Wisconsin Pinball

Hi Everyone,

The I/O Arcade Bar is Madison's newest spot to play a ton of great pinball. They are located at 720 Williamson St, in Madison. They bill themselves as a bar for drinkers who have a gaming problem. They are planning to host online and board gaming tournaments, so I thought I would add to their mix and organize a monthly pinball tournament. The monthly tourney will usually be held on the third Thursday of every month so as to not interfere any other local tournaments. The exception will be the Inaugural tournament this November, which will take place on the 29th. This is an IFPA event and tournament page can be found at http://www.ifpapinball.com/tournaments/view.php?t=28261.

The tournaments will start at 7pm sharp. Current planned format is to qualify across 8 different games, with the top 4 qualifiers going on to play from 4-7 PAPA matches, and all other four packs are 2 game knockout to determine final position within their group. Because it is for IFPA points, there will be a $1 entry fee per player.

The 2018/2019 dates are:

November 29, 2018
December 20, 2018
January 17, 2019
February 21, 2019
March 21, 2019
April 18, 2019
May 16, 2019
June 20, 2019
July 18, 2019
August 15, 2019
September 19, 2019


The tentative game list (and is subject to change on a whim) includes:
Addams Family
Bride of Pinbot
Target Alpha
Deadpool
Iron Maiden
Iron Man
TNA
ToM
TWD
GoT


Those of you that know me, know that I play location pinball to socialize, drink and play pinball, usually in that order. I am hoping that this is "casual competitive"; but since it is for IFPA points, fell free to bring your "A" game. I am also hoping that the location draws some new players and that we can have the veteran players interact more to help draw more people in. The I/O will kick in some type of monthly prize too. I am thinking that this will be awarded in some way to the bottom half of the finalist field as an incentive for those of us who are not so great to keep coming back.

Let me know if you have questions. I hope to see you out there at the newest downtown location for some fun pinball playing on Thursday November 29th!

Mike Williams

CftBL wrote: ↑Fri Nov 02, 2018 11:14 am They bill themselves as a bar for drinkers who have a gaming problem.

They know me so well already!

Man, my work leaves downtown and a gaming bar opens within stumbling distance! Bad timing for me.

This looks awesome, I can't wait to check it out! Looks like there's a parking lot attached, right?

There is but there are only a half dozen spots that are not “reserved”. There is street parking and Ground Zero’s lot opens to public parking at 4:30. I do not know about the Elks Club Parking lot though. It is right across the street and almost never full. I should check and see if they have restricted parking signs posted. When I get back in town I’ll check it out and make a follow up post.

Great info! Thanks, Mike! Street parking around bars always makes me pucker a bit. I haven't seen the Ground Zero lot, but it's good there's some lots available.

Chris K wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:26 am Great info! Thanks, Mike! Street parking around bars always makes me pucker a bit. I haven't seen the Ground Zero lot, but it's good there's some lots available.

There are 2 city owned lots/garages about 2 blocks down (towards Great Dane block), but so far I am finding that street parking is pretty easy starting around 4pm and most of it is 2hr till 6p so if you get a spot at 4, then you are good for the night.