With over 100 sporting tournaments hosted in the city every year, it’s really no wonder that Kamloops is referred to as ‘Canada’s Tournament Capital.’ While many sports, like hockey, soccer, and baseball, may come to mind when one hears the moniker, Kamloops is also home to some lesser-known sporting organizations, like the Kamloops Pinball Association (KPA).
The KPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to coordinating and growing the local pinball league. It was founded in early 2023 by league president Nick Beddington and former league vice-president Trent Kennedy. The club began when Kennedy noticed a lone pinball machine in Embers Brewhouse, formerly Alchemy Brewing. After asking the owners whether they would be open to adding more machines to the restaurant, he provided some of his own, attracting the attention of a small group of participants. Now, the weekly events consistently host more than 20 competitors.
Pinball is a classic arcade game in which the objective is to hit targets while keeping a ball in play. Each game gives a player three turns. At the start of each turn, a ball will be launched onto the board. Points are scored by hitting targets, bumpers and ramps, using the paddles at the bottom of the machine, called flippers, to maneuver the ball. Each turn ends when the ball falls through the gap between the flippers.
Although it’s a competition, the league’s goal has always been to build community and share a passion for the game. The Omega met with the league’s current vice president, Derek English, who stated that pinball first piqued his interest during the pandemic while playing competitively online. The draw of pinball, as opposed to other arcade games, lies in the variety that gameplay can have. English shared, “I’ve played many competitive multiplayer games, but over time, they started to feel repetitive. Pinball, on the other hand, offers endless opportunities to improve and learn.”
The KPA hosts two events per week at Embers Brewhouse, located at 650 Victoria Street. Tuesdays are free-play from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and offer newcomers an excellent opportunity to practice and try out new machines. On Thursdays, they host a weekly tournament from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with $10 entry fee. Tournaments are structured as either one-on-one matches or four-player matchplay, in which four contestants compete against one another, with the winners earning bragging rights for the night.
The events are all officially sanctioned by the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA), meaning all players are added to the World Pinball Pro Rankings. The IFPA is the governing body for pinball as a competitive sport, and is attempting to bring the game back into the spotlight through competitions from the local to the national level.
Interested parties may RSVP for the tournaments on the league’s Facebook page, Kamloops Pinball Association.