Category: New Zealand Pinball Champs

Here’s the latest update to make the top 48 for the 2026 New Zealand Pinball Champs! Your top 12 results from the year are counted,

Our Take

There’s no change in the top 12 this month, but some good results and jumps up the leaderboard by Haylem Rayner (+13), Richard Willins (+22), and Craig Easson (+10). John Maughan (+70) wins his only tournament of the year and rockets into the top 48, perhaps he should compete more (hint, hint)!

It’s still early days in the new year so expect to see a lot of rises and fall in the race for the 2026 New Zealand Pinball Champs – lets take a look:

Our Take

Patrick Fisher-Evans (+4) makes a big leap up to make it into the top 4. Apart from him there’s too many other players making strong gains to mention. A shoutout to Esther Ahronheim for having competed in 10 events already! Her record from last year – 47 – might be under threat.

A new year means a new qualifying race for the 2026 New Zealand Pinball Champs! Let’s see where everyone starts off after January’s champs and a few other tournaments:

Our Take

The Burke boys take 3 out of the top 4 positions thanks to a strong showing over champs weekend, and great to see Simon up there too. But it’s early days, still lots of time to make your way into and up the rankings!

It’s awards time!

It’s that time of the year when we get the abacus out, add everything up, and…uh… come to some conclusions. So without further ado we present to you…

Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s.

Our Take

With the retirement (well, semi-retirement) of RotorDave there were always going to be fewer tournaments and total players in 2025. But somehow, more new people still wandered in, pressed start, and discovered the joys of the silver ball. That alone tells you the scene is doing just fine.

Now, let’s talk about the people who actually made some noise this year.

Ashley Burke: main character confirmed 🏆

If you’re looking for the headline act, it’s Ashley Burke. Most overall points, most wins, represents showing up repeatedly and choosing dominance. Fifteen wins in one season is amazing, but doing it across just 28 tournaments means Ashley wasn’t just farming easy points either — this was consistency plus clutch.

Esther vs the calendar 🗓️

Some people chase wins. Some people chase points. Esther Ahronheim chased every single tournament. Forty-seven events in a year is an outrageous level of commitment. That’s not just loving pinball — that’s structuring your life around it. Respect, Esther – but whatever happened to Robert in this category?

Tyler Dipper and the “one huge weekend” theory 🎯

Want proof that one great run can still shake the rankings? Tyler Dipper’s monster performance at NZ Champs delivered the biggest single tournament points haul of the year. Add in his Best Game result the next day, and over half his year’s points came in that weekend. Sometimes all it takes is one weekend where everything clicks, the bounces go your way, and the tilt gods are feeling generous.

Rafael Olmedo pressed fast-forward 📈

The biggest glow-up of 2025 belongs to Rafael Olmedo, who casually jumped 144 places in the rankings. That’s not luck, that’s levelling up and putting the work in.

Rookie alert 🚨

Every season needs fresh blood, and Isaiah Peters didn’t waste any time making noise. Rookie of the Year and a top-75 ranking is a serious statement. He topped it off with a maiden appearance at the NZ Champs, and then proceeded to make the finals – great result Isaiah.

👉 Dive into the full stats, rankings, and year-by-year chaos at FlipperStats, and we’ll be letting you know real soon who’s already making moves for 2026.

We’ve reached the end! Not a lot of tournaments in December, but still enough for some players to make large moves up the table.

Here’s the final qualifying positions for the 2025 New Zealand Pinball Champs.

Our Take

The old dog Dave Peck wins his own tournament again to move up to 21st, and well done to John Scrivener for his maiden victory and gaining 7 places! Good points for Jennifer means she should make the finals after withdrawn players are considered. But have Paul, Fiona and Hamish done enough to make it in? Follow the NZ IFPA page at https://www.facebook.com/IFPA.NZ to find out the final list.

A big congrats to those players who’ve qualified, and all who played in tournaments throughout 2025. If you’ve missed out on qualifying we hope it makes you more determined to play more of the game we love and make it next year instead!

A massive 11 tournaments in November resulted in a lot of movement in the qualifying table, quite surprising for this late in the year. Some players who had made other plans for the finals weekend on January 17-18 might want look into booking their tickets for Wellington! A reminder, if you’re in the top 48 or in the next 20 or so places below the cutoff, make sure you let the IFPA team know at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DDa3XmEdu/ if you can make the finals in or not; visit https://www.pinballshoppe.co.nz/event-details/new-zealand-pinball-championship-2025 for the NZ Champs details!

Here’s the latest as at the end of November:

Our Take

Mitchell returned to the motherland and made a real nUCEsanse of himself, taking 2 wins out of 4 at the Show Weekend to debut at #20. Matt, Markus, Lisa, Isaiah, and Andrew also put in solid performances there to move up the table.

With just 6 tournaments in December, the top 48 are mostly set no doubt bar a few small changes. Time to practice, work on your game, and get ready for the biggest event of the NZ pinball calendar in just over a month!

We’re getting to the pointy end of qualifying now, with only two months to go! But there’s still time for movement and with a HEAP of tournaments in November, including the Christchurch Show Weekend from 14th-16th, there’s a lot of points still on offer. If you’re already safe in the top 48 or in the next 20 or so places below the cutoff, make sure you let the IFPA team know at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DDa3XmEdu/ if you can make the finals in January or not; visit https://www.pinballshoppe.co.nz/event-details/new-zealand-pinball-championship-2025 for the NZ Champs details!

Here’s October’s list:

Our Take

A great win by Kevin has him rocketing up the list into the top 10. Consistent results by Esther, RD, John S, and Thomas sees them improving their places, and special mention to Charles for picking up his maiden victory.

With 11 tournaments in November we expect to see a big change in the rankings next month, so don’t be complacent, get out and earn those WWPR’s!

We’re now 2/3 of the way through to find New Zealand’s top 48 pinball players, who’ll qualify for the NZ Champs in Wellington from January 17-18, 2026. A full schedule has now been released, visit https://www.pinballshoppe.co.nz/event-details/new-zealand-pinball-championship-2025 for the details!

On to the chart as at end of September:

Our Take

With eight tournaments in the month there was always going to be a lot of upwards movement. Big jumps by Marqus and Jeremy, who now sits just outside the cutoff line. And a great result by Lachlan with his 2nd place at Poneke Pinballers solidifying his place in the top 48.

Keep flipping!

It’s that time again!

The top 48 qualify for the NZ Champs in January 2026, and only your best 12 competition results count.

Our Take

A surprising number of big movers for this time of the year, with Esther, Dave Peck, Ed and Kelly all moving up at least 5 places. Kelly breaks into the top 48 at the expense of Rafael.

With four tournaments in Auckland in September we may see some Aucklanders making some moves up the table (or not…:-).