Pinball wizards prepare for flipping hard contest

Nathan Garwood will be representing East Anglia in a league final at Pinfest

More than 100 game machines have been delivered to a hotel for what organisers described as "the UK's only dedicated pinball event".

Pinfest is taking place this weekend at the Mercure Hotel in Daventry, Northamptonshire.

Among the players will be Nathan Garwood, 27, a regional champion who was born in Suffolk and lives in Essex.

The machines will be on free play throughout the event and a competition with a top prize of £2,000 will be taking place.

So what is pinball all about, and what will happen when players from across the country descend on Daventry?

How did pinball start?

According to the scientist, Michael Littman, Pinball derived from games that were popular across Europe and involved hitting a ball into a hole in the ground.

As rain tended to stop play, an indoor version was devised called Bagatelle in which ball bearings were propelled up an inclined board with a stick.

The balls would then slide down the board and hit a number of pins nailed into it.

At the bottom, the balls would drop into any one of a number of holes marked with different scores.

The pin and ball combined to create the name of the game that will be played in Daventry.

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The increasing popularity of electricity inspired inventors to become obsessed with creating electric pinball machines with automatic scoring, tilt censors, indicator lights and bells.

Betting on the outcome of games became common in the United States, and pinball was banned in New York City and several other places as a result in 1942.

Five years later, a machine called Humpty Dumpty introduced flippers to the game, keeping the ball in play for longer.

The advent of video games in the 1980s hit the pinball industry hard, but the remaining manufacturers have kept it alive with machines based on themes such as Monopoly and The Simpsons.

How do you win a game?

Playing pinball involves manipulation of paddles called flippers, and nudging the machine

Players use a spring-loaded rod to propel the ball into the playing area, and then use flippers, usually controlled by buttons, to influence the direction of the ball.

A player can collect points by getting the ball to hit various devices or travel along ramps.

It is also possible to change the direction of the ball by "nudging" the machine.

Who plays pinball?

Nathan Garwood won the inaugural East Anglian event in the UK league

Nathan Garwood was born in Ipswich but now lives near Manningtree in Essex.

He came first in the rankings in the inaugural UK league East Anglia event earlier this month.

Talking to BBC Radio Suffolk, he said: "My dad was really into pinball and we had a machine - we were very lucky to have one in the house.

"I grew up learning how to play pinball on that one machine."

Over time, he found more machines in seaside arcades and other venues and now plays pinball most weekends competitively.

He added: "On surface level, it looks like flipping a ball and, when I talk to people, they're just like 'surely it just goes down the middle - how can you turn that into a sport?'

"These machines are complex, so you've got all these rules to learn, you've got to know who your opponent is, what are they good at doing?

"You mix that with having to react to gravity, the ball is in front of you, it's not on a screen, so anything can happen."

"It's about nudging at the right time, it's about timing your shots and there's a lot of risk/reward involved."

What is Pinfest?

Mr Garwood says Pinfest is the "biggest pinball event of the year"

The UK Pinfest happens at the Mercure Hotel in Daventry from 16-18 August.

Mr Garwood says it is the "biggest pinball event of the year and it's open to the general public.

"We're going to take over the whole hotel, so they're going to be in the lobby, in the corridors, in the conference rooms - everywhere."

There is an entry fee, but the games are then free so people do not need to bring a pile of coins.

Alongside the free games, there will be competitions, including an open event, a classic event featuring vintage games and a league final.

Mr Garwood will be one of the two East Anglia representatives in the league finale.

Does the US still dominate the world of pinball?

Most of the machines at Pinfest will have been made by American manufacturers

Nathan Garwood says: "The pinball scene in the world is growing, it's getting bigger and bigger but it will always be the biggest in the US.

"In the top 500 players in the world, I think 11 of them are from the UK, the vast majority are from the US because there's just so much pinball over there."

What is the best pinball machine?

The Addams Family-themed machine, with a special chair, was at last year's Pinfest

According to one source, an Addams Family-themed game is the top seller across the world, with 20,000 sold.

Other popular themes include Iron Maiden and Godzilla.

For Mr Garwood, Jurassic Park hits the target: "It is just absolutely fantastic.

"The T-rex eats the pinball and then chucks it back at you - what more could you want?"