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:
| | Points | Comps | NZ Rank | World | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Ashley Burke | 109.74 | 5 | 1 | 349 | |
| 2 | | Mike Burke NZ | 92.35 | 9 | 3 | 604 | |
| 3 | | Simon Haxton | 73.48 | 6 | 10 | 1044 | |
| 4 | ▲ 4 | | Patrick Fisher-Evans | 68.75 | 8 | 14 | 1250 |
| 5 | ▼ 1 | | Josh Burke | 56.26 | 9 | 6 | 778 |
| 6 | ▼ 1 | | Casey Lochead | 49.68 | 5 | 34 | 3025 |
| 7 | ▼ 1 | | Alfie Dennis | 47.07 | 6 | 30 | 2818 |
| 8 | ▲ 1 | | Aidan Kersley | 45.49 | 4 | 8 | 886 |
| 9 | ▼ 2 | | Aubrey Walker | 44.85 | 3 | 5 | 716 |
| 10 | ▲ 7 | | Damon Newland | 30.76 | 6 | 11 | 1067 |
| 11 | ▼ 1 | | Mark Higham | 27.20 | 2 | 53 | 5381 |
| 12 | ▲ 2 | | Esther Ahronheim | 26.25 | 10 | 9 | 971 |
| 13 | ▼ 2 | | Callum Boston | 24.57 | 2 | 24 | 2402 |
| 14 | ▼ 2 | | Tyler Dipper | 22.99 | 3 | 2 | 461 |
| 15 | ▼ 2 | | Matt Gedye | 21.88 | 4 | 12 | 1199 |
| 16 | | Marqus Berney | 20.95 | 8 | 51 | 5120 | |
| 17 | ▼ 2 | | Hugo Strang | 20.84 | 6 | 16 | 1726 |
| 18 | ▲ 21 | | Drew Bennett | 19.06 | 8 | 37 | 3433 |
| 19 | ▼ 1 | | Matthew Proctor | 16.27 | 4 | 67 | 6788 |
| 20 | ▼ 1 | | Kobe Smith | 16.12 | 4 | 31 | 2931 |
| 21 | | Laurence Smith | 16.00 | 4 | 18 | 1932 | |
| 22 | ▲ 2 | | Danielle Peck | 15.20 | 2 | 7 | 840 |
| 23 | ▼ 3 | | Isaiah Peters | 15.00 | 3 | 61 | 5960 |
| 24 | ▲ 7 | | Rafael Olmedo | 13.53 | 9 | 68 | 6944 |
| 25 | ▲ 1 | | Kevin Hester | 13.36 | 6 | 28 | 2745 |
| 26 | ▼ 4 | | Sean Fausett | 11.68 | 4 | 43 | 3845 |
| 27 | ▼ 4 | | Markus Dipper | 10.88 | 4 | 32 | 2986 |
| 28 | ▼ 1 | | Brooke Riddell-Garner | 10.50 | 6 | 21 | 2048 |
| 29 | ▼ 4 | | Josh Dipper | 10.07 | 2 | 25 | 2470 |
| 30 | ▲ 4 | | Lachlan Caudle | 9.45 | 5 | 60 | 5755 |
| 31 | ▲ 13 | | Filip Piri | 9.36 | 6 | 78 | 8452 |
| 32 | | Zac Cousins | 9.28 | 7 | 71 | 7128 | |
| 33 | ▲ 7 | | Haylem Rayner | 9.05 | 5 | 17 | 1788 |
| 34 | ▲ 4 | | Cameron Crabb | 8.63 | 6 | 40 | 3589 |
| 35 | ▲ 8 | | Robert Meuldijk | 8.27 | 7 | 45 | 3978 |
| 36 | ▼ 3 | | Ken Thompson | 7.74 | 5 | 50 | 4715 |
| 37 | ▼ 9 |  | Stephen Bardell | 7.66 | 2 | – | – |
| 38 | ▼ 8 | | Dylan Petrie | 7.62 | 3 | 33 | 3015 |
| 39 | ▼ 2 | | Blaise St-Laurent | 7.50 | 6 | 83 | 9167 |
| 40 | ▼ 11 | | Travis Dawson | 7.48 | 2 | 57 | 5684 |
| 41 | ▲ 19 | | Will De Vos | 6.73 | 2 | 13 | 1222 |
| 42 | ▼ 6 | | Nikolas Busljeta | 6.29 | 3 | 41 | 3658 |
| 43 | ▼ 1 | | John Scrivener | 6.23 | 7 | 39 | 3583 |
| 44 | ▼ 3 | | Kelly Mitchell | 6.07 | 6 | 20 | 2008 |
| 45 | ▼ 10 | | Tim Chapman | 5.98 | 2 | – | – |
| 46 | ▲ 38 | | Lisa Conroy | 5.26 | 1 | 22 | 2115 |
| 47 | ▲ 2 | | Simon Ros | 3.86 | 8 | 86 | 9314 |
| 48 | | Jennifer Bays | 3.81 | 8 | 80 | 8703 | |
| 49 | ▼ 3 | | Craig Easson | 3.59 | 2 | 47 | 4233 |
| 50 | ▼ 3 | | Paul Kang | 3.44 | 5 | 82 | 8732 |
| 51 | ▼ 6 | | Charles Dolbel | 3.40 | 3 | 70 | 7033 |
| 52 | ▲ 7 | | Richard Willins | 2.72 | 2 | 26 | 2545 |
| 53 | ▼ 3 | | Hamish Guthrey | 2.28 | 1 | 74 | 7905 |
| 55 | ▼ 3 | | Matt Kemp | 2.26 | 2 | 27 | 2618 |
| 55 | ▼ 3 | | Daniel Brown | 2.26 | 3 | 98 | 10861 |
| 56 | ▼ 3 | | Mumtaz Dolbel | 2.25 | 1 | 92 | 10222 |
| 57 | ▼ 3 | | Kylie Dipper | 2.23 | 4 | 59 | 5719 |
| 58 | ▲ 26 | | Marc Sanger | 2.22 | 1 | 19 | 1981 |
| 59 | ▼ 4 | | Tom Busljeta | 1.75 | 1 | 56 | 5564 |
| 60 | ▼ 4 | | Lewis Tennant | 1.67 | 1 | 93 | 10393 |
| 61 | ▲ 9 | | Thomas Skurr | 1.59 | 3 | 89 | 9675 |
| 62 | ▲ 2 | | David Miles | 1.57 | 4 | 66 | 6708 |
| 63 | ▼ 4 | | Daryl Purdie | 1.54 | 2 | 55 | 5503 |
| 64 | ▼ 7 | | Stien Lorent | 1.20 | 1 | 212 | 25800 |
| 65 | ▲ 19 | | Charlie Sykes | 1.19 | 1 | 63 | 6156 |
| 66 | ▲ 3 | | Jono Ward | 1.12 | 4 | 124 | 14276 |
| 67 | ▲ 17 | | Ethan Mclean | 1.01 | 3 | 155 | 18801 |
| 68 | ▲ 16 | | Manny Giannakakis | 0.95 | 2 | 234 | 27683 |
| 69 | ▼ 1 | | Jon Rennie | 0.85 | 2 | 126 | 14397 |
| 70 | ▲ 14 | | Martin Halliday | 0.73 | 1 | 90 | 9693 |
| 71 | ▲ 13 | | Stephanie Mason NZ | 0.70 | 2 | 243 | 29151 |
| 72 | ▼ 7 | | Jono King | 0.64 | 2 | 85 | 9301 |
| 73 | ▼ 5 | | Andrew Way | 0.57 | 2 | 123 | 14177 |
| 76 | ▼ 13 |  | Chris Grucza | 0.56 | 1 | – | – |
| 76 | ▼ 13 | | George Davidson | 0.56 | 1 | 64 | 6221 |
| 76 | ▼ 13 | | David Gifford-Moore | 0.56 | 1 | 38 | 3497 |
| 77 | ▲ 7 | | Jeremy Morris | 0.50 | 1 | – | – |
| 78 | ▲ 6 | | Brett Carter | 0.48 | 1 | 133 | 15232 |
| 79 | ▲ 5 | | Andrew Chapman NZ | 0.46 | 1 | 49 | 4376 |
| 80 | ▼ 4 | | Carly St-Laurent | 0.44 | 2 | 117 | 13958 |
| 81 | ▼ 15 | | Luca Herman | 0.42 | 1 | 320 | 35568 |
| 82 | ▲ 2 | | Stephanie Mason VA | 0.40 | 1 | – | – |
| 83 | ▲ 1 | | Barry Saxon | 0.36 | 1 | 323 | 35795 |
| 84 | | Danny Bultitude | 0.34 | 1 | 341 | 37845 | |
| 87 | ▼ 3 | | Mike Fowles | 0.32 | 1 | 79 | 8618 |
| 87 | ▼ 16 | | Jeni McEwen | 0.32 | 2 | 149 | 18062 |
| 87 | ▼ 3 | | Murray Hammond | 0.32 | 1 | 208 | 24567 |
| 88 | ▼ 4 | | Ben St-Laurent | 0.29 | 1 | 213 | 25814 |
| 89 | ▼ 5 | | Sean Lyons | 0.28 | 1 | 216 | 25905 |
| 90 | ▼ 6 | | Denver Gray | 0.26 | 1 | 384 | 41061 |
| 91 | ▼ 10 | | Maxwell Kersley | 0.25 | 2 | 201 | 23864 |
| 92 | ▼ 8 | | Tim Cadogan | 0.24 | 1 | 222 | 26576 |
| 95 | ▼ 21 | | Alana Garnett | 0.23 | 1 | 157 | 18895 |
| 95 | ▼ 21 | | David Holender | 0.23 | 1 | 84 | 9194 |
| 95 | ▼ 21 | | Willow Garnett | 0.23 | 1 | 182 | 21569 |
| 97 | ▼ 21 | | Liam Anderson | 0.21 | 1 | 223 | 26844 |
| 97 | ▼ 13 | | Jack Joines | 0.21 | 1 | 421 | 43651 |
| 102 | ▼ 18 | | Julie Veltmeyer | 0.20 | 1 | 174 | 21012 |
| 102 | ▼ 18 | | Troy Halliday | 0.20 | 1 | 73 | 7871 |
| 102 | ▼ 25 | | Jo Caudle | 0.20 | 2 | 150 | 18295 |
| 102 | ▼ 18 | | Gavin Veltmeyer | 0.20 | 1 | 195 | 23113 |
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.