.
     • Note: All EMs are set to 3 balls per game.
     • Note: PLAY extra balls on EMs during qualification. DO NOT PLAY extra balls during finals.
   • “Classics” – Thursday Bank
     1. 24
     2. Cactus Canyon Remake LE
     3. Strato-Flite
     4. Stardust
     5. Monster Bash Remake LE
     6. Iron Maiden Pro
     7. Avatar LE
     8. Willy Wonka LE
   • “Classics” – Friday Bank
     1. Rush Pro
     2. Kiss Pro
     3. Led Zeppelin Pro
     4. AC/DC Premium
     5. Dialed In!
     6. Elton John Platinum Edition
     7. Surf Champ
     8. Jungle Queen
   • “Classics” – Saturday Bank
     1. Barry O’s BBQ Challenge
     2. Galactic Tank Force
     3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
     4. Transformers Pro
     5. Pro-Football
     6. Nine Ball
     7. Robo-War
     8. Creature from the Black Lagoon
3. General Notes
   • All tie breakers will be the high score for one ball played on a random game in the tournament bank. The tournament director will supply the credit to play the one ball and the game choice will be made with the google random number generator.

2023 Results

Main Finals

1. TBD

B Division Finals

1. TBD

Classics – Thursday

1. TBD

Classics – Friday

1. TBD

Classics – Saturday

1. TBD