TAGS: coin-op, pinball machine, Professional & Amateur Pinball Association, PAPA World Pinball Championships, Keith Elwin
PITTSBURGH -- The Professional & Amateur Pinball Association staged its 15th annual World Pinball Championships from Aug. 9 to 12. The contest offered a purse of more than $40,000 and drew nearly 500 competitors. It took place at PAPA's 30,000-sq.ft. headquarters, a converted warehouse that stores 450 vintage flipper games, plus a number of classic videogames, in Scott Township.
In four days of pinball action, last year's World Pinball Champion Keith Elwin successfully defended his title and won the $10,000 first prize. The tournament also raised more than $14,000 for charity.
PAPA was founded in the mid-1980s at arcade operator Steve Epstein's famed Broadway Arcade in New York's Times Square. Epstein ran six world championships, with the last one in Las Vegas, before retiring. Kevin Martin now administers the association.
