I’m quite sure I’ve seen this somewhere else and heard about this someplace else a good while ago. But, apparently WWE has officially released something today, because my twitter feed is full of links to the following:
WWE issued the following press release today:
Stern Pinball Announces “King of the Ring” WWE® WrestleMania Pinball Tournament
World’s Leading Maker of Arcade-Quality Pinball Machines Teams with WWE and the International Flipper Pinball Association to Sponsor Worldwide High-Score Tournament
Stern Pinball, Inc., the world’s oldest and largest producer of arcade-quality pinball machines, today announced the “King of the Ring” high-score pinball tournament. The International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) will administer the high-score tournament, which will be played on the WWE WrestleMania Pro and LE pinball machines. The tournament is open to players around the world and will begin on July 1, 2015 and end on December 31, 2015.
Players can enter by participating in IFPA-sanctioned King of the Ring events:
* Authorized IFPA members will organize sanctioned tournament events.
* The IFPA will establish the tournament settings for the WWE WrestleMania Pro and LE games used in sanctioned tournament events.
* Authorized IFPA members will submit high scores from each sanctioned tournament event to the IFPA.
* IFPA sanctioned events will take place in commercial locations approved by the IFPA. In-home events will not qualify.
* Authorized IFPA members will post high scores and event photos on the King of the Ring Facebook page.
* All photos must be accompanied by the hashtags: #WWEpinball and #kingofthering and include the name, city and country of the location of the event.
* The player with the highest score will remain the King of the Ring until another player tops the score.
* The player with the highest score as of midnight Chicago-time on December 31, 2015, will claim the “King of the Ring” title, trophy, tickets to a WWE event, and $500 in cash.
* The top ten runner-ups will receive WWE pinball related prizes (signed translites, shirts, and more)
“It’s an honor to team-up with WWE and the IFPA to create this tournament that will be played on a unique pinball game. The slammers in the ring on the game present scoring challenges that are new to pinball,” said Gary Stern, Chairman and CEO of Stern Pinball. “We encourage players of all skill levels to take a shot at the King of the Ring title.”
“The King of the Ring tournament will be a fun, action-packed pinball competition because of the ring and the slammers in the game,” said Josh Sharpe, President of the IFPA. “Mastering the slammers and winning in the ring presents a new challenge for pinball players of all skill levels.”
Stern Pinball’s WWE WrestleMania calls players into the ring as WWE Superstars embarking on a quest to become the WWE worldwide heavyweight champion. Players train their Superstars and then compete in a series of matches leading them on the road to WrestleMania.
So, there’s your reason to play Wrestlemania I suppose, so get on that. Anyway, it’s more good pub for pinball. I wonder how long it will be before we finally see the pinball game get a promotion on RAW or Smackdown. Maybe they’ve done that already. I haven’t been watching WWE lately, so I wouldn’t know.
I’d like to see an R-K-O in mid-air, out of nowhere, on a WWE pinball machine in the parking lot or something like that. And then they throw to commercial by talking about how you can contact your local Stern distributor, in YOUR area, for details about owning a WWE pinball machine.
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