Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
I want to take a step back and thank everyone for the amazing year Buffalo Pinball has had. Ever since moving to Buffalo four years ago, I’ve dreamed of finding others that share a passion for this incredible game as well as introducing new people to it. Four years ago, it was nearly impossible to find a pinball machine to play publicly in Buffalo. There were no tournaments, no league, no Facebook group.
Thanks to the help of many of our members, we’ve come a long way since then. Here are some highlights from the past year:
- Hosted 6 tournaments with more than 185 players participating.
- Our league is in its 2nd year and we are maxed out at 26 players.
- Buffalo Pinball was featured on the front page of the Buffalo News (August 14), the cover story in Artvoice (August 21), an article in Buffalo Spree magazine (March) and West Seneca Sun.
- We hosted a live pinball tutorial, “How Do I Pinball“, in November.
- We now have a camera rig that shows a live feed of pinball action at our tournaments (thanks Bret Wallace and Rob Metzler).
- Our “Flippin’ with the Greats” charity tournament raised $580. The organization provides financial grants and ‘pro bono’ medical assistance to retired NFL players in dire need.
- We hosted Buffalo’s first-ever Stern Pinball Launch Tournament for The Walking Dead in October.
- Our “Pinball Outreach Project” charity tournament raised $330. The organization’s mission is to bring the game of pinball directly to children in hospitals, schools and community centers.
Our success is due to the hard work of numerous people, including our officials: Kevin Manne, Bruce Nightingale, Phil Hubert, and Jay Fairbrother. Special thanks to Kevin Manne for using his awesome PR/Marketing skills to gain us coverage in numerous media outlets. Kevin also designs the fantastic flyers for all of our tournaments.
And we’re just getting started–we have so many more exciting ideas to bring about in the New Year and ways to improve our tournaments. Stay tuned and hope to see you at the next event!
Best,
Nick Lane
Buffalo Pinball President
Buffalo Pinball 