Hey Belles!

On Wednesday, June 11th, 18 Belles met up at The Kickback Bar for our monthly match play tournament. We welcomed 3 new folks and 3 fabulous visitors from out of state (MN, IA, and IL) for 6 rounds of pinball. 🎉

Big thanks to Maggie from Revolution Brewing for loading up our prize table with extra swag. 🍻

🏆 Winners’ Circle 🏆

We had a tie between Alley and Hannah for 4th seed in qualifying, which led to a showdown on Pabst Can Crusher. Alley came out on top!

Final playoff came down to Mary, Sharkey, Tiffany, and Alley. Mary chose King Kong 🦍 as the playoff game held strong at the end with a final standing of:

🥇 Mary

🥈 Sharkey

🥉 Alley

⭐ Tiffany

Other group winners were Aimee, Maya, Lauren, and Jillian. Each took home a Pride bucket with mini flags and fun goodies. 🏳️‍🌈✨

Our prize table was overwhelming with goodies and it wouldn’t be a trip to the Kickback without some ducky side quests.

Close your eyes and listen to the YouTube video below. Can you tell who won the second one by the screaming?

Spoiler: Yup! It was Lauren

📅 Upcoming Events – Aftershock Pin-Golf 📅

Our next event is at Aftershock Classic Arcade on June 22 for pin-golf. Registration begins at 11:30AM, and we start playing at 12:00PM.

Entry fee is $5 which goes to IFPA dues and helps funds our fun trophies. Please note you’ll still be responsible for token drop during gameplay.

We encourage you to RSVP on Facebook. It helps the engagement on our page and can drive additional viewers to the event.

The Wednesday event thereafter will be at the Aftershock again on July 9th.

📢 ICYMI: New Women’s Advisory Board Members 📢

The IFPA Women’s Advisory Board is excited to announce that two new members have joined the board. Jackie Olson, from San Francisco, CA, and Crystal Cory, from Salt Lake City, UT, joined the IFPA as Directors and Board Members in February 2025 and immediately jumped in to support the 2025 IFPA Women’s Championship Weekend in Portsmouth, NH. Jackie is the founder of San Francisco’s Queer Pinball League, and Crystal runs the Wasatch Women’s Series and co-runs the Utah Ballers League.

The IFPA Women’s Advisory Board was founded in October 2019 with the goal of representing the needs and perspectives of women pinball players in IFPA initiatives. The Board currently includes founding members Karyn Kiser, Kim Martinez, and Zoe Vrabel, as well as Samantha Bacon, who joined in November 2023. Questions and feedback for the Board can be sent to ifpawomen@gmail.com.

Taken directly from IFPA.com

Every player deserves a place and to be seen just as they are. We can’t wait to see you next time.

– Belles & Chimes Planning Team

Happy Pride Month Belles!,

We had 16 players geek out with us at The Kickback Bar for May’s Pin-golf! Ten were new to Madison Belles and several were visiting from Missouri and one from Indiana. Some even play in their own local Belles chapters! Bonus: we had multiple mother-daughter combos in the mix. 🥹💕

🏆 Winners’ Circle 🏆

Hopped up on Nerd Clusters (thanks, Jacque!) we played 9 holes. Tiffany landed top seed and picked a finals bank of Monster Bash, Ghostbusters, and Pulp Fiction. Jacque decisively earned 1st place but the other three settled things with a final round on Can Crusher, ending in:

🥇 Jacque

🥈 Lauren

🥉 Tiffany

🎮 Liz

Huge thanks to everyone for your patience during finals. A whole pack of cyclists zoomed through and made it a little wild! Big kudos to Jacque and Lauren for juggling both the bar and pinball like pros (and still ended up in the top 2!). 🔥💪

Duck, Duck… Go!

Yes! There’s Even More!

Those who did not qualify for finals got to play off for some additional prizes. We had so many things on the prize table, we just kept giving folks stuff! Don’t worry, there were plenty of stuff left to give away at future events.

Additional folks that won prizes include:
💚 Tamara – Gamora Funko Pop
🧙‍♀️ Aimee – Pinball Witch earrings

More earring designs to come soon!

📅 Upcoming Events 📅

Our next event is in Middleton at The Kickback on June 11th. Registration begins at 6:00PM, and we start playing at 6:30PM.

Entry fee is $5 which goes to IFPA dues and helps funds our fun trophies. You will also be responsible for coin drop.

We encourage you to RSVP on Facebook. It helps the engagement on our page and can drive additional viewers to the event.

Our next pin-golf event will be Sunday, June 22th at the Aftershock Arcade.

🌟 Pinball Tips: The Walking Dead Modes 🌟

So you know how to start at least one of the 3 multiballs on Walking Dead. Awesome! But does it ever feel like your multiball score was pennies compared to your opponents? It might be because they were able to start a mode.

Modes are the main ways to progress through modern pinball machines and can rack up huge points if you can stack it with a multiball. Many machines need you to start the mode before initiating your multiball (but not always). Depending on the game, you can be locked out of a mode or vice versa.

📢 Midwest Women Pinball Cheers 📢

Last moth was an exciting month for Belles pinball! Sarah Bradley hosted the first meetup for Fox Cities Belles at Lumberjack Johnny’s in Appleton, and Felicia Haakenson hosted the first meetup for Quad Cities (IA/IL) Belles at Midwest Ale Works in East Moline, IL. We wish both chapters success in growing their community and hosting awesome events.

Way to Slay

Congrats to Donelle! Not only did she win 2nd place at the Fox Cities Belles Pin-Golf tournament, she won the Grand Champ plaque for Dungeons & Dragons!

Big congrats to Tiffany who won her very first pinball tournament ever! She won $40 at the Tuesday Strikes tournament at Aftershock Arcade.

We are so proud of both of them!

Special shoutout to our visiting Belles. You were a joy to have! One player told us we’re a fun, welcoming, inclusive group and honestly, that hit us right in the feels. That’s exactly the energy we hope to bring every time: fun, safe, and welcoming for all. 💜 Thank you to our Madison members who help make that happen. You’re the heart of this crew!

See you soon!

– Belles & Chimes Planning Team

Hey Belles!,

Last week’s Match Play meetup at Kickback was full of good vibes and great games! We had 11 players including one newbie. Meghan back after about a year away! The weather was gorgeous, and the Kickback had it’s doors open to let the breeze roll through. In between matches the patio offered a sunny, laid-back spot to relax and enjoy a drink.

🏆 Winners’ Circle 🏆

Lauren snagged the top seed and picked Black Knight: Sword of Rage for the final showdown. The top four shaped up like this:

🏆 Lauren

🥈 Donelle

🥉 Allison

🎮 Jacque

Aimee and Meghan each won their respective brackets and took home cute little flower magnets!

Shoutout to Kami, who nailed the duck toss on her first try and walked away with a beautiful decorative flower! Click the video below to see everyone’s duck-tossing skills in action.

We had a brand-new mini Belle join us: Caija! She did an awesome job and also won a flower magnet. We hope she and her mom come back soon!

📅Upcoming Events – Kickback Pin-Golf 📅

Our next event is at the Kickback on May 25 for pingolf. Registration begins at 11:30AM, and we start playing at 12:00PM. You don’t want to miss this one because there are going to be puppies on the patio at 3PM!

Entry fee is $5 which goes to IFPA dues and helps funds our fun trophies. Please note you’ll still be responsible for coin drop during gameplay.

We encourage you to RSVP on Facebook. It helps the engagement on our page and can drive additional viewers to the event.

PS – Remember it’s Geek Day! Try to wear something geeky!

The Wednesday event thereafter will be at the Kickback again on June 11th.

Until then, keep your flips sharp, your ducks aimed true, and your flower power strong. 🌸🦆💥

– Belles & Chimes Planning Team

Hey Belles!,

We had a sweet time on Sunday the 27th celebrating Gummy Bear Day at Aftershock Classic Arcade Bar with a cozy crew of 7 players including one brand new Belle, Bridget! With a smaller group, everyone went home with a prize after 9 holes (the best kind of pin-golf, right?).

Special thank you to Brad of Aftershock for taking some time out of his day to tend to us at the bar and fix our mechanical problems during our rounds.

🏆 Winners’ Circle 🏆

With Mary as the top seed, she chose Fish Tales as our finals game. The final four placements were :

🏆 Donelle

🥈 Dori

🥉 Aimee

🎮 Mary

They took home glow-in-the-dark gummy bear trophies and scooped up bonus prizes:

Donelle – Bag of Haribo Gummies

Dori – Mystery golden egg (surprise: tiny poop trinket!)

Aimee – Unraveling mystery ball packed with goodies

Mary – sour  Albanese gummies

But Wait… There’s More!

Aimee also won a Belles & Chimes pin from Pawpetual Pins. (Be sure to check out Etsy for other cool pinball pins like the Psyduck one Tiffany had on.)

Tiffany did not pick a prize, but she said she walked away with the best gift.. The support and warmth of this amazing group of women.

Upcoming Events: Double Trouble at the Kickback

Our next event is in Middleton at The Kickback on May 14th. Registration begins at 6:00PM, and we start playing at 6:30PM.Entry fee is $5 which goes to IFPA dues and helps funds our fun trophies. You will also be responsible for coin drop.

We encourage you to RSVP on Facebook. It helps the engagement on our page and can drive additional viewers to the event.

Our next pin-golf event will be Sunday, May 25th at the Kickback. It will be Geek Day and their monthly Puppies on the Patio fundraiser. Consider dressing up “geeky”, whatever that means to you. You never know when there is an extra prize for best dressed.

Pinball Tips: Pulp Fiction Skill Shot

Super Skill Shot:
Hold the left flipper and plunge. The ball will drop toward your left flipper—be ready! Hit any Payoff shot (left/right standups or left/right orbits, they’ll light up rainbow) to score 100,000 points. You’ll usually get only one or two chances before it times out, and you can attempt this on all three balls. Watch out—the ball comes in fast!!

ICYMI: Dori’s Ticket to Pinburgh:

Over the weekend, Lumberjack Johnny’s in Appleton hosted a tournament where players had a shot at winning a ticket to Pinburgh in the Pittsburgh area. Pinburgh used to be one of the largest pinball tournaments and tickets are extremely limited.

Lady Luck was on Dori’s side, and now she’s gearing up to compete! We’re excited to follow her journey and cheer her on in the upcoming tournaments.

Good luck, Dori—and have fun!

It’s been a beautiful outside. Be sure to enjoy it!

– Belles & Chimes Planning Team

Hey Belles!

On Wednesday, April the 9th, we had our monthly Match Play meetup at DoubleTap Beercade downtown. Eleven folks joined us for the evening, plus one person who came just to soak in the vibes. It was great to see a couple of familiar faces we haven’t seen in a while, including Ashley, who made the trip from Beaver Dam, and Ann, all the way from Minnesota!

🏆 Winners’ Circle 🏆

Mary was top seed, and she chose Venom for the finals. Top 4 shaped up like this:

🏆 Donelle

🥈 Mary

🥉 Ann

🎮 Tiffany

The winners got to hop away with their choice of a bunny-in-a-box filled with assorted egg chocolates—because what’s better than sweet victory and sweet treats?

Additional congrats to Jillian and Ashley who each won their brackets. They got to choose from a selection in the prize pool. Jillian picked a flipper keychain, and Ashley went for the DoodleBob pencil holder (AKA “Me Hoy Minoy!”)

We had one duck race for the evening which ended with Cora scoring a Jersey Jack Pinball shirt! Congratulations! 🎉

The 3D-printed prizes were brought to you by Tiffany! She had some flipper earrings up for grabs as prizes and available for purchase as well. If you’d like a pre-made pair, they’re $5, or $6-$10 if you want something customized. Tiffany is generously donating $1 from each sale to the Belles fund to help keep our prize pool stocked and thriving.

Feel free to reach out to Tiffany if you’re interested, and don’t hesitate to share any feedback on the quality, orientation, or size of the 3D prints—she’s always looking to improve!

Upcoming Events – Aftershock Pin-Golf

Our next event is Aftershock Classic Arcade on April 27. Registration begins at 6:00PM, and we start playing at 6:30PM. If you missed it in prior communications, pin-golf of the 4th Sunday of the month is going to be a regularly occurring event!Entry fee is $5 which goes to IFPA dues and helps funds our fun trophies. Please note you’ll still be responsible for coin drop during gameplay.

Not familiar with the pin-golf format? No sweat! We’ll go over the rules before we split into groups. This is also one of those rare formats where you can choose who you play with, so if there’s someone you’d like to be grouped with, just let us know in advance and we’ll do our best to make it happen.

We encourage you to RSVP on Facebook. It helps the engagement on our page and can drive additional viewers to the event.

The Wednesday event thereafter will be at The Kickback on May 16th as we have yet to hear when NerdHaven will be back up and running.

Midwest Gaming Classic

Two weekends ago we had a boot alongside Madison Fliptastic Youth Pinball Club at the Midwest Gaming Classic. It was a great time hanging out with a bunch Belles from the Midwest area and talking to more people about the women’s division.

Thank you to everyone who pitched in. The women of Belles & Chimes who helped put chats together, discussed plans leading up to the event, and put in hours at the booth: Donelle, Dori, Emily, Erin, Frances, Leah, Tiffany, and Victoria (Apologies if we missed anyone!) Special thanks to Francis Wisniewski for securing this spot by the pinball tournaments and bringing the 6 pins, and Aaron Malone for helping him load and unload.

Special shoutout to Tiffany and Donelle. Tiffany got 4th during the Friday pingolf tournament, and Donelle got the high score on Firepower while playing cross armed at the Saturday night afterparty. Way to go you two!

We hope everyone else have fun at MGC!

In Case You Missed It:
PAPA22

The PAPA 22 World Pinball Championship is returning this year to Enterrium, September 4–7! This is the 2nd Annual Memorial Tournament for Suicide Awareness, held in memory of Lyman F. Sheets, Jr.

Last year, this tournament raised nearly $33,000 for the 988 Foundation for Suicide Awareness in Lyman’s honor.

All skill levels are welcome to attend, including spectators! There will be A Division, B Division, Classics Division, and Women’s Division. Please note: the event is capped at 300 participants.

To learn more about the event, register, or volunteer, please visit the event webpage. (Volunteers will receive free entries and swag, depending on the number of hours they commit.)

The tournament uses entry cards, which is a bit different from the match play format you might be used to. Feel free to reach out to Tiffany if you’d like more details on how it works!

Catch you on the flip flop side. Enjoy the holiday weekend if you are celebrating it! 🐰

– Belles & Chimes Planning Team

Hey Belles!,

Our latest meetup was an adventure of epic proportions as we celebrated the launch of Dungeons & Dragon’s: The Tyrant’s Eye! We had 15 players join in on 9 holes of pin-golf, including two first-timers—shoutout to Emily, who runs Belles tournaments in Iowa for making the drive out!

🏆 Winners’ Circle 🏆

Grand Champ of the launch event went to the person who got the highest score on Dungeons & Dragons during our 9 hole course.
Congrats to Mary!

Mary was top seed of the day, and she naturally chose D&D for the finals round. Top 4 were:

🏆 Mary

🥈 Donelle

🥉 Tiffany

🎮 Lauren

The awesome D20 trophies mark our first time offering 3D-printed prizes. A huge thank you to Tiffany for making that happen! She says to look forward to more 3D printed trophies for in the future.

More Treasure to Loot!

Along with the D20 trophies, we had some other cool things to win including the D&D translite, a baby Mind Flayer figure, and D20 earrings.

We had two virtual duck races to see who would win the Mind Flayer and the translite. The races were tense and our cheers could be heard echoing through the hall.

The Mind Flayer went to
Sharkey!

And a translite to Tiffany!

Dori, Shay, and Tamara won their respective groups during their finals, so they scored the D20 earrings!

📅Upcoming Events – Double Tap and…? 📅

Entry fee is $5 which goes to IFPA dues and helps funds our fun trophies. Normally coin drop is required, but this venue uses tap cards, so you may have a card handy in your wallet already. Otherwise, initial cost to buy a card is $5 and you can load as much money as you want on the card. Your Belles organizers (Jacque and Tiffany) have a joint Belles cards if folks want to share as opposed to buying a new one.

We encourage you to RSVP on Facebook. It helps the engagement on our page and can drive additional viewers to the event.

Additionally, we have to have more pin-golf on Sunday, April 27th. We are still securing our location, so please keep an eye on Facebook for updates. It will likely either be at Aftershock Arcade or the Kickback.

With that being said… Going forward, we plan to host regularly scheduled pin-golf meetups on the fourth Sunday of each month. Inclusivity and growing pinball are at the heart of our mission, and by offering a daytime event on Sundays, we can be more accessible to those with busy weekday schedules. Many of our interested players find it difficult to attend evening meetups due to work, school, or the need for an early bedtime. We hope this additional meetup day will bring even more lovely faces into our community!

🌟Pinball Tips: Star Wars Action Button🌟

Last month we shared a large master list of what the action button does on a huge list of games. We want to take some extra time to call out Stern’s Star Wars as it is imperative to understand how the action button and multipliers work to get consistently high scores. It’s one of the games where it is a huge disadvantage if you don’t know about them. If you’ve seen someone have a crazy 40x multiplier, this is how.

You’ll notice that there are arrows around the playfield with an X in them (two of them circled in lime green). Those are your multiplier shots when lit green. Keep in mind that it doesn’t increase your multiplier, it’s just a shot that has an applied multiplier. To increase this multiplier, you need to hit the three bank in front of the LCD screen. If you take the time to squint really hard or get a magnifying glass, you’ll see that it tells you directly above those targets (circled in white). You can see your current multiplier on the main screen.

If you hit the action button, the arrow will turn red and this will deactivate the multiplier shot, but it will allow you to move the shots around using your flippers. Most people cradle the ball before attempting this. To reactivate the shot, just hit the action button again, and those arrows will turn green again.

Downside to all of this is that the higher the multiplier, the less shots that will be activated to get said multiplier. Additionally, your built multiplier is on a timer and will timeout back to 2x unless you hit the 3 bank again. Multiplier does work for mystery awards and video modes as well. Use this knowledge wisely.

If you want to learn about the other functions of the action button, you can watch this short video where Pinball Jen does a high level review of the action button on Star Wars.

📢In Case You Missed It:
Women’s IFPA Championships📢

Over the weekend, the Women’s IFPA Championship took place at Port City Pinball in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, featuring both the North American Nationals and the World Championship. Miriam Nadler (NY) took home the Nationals title, while Keri Wing claimed the World Championship!

You can watch part of the tournaments on BackhandPinball’s Twitch page under their recent VODs. If looking for a monster of a comeback, check out game 5 of the World Championship finals between Keri Wing and Kaylee Campbell on Deadpool—at this point, Kaylee led 3 games to 1 in the best-of-7 match.

⏩ Jump to timestamp 09:39 if you don’t want to watch the full 30-minute game. At the start of ball 3, Keri sat at 52 million, while Kaylee had already finished with 930 million. (Spoiler: Keri wins the championship 😉) It only takes one ball. Truly inspiring.

There’s no official IFPA results page yet, but we’ll share updates on Facebook once they’re posted!

Catch you at the next meetup! Bring your A-game and your best boot saves!

– Belles & Chimes Planning Team

Hi Belles,

We had a great meetup last week at the Kickback, hanging out with some awesome brewery reps from the area, thanks to the Women’s Beer and Spirits Collective! We had 20 players join us this month, including Alley’s crew who traveled all the way from Milwaukee and Angelica from Revolution Brewing. Five of you played in your first Belles tournament with us, too—love it!

Winners’ Circle

Finals took place on Deadpool. 

Alessandra (Alex) took 1st place

Jen snagged 2nd

Donelle landed in 3rd

Christine rounded out 4th

We had a massive prize table loaded with brewery swag, thanks to the generous reps who visited and our sponsoring breweries: Surly Brewing, Indeed Brewing, Revolution Brewing, Young Blood Beer Co, and Lion’s Tail Brewing. On top of that, we had two special prizes from a local women-owned business—a wallet from B.Denae Artistry and a body candle from CTOAN. With so many prizes up for grabs, everyone who stuck around until the end walked away a winner. Woohoo!

Special shoutout to Stacie for nailing the perfect shot—she won the wallet by landing her rubber ducky right into the beer pitcher. Impressive aim!

Women’s History Month Factoid: Margaret Hudson

One of the most renowned names in pinball art is Margaret Hudson. She began her career in the 1970s at Bally, with her first major project as the lead artist on Eight Ball Deluxe (1981). Over three decades, she contributed artwork to multiple manufacturers, leaving a lasting impact on the pinball industry.

Some of her other notable works that you may have seen around the Madison area include Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man, The Simpsons Pinball Party, Phantom of the Opera, and Spider-Man. . You can read more about Margaret Hudson in this short article written by the Kineticst.

Save The Date

Mark your calendar for our next events:

March 23: The Kickback Bar for our Dungeons & Dragons Launch Party

April 9: The DoubleTap downtown

News – New Fox Cities Belles Chapter

Sarah has done it! She has started the Belles & Chimes Fox Cities chapter! A Facebook page and Instagram is now live, so be sure to support by following their social media! Be sure to connect with your fellow Madison Belles if you ever plan to drive up north for their tournaments, you never know who is willing to tag along. 

Reminder – Midwest Gaming Classic

This is your last reminder on MGC!

We are less than a month away from the Midwest Gaming Classic which is the largest and longest running all-encompassing gaming event that takes place right in Milwaukee. You’ll find retro and modern games, tabletop RPGs, computers, collectible card games, crone games, and (of course pinball)! There will be a couple of pinball tournaments happening at MGC for those who are interested, so we suggest you check out their website for more information.

What’s particularly exciting this year is that multiple Midwest-area Belles & Chimes chapters are working together with Fliptastic Youth Pinball Club to host a booth! It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet new pin-curious players! We have plans to have a small competition at the booth as well–details to come. Be sure to stop by our booth and say hello if you decide to attend MGC!

See you soon!

The Belles & Chimes Madison Planning Team

Hi Belles,

Despite the snowy roads, eight of us braved the weather for a night of pinball at Aftershock last Wednesday! We welcomed one new player and played through seven rounds, leading up to a Monster Bash showdown for the finals.

Winners’ Circle

Donelle took 1st place

Cora snagged 2nd

Tiffany landed in 3rd

Jacque rounded out 4th

We had a sweet prize table, but we want to highlight two special items from Black women creators in Wisconsin:

Lou won a Sweethearts Tote from Chase My Creations (IG: chasemycreations) based in Milwaukee (peep Tiffany’s sweater for another item in her shop), and Brooke won a Growing Pains Metallic Mug in Gold from B.Denae Artistry (IG: b.denae_artistry), who works out of Madison. You might have even seen some of her work at local markets or admired one of her murals in Beaver Dam. If you’re not already following these two talented ladies, check them out and support them by shopping at their online stores! (Don’t miss next month as we have more items from Black ladies in Wisconsin)

We also had a split flipper side quest on Doctor Who, where Cora & Brooke teamed up for the win earning themselves a PB&J plush, one half for each of them!

A huge thank you to Aftershock staff for keeping our glasses full and treating us to coupons, pretzels, pickles, and top-notch bartending!

Black History Month Factoid: Muriel Tramis

While not directly pinball-related, it’s important to recognize Muriel Tramis, a true pioneer in gaming. She is widely considered the first Black woman to work as a game designer. For years, searching for the first Black woman in game design would misleadingly bring up Carol Shaw, a white woman, highlighting just how overlooked Tramis’ contributions were.

One of her most notable works was Freedom (1988), a game about enslaved people fighting their slaves. It challenged culture and history on multiple levels. Her impact on gaming history was finally recognized when she became the second-ever game designer awarded the Legion of Honor in France, one of the country’s highest distinctions for military or civil service. And just this month, USC Games honored her with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for her groundbreaker contributions to the gaming industry. 

Learn more about her here which includes an embedded YouTube video of a micro-documentary.

Save The Date

Mark your calendar for our next events:

March 12: The Kickback Bar – We are collaborating with ladies in the beer industry!

March 23: The Kickback Bar for our Dungeons & Dragons Launch Party

IFPA’s Special Announcement

On February 7, the IFPA made an important post about inclusivity in competitive pinball, reaffirming its support for women’s pinball, non-binary players competing in women’s events, and making it clear that transwomen are women and belong in women’s pinball. It also emphasized that transmen are men, and that homophobia, transphobia, or any form of discrimination will not be tolerated.

We reiterated this message on Facebook the same day—if you missed it, we encourage you to give it a read. More importantly, we want to remind everyone in Belles that we all have a responsibility to uphold these values. That means holding ourselves and each other accountable. If someone says something that doesn’t sit right with you, call them in. If someone is being hateful, call them out. The organizers will do our best to lead by example, but it takes all! 

See you at The Kickback!

You’re flipping cool,

The Belles & Chimes Madison Planning Team

We had an awesome day at The Kickback Bar for the Metallica Pin-Golf Launch Party! Huge thanks to everyone who came out and rocked with us. The top four battled it out in the finals, and here’s how it shook out:

Dori Ann took 1st place and the plaque!
Donelle snagged 2nd (and her first-ever translite!)
Erin claimed 3rd from the prize table
Tiffany rounded out 4th with another prize

But let’s be real—we all won, thanks to Brown Paws Dog Rescue stopping by with some adorable pups! If you’re looking to support a great cause, consider donating, fostering, or even adopting your furrrever friend!

Black History Month & Pinball Factoid

Did you know? In 1979, Bally released Harlem Globetrotters, the first pinball game centered around African American sports icons, reflecting the influence of the Civil Rights Movement. It featured legendary players like Meadowlark Lemon, Fred “Curley” Neal, and Hubert “Geese” Ausbie. Two years later, Stern followed with a machine featuring former boxing champion and activist Muhammad Ali.

We’re celebrating Black History Month at our next event by featuring prizes from Black women creators in Wisconsin! We hope you’ll join us for some fun, friendly competition, and meaningful recognition of Black contributions to pinball and beyond.

Event Details

Date: February 12, 2025

Location: Aftershock Classic Arcade

Time: Registration opens at 6PM, gameplay start at 6:30PM

Cost: $5 Entry Fee + token drop

Theme: Come celebrate Galentine’s Day! Wear something that makes you feel love, or keep it simple with red, pink, or purple.

In Case You Missed It

Madison Belles had a fantastic showing at the Wisconsin Women’s IFPA State Championship! While we didn’t take 1st, we played some incredible pinball, even in an unfamiliar setting against some of the best in the state.

Special shoutout to Jacque for battling all 7 games against Kassidy (now a three-time champ)! It was an absolute nail-biter, but those pesky No Good Gophers took the win this time.

We’re so proud of Allison, Donelle, Mary, Jacque, Erin, and Sharkey for qualifying, plus Sara & Dori, our regular visiting Belles. And kudos to Tiffany for making it as an alternate!

Pinball Tips: Action Button Master List

Ever see the red button on Rush, press it in a panic, and wonder why nothing happened? It’s actually a diverter! Perhaps you’re seeing the red button on Uncanny X-Men and wondering why you have to hold the button for Bishop to work. It’s moving what shot Bishop is going to spot for you! If you want to know what that blinking button on your favorite game actually does, check out this Action Button Master List from Tilt Forums.

That’s it for now, Belles! Can’t wait to see you all at Aftershock on Feb 12 for some pinball and Galentine’s fun.

Stay flippin’ awesome,

PS….if you know of a space to display the Belles and Chimes 2025 flyer please reach out!

Hi Belles,

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our casual meetup at NerdHaven Arcade–it was nice to be back! We had 8 folks come out, including two new faces: Josephine and Clei. It’s always a pleasure connecting with new and familiar friends over pinball!

Save The Date

Mark your calendar for our next events:

January 26: Metallica Remastered Launch Party at The Kickback (Pin-Golf Style!)

• Wear your favorite musical artist band t-shirt or concert attire!

February 12: Regular monthly meetup at Aftershock Arcade

For the rest of the year, our tentative locations are shown below. Locations and dates are subject to change.

This is not our official 2025 flyer, but you’ll start seeing official fliers up soon

Shoutouts – Madison Youth Pinball – Help Needed!

The Madison Youth Pinball group meets twice a month. It’s a time for children to learn how to play pinball for free. This event is hosted by Francis Wisniewski and supported by adult volunteers within the pinball community; however, they could use some extra hands. If you’re interested in supporting Madison Youth Pinball, please reach out, and we can get you connected to Francis. Their next event is January 25 and they have their first tournament on February 1. They usually need the most help in their earlier block with kids 11 and under.

Pinball News – Wisconsin Women’s State IFPA Championship Qualifiers!

A big congrats to some of our Belles for qualifying for the IFPA State Championships, Women Division! Shoutout to Allison, Donelle, Erin, Mary, Jacque, and Sharkey for qualifying. Shoutout to our not-so-local Belles Dori and Sara as well! Shoutout to Tiffany making it as an alternate too! Good luck to everyone. We’re proud of how much this group has grown in both size and skill. 

If you want to support the championship, Sara is still looking for more cash and other prizes. Please consider donating or sharing!

We’re looking forward to another amazing year of pinball with you all.

See you at The Kickback!

Flip on,

The Belles & Chimes Madison Planning Team