What if you put a bunch of pinball machines across different eras into some brackets and let people vote on which ones are the best?
That’s what we’re doing with PinballSpinner’s March Pinball Madness! We’re mimicking the structure and format of the how college basketball conducts their end-of-season tournaments and applying it to pinball machines.
Main Event Bracket Link on Challonge
The basics:
- There’s about 300 solid state machines in the Pinside Top 100
- Machines has been broken up into Conferences based on manufacturer, era, years, and CPU
- Each Conference will have a Conference Championship where the winning machine gets an automatic bid into the March Pinball Madness bracket of 64 machines
- The remaining spots will be be filled-in with At-Large bids comprised of highest-ranked machines that did not win their conference tournament subject to limits by Conference/Manufacturer
- Voting will take place on Challonge and will require voters to have an account
- Prediction Brackets will also be enabled for each bracket where you can earn points for correct preditions.
Schedule:
| Round | Start (~8pm Eastern) | End (~8pm Eastern) |
| Conference Bracket Predictions | Mon Feb 26 | Sun Mar 3 |
| Conference Play-In Games | Sun Mar 3 | Wed Mar 6 |
| Conference Elite Eight * | Wed Mar 6 | Sat Mar 9 |
| Conference Final Four | Sat Mar 9 | Tue Mar 12 |
| Conference Finals | Tue Mar 12 | Fri Mar 15 |
| Selection Sunday | Sun Mar 17 | |
| Main Event Bracket Predictions | Sun Mar 17 | Thu Mar 21 |
| Main Event Round of 64 | Thu Mar 21 | Sun Mar 24 |
| Main Event Round of 32 | Sun Mar 24 | Wed Mar 27 |
| Main Event Sweet Sixteen | Wed Mar 27 | Sat Mar 30 |
| Main Event Elite Eight | Sat Mar 30 | Tue Apr 2 |
| Main Event Final Four | Tue Apr 2 | Fri Apr 5 |
| Main Event Championship | Fri Apr 5 | Mon Apr 8 |
Start and End-Times will be approximately 8pm Eastern since cut-over in rounds is a manual process
* Some Conference Elite Eight games that do not require a Play-In will start on Sun Mar 3
Conferences Bracket Links
You can see a full listing on Challonge’s site here.
| Conference | # | Bracket | Machine Winner | Prediction Winner |
| Bally 77-78 | 1 | Link | Bobby Orr | lemonhalf, Schu123, Bservi |
| Bally 79-80 | 2 | Link | Harlem Globetrotters | Schu123 |
| Bally 81-84 | 3 | Link | Centaur | Brserv776 |
| Bally Alphanumeric | 4 | Link | Dr. Dude | Brserv776 |
| Bally DMD 91-94 | 5 | Link | The Addams Family | Brserv776 |
| Bally DMD 95-99 | 6 | Link | Attack From Mars | Bservi |
| Data East Early | 7 | Link | Laser War | Bservi |
| Data East Late | 8 | Link | Tales from the Crypt | Bservi |
| Gottlieb SS | 9 | Link | Count-Down | Brserv776 |
| Gottlieb DMD | 10 | Link | Stargate | Brserv776 |
| Independents | 11 | Link | Alien | Brserv776 |
| Jersey Jack | 12 | Link | Dialed In | Bservi |
| Sega | 13 | Link | Apollo 13 | Bservi |
| Spooky | 14 | Link | Total Nuclear Annihilation | Brserv776 |
| Stern Electronics | 15 | Link | Star Gazer | Bservi |
| Stern Whitestar | 16 | Link | Lord of the Rings | Brserv776 |
| Stern S.A.M. 10-13 | 17 | Link | AC/DC | Bservi |
| Stern S.A.M. 2000’s | 18 | Link | Spider-Man | Bservi |
| Stern Late S.A.M. Early Spike | 19 | Link | KISS (Stern) | Brserv776, Bservi |
| Stern Spike 2 2010s | 20 | Link | Jurassic Park (Stern) | Brserv776 |
| Stern Spike 2 2020’s | 21 | Link | Foo Fighters | Brserv776 |
| Williams System 3-9 | 22 | Link | Firepower | Bservi |
| Williams Early System 11s | 23 | Link | F-14 Tomcat | Bservi |
| Williams Later System 11s | 24 | Link | Taxi | Bservi |
| Williams DMD 91-94 | 25 | Link | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Bservi |
| Williams DMD 95-99 | 26 | Link | Monster Bash | No One |
Qualified Machines
Flipper Regional
| Seed | Machine | Conference | Pinside Rating | Overall Seed | Berth Type |
| 1 | Godzilla (Stern) | Stern Spike 2 2020’s | 9.079 | 1 | At-Large |
| 2 | Deadpool | Stern Spike 2 2010s | 8.732 | 8 | At-Large |
| 3 | Twilight Zone | Bally DMD 91-94 | 8.727 | 9 | At-Large |
| 4 | The Addams Family | Bally DMD 91-94 | 8.535 | 16 | Conf Champ |
| 5 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Williams DMD 91-94 | 8.526 | 17 | Conf Champ |
| 6 | Wizard of Oz | Jersey Jack | 8.417 | 24 | At-Large |
| 7 | Dialed In | Jersey Jack | 8.412 | 25 | Conf Champ |
| 8 | White Water | Williams DMD 91-94 | 8.381 | 32 | At-Large |
| 9 | Ghostbusters | Stern Late S.A.M. Early SPIKE | 8.325 | 33 | At-Large |
| 10 | Funhouse | Williams Later System 11s | 8.235 | 40 | At-Large |
| 11 | Total Nuclear Annihilation | Spooky | 8.200 | 41 | Conf Champ |
| 12 | Congo | Williams DMD 95-99 | 8.090 | 48 | At-Large |
| 13 | Elvira and the Party Monsters | Bally Alphanumeric | 8.057 | 49 | At-Large |
| 14 | Star Gazer | Stern Electronics | 7.743 | 56 | Conf Champ |
| 15 | Stargate | Gottlieb DMD | 7.685 | 57 | Conf Champ |
| 16 | Laser War | Data East Early | 7.299 | 64 | Conf Champ |
Pop Bumper Regional
| Seed | Machine | Conference | Pinside Rating | Overall Seed | Berth Type |
| 1 | Medieval Madness | Williams DMD 95-99 | 8.867 | 2 | At-Large |
| 2 | The Big Lebowski | Independents | 8.738 | 7 | At-Large |
| 3 | Monster Bash | Williams DMD 95-99 | 8.725 | 10 | Conf Champ |
| 4 | Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure | Williams DMD 91-94 | 8.610 | 15 | At-Large |
| 5 | Tales of the Arabian Nights | Williams DMD 95-99 | 8.479 | 18 | At-Large |
| 6 | Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory | Jersey Jack | 8.436 | 23 | At-Large |
| 7 | Cactus Canyon | Bally DMD 95-99 | 8.411 | 26 | At-Large |
| 8 | Rush | Stern Spike 2 2020’s | 8.396 | 31 | At-Large |
| 9 | AC/DC | Stern S.A.M. 10-13 | 8.323 | 34 | Conf Champ |
| 10 | Alien | Independents | 8.246 | 39 | Conf Champ |
| 11 | The Walking Dead | Stern Late S.A.M. Early SPIKE | 8.198 | 42 | At-Large |
| 12 | Big Bang Bar | Independents | 8.093 | 47 | At-Large |
| 13 | Fathom | Bally 81-84 | 8.055 | 50 | At-Large |
| 14 | Firepower | Williams System 3-9 | 7.833 | 55 | Conf Champ |
| 15 | Harlem Globetrotters On Tour | Bally 79-80 | 7.588 | 58 | Conf Champ |
| 16 | Bobby Orr’s Power Play | Bally 77-78 | 7.311 | 63 | Conf Champ |
Tilt Bob Regional
| Seed | Machine | Conference | Pinside Rating | Overall Seed | Berth Type |
| 1 | Attack From Mars | Bally DMD 95-99 | 8.807 | 3 | Conf Champ |
| 2 | Jurassic Park (Stern) | Stern Spike 2 2010s | 8.744 | 6 | Conf Champ |
| 3 | Lord of the Rings | Stern Whitestar | 8.717 | 11 | Conf Champ |
| 4 | Pirates of the Caribbean (JJP) | Jersey Jack | 8.629 | 14 | At-Large |
| 5 | Avengers: Infinity Quest | Stern Spike 2 2020’s | 8.473 | 19 | At-Large |
| 6 | Scared Stiff | Bally DMD 95-99 | 8.440 | 22 | At-Large |
| 7 | Star Trek (Stern) | Stern S.A.M. 10-13 | 8.410 | 27 | At-Large |
| 8 | TRON: Legacy | Stern S.A.M. 10-13 | 8.400 | 30 | At-Large |
| 9 | The Shadow | Bally DMD 91-94 | 8.313 | 35 | At-Large |
| 10 | Creature from the Black Lagoon | Bally DMD 91-94 | 8.274 | 38 | At-Large |
| 11 | Bram Stoker’s Dracula | Williams DMD 91-94 | 8.193 | 43 | At-Large |
| 12 | Iron Man | Stern Late S.A.M. Early SPIKE | 8.130 | 46 | At-Large |
| 13 | Centaur | Bally 81-84 | 8.000 | 51 | Conf Champ |
| 14 | Taxi | Williams Later System 11s | 7.940 | 54 | Conf Champ |
| 15 | F-14 Tomcat | Williams Early System 11s | 7.588 | 58 | Conf Champ |
| 16 | Dr. Dude | Bally Alphanumeric | 7.317 | 62 | Conf Champ |
Spinner Regional
| Seed | Machine | Conference | Pinside Rating | Overall Seed | Berth Type |
| 1 | Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast | Stern Spike 2 2010s | 8.768 | 4 | At-Large |
| 2 | Elvira’s House of Horrors | Stern Spike 2 2010s | 8.763 | 5 | At-Large |
| 3 | Foo Fighters | Stern Spike 2 2020’s | 8.668 | 12 | Conf Champ |
| 4 | Metallica | Stern S.A.M. 10-13 | 8.637 | 13 | At-Large |
| 5 | The Simpsons Pinball Party (Stern) | Stern Whitestar | 8.443 | 20 | At-Large |
| 6 | Theatre of Magic | Bally DMD 95-99 | 8.442 | 21 | At-Large |
| 7 | Alice Cooper’s Nightmare Castle | Spooky | 8.409 | 28 | At-Large |
| 8 | Spider-Man | Stern S.A.M. 2000’s | 8.405 | 29 | Conf Champ |
| 9 | Rick and Morty | Spooky | 8.310 | 36 | At-Large |
| 10 | Scooby Doo | Spooky | 8.301 | 37 | At-Large |
| 11 | Weird Al’s Museum of Natural Hilarity | Independents | 8.175 | 44 | At-Large |
| 12 | Whirlwind | Williams Later System 11s | 8.139 | 45 | At-Large |
| 13 | Tales from the Crypt | Data East Late | 7.969 | 52 | Conf Champ |
| 14 | KISS (Stern) | Stern Late S.A.M. Early SPIKE | 7.946 | 53 | Conf Champ |
| 15 | Apollo 13 | Sega | 7.413 | 60 | Conf Champ |
| 16 | Count-Down | Gottlieb SS | 7.363 | 61 | Conf Champ |
Some of the nuances:
- Machine ratings were pulled from the Pinside Top 100 in January 2024
- Link to a Google Sheet where we compiled the rankings is here
- Games must have 50+ ratings to be included
- For games that were part of a “group”, a weighted average among the machines were taken to establish a Rating for the game
- Conferences must be between eight and 16 machines made up of games from a Manufacturer
- Manufacturer is as supplied by Pinside
- Manufacturers with more than 16 games were split into multiple conferences and grouped by a combination of era, year, and CPU board set
- If a Manufacturer has less than eight games in the Pinside Top 100, those games are grouped into an Independents conference
- At most there can only be four machines in the Main Event from a given conference
- Any comments or critiques of the groupings? Drop an email to pinballspinner@gmail.com and we’ll see if we make changes for next year
You can see a full listing of the brackets on Challonge’s site here.