ORD & Pinball Super Leauge present: The Pre-Expo Flipout 2026
About this Event
$1320 in cash prizes!
Come on out to newest iteration of the ORD Pinball Speakeasy, a private pinball club in the northwest suburbs, located at 3750 Industrial Ave Unit D Rolling Meadows, IL, United States, Illinois 60008 for this Expo warm up event! ORD has over 50 games on free play.
Tournament Directors/Staff:
Andy Bagwell (TD): Mohawk aficionado. Has been informed he celebrates too much, will not stop celebrating.
Ricky Bryant (TD): Saver of docks, winner of PAPA 23 B Division, nudger of stuck balls. A true pinball everyman.
Parking:
Image for where to park has been added above this text and on the event images at the very top of the page. This lot is directly acrosss the street from the ORD building. Cones will be setup to indicate the parking zone, please respect these zones. Absolutely no tailgating/smoking/drinking etc. in this parking lot. The business that owns these spots have graciously offered to let us use them for the event, please respect the parking lot! Do not throw/leave any trash in it and do not loiter in it. Also please remain at least 20 feet awy from the doors at ORD if you are going to smoke outside.
Code of Conduct:
All players of our events agree to abide by the Chicagoland Pinball Code of Conduct. Full rules can be found here: http://sundaybest.kittensandwich.com/Chicagoland-Code-of-Conduct/
Pinball is for EVERYONE, and we won't tolerate any bigotry or harassment of players. The silver ball doesn't discriminate, neither should players. If *anyone* makes you feel uncomfortable at our events we encourage you to speak to any tournament director either in person or online when you feel comfortable doing so. TDs are here to protect players and ensure they have a fun and safe space to enjoy pinball.
Tournament Details:
The Pre-Expo Flipout Tourney
Six rounds of matchplay, balanced seeding, top 24 make playoffs, top 8 receive byes. Pins will be on free play, $20 of your entry fee goes to hosting fees for the ORD pinball club.
Registration:
Advance registration is available for this tourney, but walkups will be allowed if event is not sold out. The online waitlist that you can join on this event page will be used to determine any available spots initially. Any spots unclaimed after the online waitlist is exhausted will be given to the physical waitlist that walkups can join. Each ticket will get access for a single player to the tourney. There will be cash prizes for the top 16 players, and trophies will be awarded to the top 8 players. Players of all skill levels are welcome to participate!
Current player cap will be 60 players. Some slots will be reserved for those assisting with the tourney. You are able to purchase up to 5 tickets in a single order, you will have to fill out unique player info for every ticket you buy. Ticket sales will go live here on Eventbrite on this page on Wednesday, September 30th at 12 pm CST. Players will be able to request a full refund minus Eventbrite fees up to 1 week out from the event. After that no refunds! Ticket sales will close at noon CST on Monday, 10/12. If you need help registering please feel free to reach out to Andy or Ray online or in person for assistance.
When you arrive to ORD please find Andy or whoever is at the check in desk to check in for the tournament so that we can assure you are there prior to the start of the event.
Formats:
Pre-Expo Flip Out: Six Round Matchplay
Players will compete against each other in four or three player groups across all machines at ORD. There will be six rounds of qualifying, and each round will alternate eras, old and new. Automated tiebreakers are turned on, but anyone tied on the 24th spot cut line or the top 8 bye line will play a single game tiebreak on a classics pin. Tournament Director reserves the right to switch to a 1 ball tiebreak if there are an excessive number of ties(more than 4). All other positions will be determined based on automated tiebreakers. Also of note, tiebreakers will only be used to determine who "wins the prize" of either a bye or getting into the playoffs. Auto tiebreaker will still determine your seeding regardless of how you finish in these tiebreakers, the tiebreaker will simply determine if you are in or out on the cut lines. Seeding is balanced.
Playoffs will consist of the top 24 qualifiers advancing to playoffs. The top 8 seeds will receive a first round bye. All rounds will consist of single games, top seed chooses game or order, and top 2 advance until the final round. A player cannot choose the same game more than once during the playoffs. Top seed will be also be player 4 in game, unless they defer choice and then whoever chooses a game will be player 4. Game choice for each round will be done in order of descending seeds, if a game is chosen before you get to choose you are not allowed to wait for it. Anyone eliminated in a round outside of the top 4 finish based on their points that round, no tiebreakers will be played for 5th-24th spots.
Matchplay Software:
The tourney will be hosted on the Matchplay software. This will be displayed on a big screen near the tourney area or you can access it on your phone by browsing to next.matchplay.events or just googling "next matchplay". Once there you can search "ORD" and you will see it in the results. You will be able to see what game you are playing each round and the position you are in. If you need any help just ask a TD. Once a group finishes for the round you can go enter your finishing results on the laptop near the tourney area.
Game List (Subject to change):
Amigo
Atlantis
Attila the Hun
Black Jack
Black Knight
Black Knight 2000
Black Knight: Sword of Rage Pro
Black Rose
Count-Down
Demolition Man
Eight Ball Deluxe
Elektra
Embryon
Faces
Genesis
Gorgar
High Speed
Indianapolis 500
Joker Poker
Jokerz!
Laser War
Mata Hari
Meteor
NBA Fastbreak
No Good Gofers
Riverboat Gambler
Playboy (Bally)
Scorpion
Seawitch
Sinbad
Sound Stage
Starship Troopers
Tag-Team Pinball
Tee'd Off
The X Files
Transformers
Ultraman: Kaiju Rumble
Wheel of Fortune
Game Rules:
Andy is the rulemaster. He was trained for months in the Russian wilderness by IFPA Dictator Josh Sharpe to make the games play faster and less fun than the developers intended. Ball saves will be turned off on the plunge, Extra Balls will be disabled, and tournament settings will be on for most games. Fret not, no post rubbers were harmed in the making of this tourney(mostly). All skillshot ball saves are also still enabled. If you receive a ball save then *do* play it, some games have skillshots that turn them on or lack of playfield validation. If you receive an Extra Ball somehow *do* play it, and please let the TDs know that you received one so we can try and disable it before the next round. You *will not be punished for playing an Extra Ball*.
IFPA/PAPA rules will generally be followed but TDs reserve the right to deviate as necessary. TD rulings are final, arguing with a TD/yelling at a TD is a great way to get a yellow/red card. One yellow is a warning, two yellows is a red (ejection from event). TDs reserve right to go straight to red if necessary.
https://www.ifpapinball.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PAPA_IFPA-Complete-Competition-Rules-2021.04.06.pdf
Schedule:
Tuesday, October 13th 2026
2:00pm CST ORD Doors Open for free play
4:00pm CST Event begins
~11:00pm CST Trophy Presentation
Fees:
Event fee is $50
$4 per player goes towards trophy fees
$1 per player goes towards IFPA fees
$1 per player goes towards the IFPA 2000+ Bounty
$1 per player goes towards the Highest Woman Finisher Bounty
$1 per player goes towards the $60 raffle for those that don't qualify for playoffs
$22 per player goes towards the prize pool
$20 per player goes towards ORD entry fees
$0 per player goes towards the TDs
Prizes:
Top 16 Players will receive payouts, prize totals are calculated assuming 100 players.
Cash Prizes for 1st-16th
- 1st — 20% — $260
- 2nd — 16% — $210
- 3rd — 13% — $170
- 4th — 9% — $120
- 5th–8th — 5% each — $65 each
- 9th–16th — 3% each — $40 each
We will be paying out a $60 prize (and plaque) for the highest placing player in the tourney that is IFPA rank 2000th or lower! You can win this even if you finish in the top 16 as long as your IFPA rank is not 1-1999 at the time of the tourney.
We will also also be paying out a $60 prize (and plaque) for the highest woman finisher at the tournament! You can win this even if you cash in top 16 as well! You, WOMAN WHO IS AWESOME, could even potentially win the IFPA 2000+ bounty for a TRIFECTA of prizes! Anyone ranked in the IFPA Women's Rankings is eligible, and if it's your first tourney ever please let registration know when you get there that you need to sign up for an IFPA Women's account.
We will also be drawing a $60 raffle for any players that don't make playoffs, must be present to win. Drawing will occur immediately after qualifying ends.
Trophies for Top 8
Prizes awarded by Tournament Director are final and cannot be disputed after the tournament for any reason.
Location:
ORD Pinball Speakeasy
3750 Industrial Ave Unit D Rolling Meadows, IL, United States, Illinois 60008
Please respect the parking rules mentioned at the top of this event text! Inlcuding them here again to make sure they aren't missed:
Image for where to park has been added above this text and on the event images at the very top of the page. This lot is directly acrosss the street from the ORD building. Cones will be setup to indicate the parking zone, please respect these zones. Absolutely no tailgating/smoking/drinking etc. in this parking lot. The business that owns these spots have graciously offered to let us use them for the event, please respect the parking lot! Do not throw/leave any trash in it and do not loiter in it. Also please remain at least 20 feet awy from the doors at ORD if you are going to smoke outside.
Food:
Pizza will be ordered during the tourney, a list wil be collected for those interested. It is $10 per person cash for pizza, it will be thin crust and cheese/mushroom/sausage/pepperoni pizzas will be ordered. ORD has a water bottle refill station/water fountain but we will also have water bottles.
Where is it happening?
USD 55.20
